Donald Kraybill's book originally published in 1978 has continued to be printed and edited. I finished reading the 25th Anniversary Edition from Herald Press. Kraybill gives new insight into the world surrounding Jesus. "The Upside-Down Kingdom" describes the radical message Jesus brought to his world and connects it to the message the church continues to live in a foreign, worldly kingdom. He goes into detail about the history, culture and politics that surrounded the first century Jewish world with all of it's revolutions, religion, and empires. Kraybill then discusses how Jesus message differed with that of the surrounding culture. He discusses how Jesus consistently broke with cultural conventions to minister to the Gentile, Samaritan, sinners, women and multiple other people groups who Jesus should not have had contact with had he followed the culture. Kraybill ends by challenging the church to continue to be a community that bears witness to and upside-down way of living.
I enjoyed this book. Recently I've read other books (Myth of a Christian Nation, Jesus For President) which have a similar message. Kraybill shows that this is not a new idea. I learned a lot about the religious background and make up of the 2nd Temple period of Jewish history. I would highly recommend this book to everyone.
As an additional plug Don will be speaking at Mechanic Grove March 6. He'll be talking about Discipleship and also Amish faith during our Sunday School hour. For more information visit: www.mgcb.org
