The Word of God is the only real authority we have. His Word shines light upon human nature. More clearly, it shows us the way to God. It is in the Bible that we find the answers to life's most important questions. Therefore, we encourage you to have a great eagerness and more careful and candid study to find out just what it teaches.

Passion Season Lecture Series

The Politics of Jesus Every Tuesday March 6-April 3 Summary: This six-week course will explore the political nature of Jesus’ ministry, the issues and events that helped to shape his politics, and the meaning of Jesus’ politics for the church and the world today. Format: each class will begin with a lecture that will be followed by class discussion. Readings: all reading assignments are taken from The Politics of Jesus: Rediscovery the Revolutionary Nature of Jesus’ Teachings and How They Have Been Corrupted by Obery M. Hendricks, Jr. (Doubleday, 2006) Order this book from the Grace Bookstore (914) 664-2676 Email:graceinfo@gracebapt.org

Guest Lecturer: Dr. Obery M. Hendricks, Jr., Phd. Dr. Hendricks, noted author of Politics of Jesus, will lecture at Grace on the relationships between the historical foundations of Christianity, the core values of Jesus’ message and the role of religion in today’s world. Dr. Hendricks is a Professor of Biblical Interpretation at the New York Theological Seminary, an Ordained Elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Course Calendar

3/6: Who was Jesus?
The religious and political legacy that Jesus was heir to and its meaning for his politics and his ministry. 
Reading: 1-49

3/13: The setting of Jesus’ politics:
The social, economic and political environments that shaped Jesus’ political consciousness and influenced his politics. 
Reading: 50-73

3/20: Paul, Caesar and Christ:
How Jesus the revolutionary became meek and mild – and why.
Reading: 74-95

3/27: The Political Strategies of Jesus
The tactics and strategies Jesus used in his political ministry.
Reading: 132-144;  144-158;  159-177

4/3: The Politics of Jesus and the Church & Practicing the Politics of Jesus
Assessing the Church through the prism of Jesus’ politics.
What we should do now?
Reading: 113-131;  178-188;  248-255;  319-332

Reference www.randomhouse.com/doubleday.

About this Book
Who was Jesus? And how was this first-century political revolutionary, whose teachings are meant to lead the way to freedom, turned into a meek and mild servant of the status quo? How is it possible to profess a belief in Jesus, yet ignore the suffering of the poor and the needy? Just how truly faithful to the vision of Jesus are the many politicians who claim to be Christian? These are the kinds of questions Obery Hendricks, a biblical scholar, activist, and minister, asks in this provocative new book. In this day and age of heated political debate, Hendricks’s The Politics of Jesus stands out as much for its brilliant re-creation of the life and mind of Jesus of Nazareth as for its scathing critique of modern politicians “of faith.”

Quotes
“The Politics of Jesus joins John Danforth’s Faith and Politics and Jim Wallis’s God’s Politics as essential reading for Americans trying to move beyond the corrosive standoff between the religious right and the secular left.” —Washington Post

“In The Politics of Jesus, Obery Hendricks articulates a critical prophetic message that interrogates our nation’s politics according to the values of Jesus. With stunning clarity he offers powerful new insights. This book is a must-read for everyone who seeks to understand and live out the revolutionary implications of following Christ.” —Jim Wallis, editor of Sojourners and author of God’s Politics

“This book is a grand prophetic work—courageous in its message, meticulous in its scholarship, and relevant in its challenge to our sleepwalking times. Hendricks recasts the prevailing view of the meek and mild Jesus in a powerful and persuasive way.” —Cornel West, University Professor of Religion, Princeton University

“The Politics of Jesus is an instant classic—a book of stunning erudition, remarkable eloquence, and political courage. But more than that, Hendricks gives us a pioneering account of the revolutionary Jesus that has rarely been as systematically expounded, or as theologically sophisticated, as this monumental work provides. The Politics of Jesus immediately thrusts Obery Hendricks, Jr., to the front ranks of American religious thinkers.” —Michael Eric Dyson, author of Pride: The Seven Deadly Sins

Excerpt

ONE

From the Red Sea to the Jordan River: The Roots of Jesus' Political Consciousness

"Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish, but to fulfill."
Matthew 5:17


If Jesus was a political revolutionary, what were the political issues and conditions of the world of his birth that he was responding to and that he sought so fervently to change? To fully appreciate the politics of Jesus we must begin with the most basic factor in his worldview and social identity: his Jewishness. We will briefly survey the major historical moments in the development of the religion of Jesus and note how the influence of each is reflected in his message and ministry. In other words, we must begin with an understanding of the legacy of the Judaism into which Jesus was born and its influence on his life and his every pronouncement.

Read More at www.randomhouse.com/doubleday