Grand Rapids, MI – Shane Claiborne, co-author of Jesus for President, is celebrating his book selling 100,000 copies. The author shared the milestone with his social media supporters last week.
“Well this just happened,” Claiborne wrote on Instagram last Thursday (Jul. 2). “Jesus for President has now sold more than 100,000 copies,” the author added.
“It’s hard to explain how humbling and moving it is to hear the stories of what this book has meant to so many of you. Please keep sharing it.”
Jesus for President was written in 2008. Back then, Shane Claiborne was packing out churches in efforts to encourage Christians to live like Jesus.
“I grew up in Tennessee, fell in love with Jesus, and then it became very clear to me that the church is better at making believers than forming disciples,” Claiborne shared during an interview with Thrive With Asbury Seminary podcast. “By that, I mean sometimes we worship Jesus, but we don’t always do the things He said, because Jesus said sell what you have and give it to the poor,” the author explained.
“He said live like the lilies and the sparrows. Don’t worry about tomorrow. Don’t stockpile. I don’t know what that means for our 401(k) plan, but I have a hunch. This idea that we’re to hold our possessions with open hands, we’re to love our enemies, the call to nonviolence, to enemy love, these things really began to challenge me.”
Being challenged led Shane Claiborne to look deeper into what it meant to follow Jesus. “When Jesus says we’re to love beyond our family, He actually says even the people of the world love their own friends and family; we’re to love bigger than that,” the author told Thrive With Asbury Seminary. “He’s challenging us to extend the circle of who’s family,” Claiborne continued.
“I think that’s one of the challenges when we think of patriotism or nationalism. It’s just confining our love to the people of our own country,” the author shared when speaking on patriotism in relation to Christianity. “So much of the language of America First, it’s just too shortsighted.”
“I think God is calling us to love big, beyond biological family. That’s part of what it means to be born again, God’s love calling us to love beyond nationality. Love for our own people is a good thing, but God’s love doesn’t stop at borders. God is bigger than that.”
Jesus for President is written as a manifesto that challenges Christians to look beyond partisan politics and to lean into the Kingdom of God, which is not about political opinions and social constructs. The book is ideal for Christians searching for the middle ground in social battles.