New Book by Christian Collins Winn, Board Member of the International Bonhoeffer Society – English Language Section, February 2023
From the Wm. B. Eerdman Publishing Company’s website:
What if the kingdom of God is not a place, but a person?
In this timely monograph, Christian T. Collins Winn argues that the kingdom of God is Jesus himself. Drawing on a wide breadth of liberation theology, Jesus, Jubilee, and the Politics of God’s Reign amplifies the echoes of salvation history in contemporary struggles for social justice.
Collins Winn demonstrates how the institution of the Jubilee year exemplifies the kingdom of God. A semicentennial celebration prescribed in the book of Leviticus, Jubilee prescribed the redistribution of wealth and freeing of prisoners. Hope for Jubilee persists in apocalyptic rhetoric, from the exhortations of Old Testament prophets to those of modern progressives.
Likewise, Jesus’s ministry, passion, and resurrection convey the justice of Jubilee and urgency of apocalypse. His conquest over death represents the ultimate vindication of the oppressed in the kingdom of God, an “outpouring of Spirit” seen today in continuing restorative efforts by oppressed communities in the face of death-dealing institutions. Historically informed and passionately written, Jesus, Jubilee, and the Politics of God’s Reign challenges readers to find Jesus in the marginalized persons of our own time.
REVIEWS
“Christian Collins Winn has written a welcome compelling exposition of ‘the Kingdom of God’ as it is parsed in the Bible. He has read and digested a remarkable amount of scholarship and put it to good use. Most importantly, he keeps a close eye on the emancipatory dimension of ‘the Kingdom’ as it pertains to the great emancipatory issues of race, class, and gender among us. Collins Winn has written a thoughtful, judicious manifesto to which attention must be paid.”
—Dr. Walter Brueggemann, Columbia Theological Seminary
“This is the book I’ve been waiting for—a clear depiction of the kingdom of God thoroughly grounded in the Old and New Testaments. Collins Winn shows us what Christian faith is all about. He offers a biblical, theological, and ethical vision that speaks directly to those who face injustice and compellingly argues through the psalms, prophets, apocalyptic writers, and Jesus himself that God is on their side. This will be a text I will return to again and again to guide my teaching, preaching, and discipleship.”
—Dr. Jennifer M. McBride, author of You Shall Not Condemn: A Story of Faith and Advocacy on Death Row
“With the intimacy of a fireside chat, the precision of a neurological surgeon, the quest of an avid, curious adventurer, the deep compassion of pastoral-prophetic activism, and the artistry of a maestro conducting universal music, Christian Collins Winn provides a tour de force that offers a clarion call for all faith-believers to experience Jesus as the embodiment of the quintessential rule of God, which is ultimate, covenantal, self-giving love.
“This work explores the reign of God, a metaphor used and abused to support myriad socio-political-ethical visions of reality. Such interpretive gymnastics often create a miseducated overlay of patriotism and faith. Collins Winn invites us to frame social ethics as responsible liberation. Jesus, Jubilee, and the Politics of God’s Reign makes a convincing case for Jubilee that exposes powers and principalities steeped in white supremacist, patriarchal, capitalistic misogyny, to interpret theologically the totality of Jesus’s life as resurrection justice. This volume is a must-read for those committed to following the way of Jesus and breaking free of traditional, institutionalized theological missteps.”
— Rev. Dr. Cheryl A. Kirk-Duggan, scholar, author, and performer
You must be logged in to post a comment.