Framed as a captivating dialogue between Shane Claiborne, a progressive young evangelical, and Tony Campolo, a seasoned pastor and professor of sociology, Red Letter Revolution is a life-altering manifesto for skeptics and Christians alike.
Best-selling authors Shane Claiborne and Tony Campolo talk candidly about the life and teaching of Jesus and the wisdom he offers our fractured world. It is time to re-imagine the world and the way we live—the old patterns of politics, economics, and religion that aren’t working. It’s time for a new kind of Christianity. In Red Letter Revolution, best-selling authors Shane Claiborne and Tony Campolo take on the hardest issues facing our world. They show that Jesus’ example is relevant and revolutionary and call us back to a Christianity that looks like him again. In this ambitious project, they mine the words of Jesus—the “red letters” of Scripture—asking the simple question, “What if we lived out the stuff he said?”
From the power in Washington to the poverty in rural towns to the broken systems everywhere else, the world is looking for salvation. But this salvation is not just for people’s souls—it’s for schools, governments, churches, and families.
Red Letter Revolution is about politics, but it’s fresh. It’s about theology, but it’s real. It’s about economics, but it’s interesting. It’s about Jesus, who longs to transform the world despite the embarrassing things his followers have done in his name. For conservatives and progressives, skeptics and believers, Red Letter Revolution undertakes the world-shaping mission to understand how Jesus’ words could change everything—if we’d only give them a chance.
Shane Claiborne is a prominent speaker, activist, and bestselling author. Shane worked with Mother Teresa in Calcutta and founded The Simple Way in Philadelphia. He heads up Red Letter Christians, a movement of folks who are committed to living “as if Jesus meant the things he said.” Shane is a champion for grace, which has led him to jail advocating for the homeless, and to places like Iraq and Afghanistan to stand against war. Now, grace fuels his passion to end the death penalty. Shane’s books include Jesus for President, Red Letter Revolution, Common Prayer, Follow Me to Freedom, Jesus, Bombs, and Ice Cream, Becoming the Answer to Our Prayers, his classic The Irresistible Revolution, Executing Grace, and Beating Guns. He has been featured in a number of films, including Another World Is Possible and Ordinary Radicals. His books have been translated into more than a dozen languages. Shane speaks over one hundred times a year, nationally and internationally. His work has appeared in Esquire, SPIN, Christianity Today, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal, and he has been on everything from Fox News and Al Jazeera to CNN and NPR. He’s given academic lectures at Harvard, Princeton, Liberty, Duke, and Notre Dame. Shane speaks regularly at denominational gatherings, festivals, and conferences around the globe.
Tony Campolo (Ph.D., Temple University) is professor emeritus of sociology at Eastern University in suburban Philadelphia, a media commentator on religious, social, and political matters, and the author of a dozen books, including Revolution and Renewal, Let me Tell You a Story, and 20 Hot Potatoes Christians Are Afraid to touch.