Obery Hendricks Jr. is a professor of biblical interpretation at the New York Theological Seminary and an ordained minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. As a young man, Hendricks withdrew himself from Christian religions; his discovery of what he calls the “revolutionary Jesus” brought him back.
This book analyzes Jesus’ teachings in light of the social, economic, and political conditions of his day. From this analysis, Hendricks outlines and explains seven political strategies that Jesus employed, namely: treat the people’s needs as holy, give a voice to the voiceless, expose the workings of oppression, call the demon by name, save your anger for the mistreatment of others, take blows without returning them, and do not just explain the alternative but show it. In the latter half of his book, he applies these political strategies as well as his own personal opinions to analyze and criticize current political practices in the United States.
For readers interested in a non-LDS perspective of the role of Jesus and other biblical prophets as political revolutionaries, this book will be especially interesting. In particular, the political critic who appreciates new, contemporary, even controversial views of Jesus’ politics and their application in the world today will be rewarded.
