Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Economic Justice and The Simple Way

There was an essay by Shane Claiborne in the readings for this week (pages 238-240). A few months ago, there was an interview with him on "Speaking of Faith." It's really interesting.

The Simple Way, the community he founded 10 years ago, is intense. The members work part time jobs, share one car, run a neighborhood garden, thrift store, coordinate grocery donations and more. He and the rest of the community approach religion as a way of life, and something to shape their entire interaction with the world.

In my opinion, the most amazing thing about his community is the amount of time he has kept it up without burning out. He attributes that to the people he lives with. In the interview, his response to the question of avoiding burnout was, "What community is is surrounding yourself with people who are like the person you want to become."

He says a lot of other things related to economic justice and religion. (He ends the interview with the point that "It's not just whether you're going to be a lawyer or a doctor, but what kind of lawyer or doctor you're going to be.) It's worth a listen.

2 comments:

  1. Shane Claiborne walks the walk. He came to speak at my church in Cleveland a few years ago. He is inspiring a lot of people.

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  2. Claiborne is both compelling and challenging. I found his book Jesus for President to be insightful into his beliefs and immensely challenging. I highly recommend it.

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