What does it really mean for Christians to live as faithful kingdom citizens in today’s world?Bitter partisan conflict. State-sanctioned torture. Economic injustice. Ethical corruption. Even a c
What does it really mean for Christians to live as faithful kingdom citizens in today’s world?
Bitter partisan conflict. State-sanctioned torture. Economic injustice. Ethical corruption. Even a cursory glance over daily news headlines shows a stark contrast between the American political state and the kingdom of heaven. Where, then, does the Christian’s ultimate allegiance lie?
In I Pledge Allegiance David Crump issues a clarion call to Jesus’s twenty-first-century disciples, stirring them up to heed God's word and live out their kingdom citizenship here on earth. Closely examining the ethical teachings of Jesus and his apostles in the New Testament and using real-world examples to illustrate the vital issues at stake, Crump challenges Christians to embrace the radical, counterintuitive, upside-down way of Jesus—a way of living and thinking that turns the world’s values on their head, smashes through stale political and cultural conventions, and welcomes God’s kingdom into the very heart of our shared society.
Stanley Hauerwas
— author of Resident Aliens and Hannah’s Child
“New Testament scholar David Crump has the courage to write a book in Christian ethics that explores how Christians must learn how to negotiate a world in which they are no longer in control. One of the delights of this book is Crump’s careful and constructive use of the New Testament to help us see what it means for Christians to recover the radical character of an ethic of discipleship.”
William T. Cavanaugh
— author of Being Consumed and Migrations of the Holy
“This book meets two needs. The first is for a biblically based analysis of the ethical issues of our day aimed at an educated lay audience. The second is for a book by an evangelical Christian that challenges evangelicals to take Jesus seriously in living out their citizenship. In forthright language and with the aid of real-life examples, Crump calls Christians to reject the idolatrous political and economic allegiances that divide the church.”
Ronald J. Sider
— author of Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger and The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience
“A powerful, passionate plea to American Christians to follow Jesus rather than conform to a broken culture. . . . Biblical, urgent, provocative. A must-read.”
Gregory A. Boyd
— author of The Myth of a Christian Nation and Letters from a Skeptic
“Well-written, insightful, and compellingly argued. Crump exposes the frightful degree to which the church in America has been co-opted by the secular ideals and agendas of our country. I Pledge Allegiance is a much-needed clarion call for the American church to turn from its divided loyalties and once again embrace the singular devotion to Christ and his kingdom that lies at the heart of the gospel.”
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David Crump is a retired professor of New Testament at Calvin College and a former pastor with more than thirty years of combined experience in the pulpit and the classroom. His other books include Encountering Jesus, Encountering Scripture: Reading the Bible Critically in Faith and Knocking on Heaven's Door: A New Testament Theology of Petitionary Prayer.
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