Jesus Goes to Washington
His Progressive Politics for a Sustainable Future
Imprint: Wipf and Stock
This book explores how Christian spirituality and the political ethic of Christianity's founder, Jesus of Nazareth, might contribute to the most looming emergency of our day--ending human misery while reducing the planet's woes. It advances the new ethical paradigm of sustainability that bespeaks the longings of this remarkable Jewish peasant who elbowed his way into a world filled with social misery, shame, and land exploitation. Donning the mantle of a prophet/lawgiver, he disgraced the justifying ethic of the prevailing Roman oligarchies that finds its active counterpart in today's political landscape. He offered a different political path--a Progressive one--that led to respecting Creation and all its inhabitants. Jesus helps us to cherish humane values and he urges us all--Democrats and Republicans, Independents and Greens, religious and nonreligious--to be united in fulfilling them.
Jesus Goes to Washington celebrates the international Earth Charter, the most significant moral document of our generation. Given the urgency of world calamity, the charter implores us to muster every spiritual force at our disposal for immediate action. Being history's most influential moral authority, Jesus provides the needed impetus for achieving a just and sustainable global society.
Douglas J. Miller graduated from Wheaton College, Fuller Theological Seminary, and Claremont Graduate School. He was Professor of Christian Social Ethics at Eastern Baptist Seminary (now Palmer Seminary) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He also pastored the First Baptist Church of Santa Barbara, California. His work appears in Christianity Today, The American Baptist Journal, Baker's Dictionary of Christian Ethics, and The Evangelical Dictionary of Theology.
"Doug Miller provides a refreshing oasis in the midst of a socio-theological desert. His quest to 're-politicize' Jesus of Nazareth leaves one with a portrait of the Jesus of Scripture who is as timely today as he was twenty-one hundred years ago. For those of us who hunger and thirst for the truth of Christ, we have in this work a rare treasure of scholarly thought, practical application, and scriptural integrity."
--Charles E. Booth, Senior Minister, Mt. Olivet Baptist Church
"In this revolutionary book, Doug Miller shakes us up to act politically for Jesus Christ the Savior. The book reveals clearly that we have not read, understood, and interpreted the Bible correctly. We must now believe in a savior of the world who was a politician and died a political death."
--Nzunga Mabudiga, Professor, Theologie pastorale, Universite Chretienne du Nord d'Haiti
"If you are a conservative Christian, this book is a must-read. Your assumptions will be challenged and your journey as a follower of Jesus Christ will be enlarged."
--The Reverend Luis Cortes Jr., founder and president of Esperanza
"Doug Miller's sharp insights and clear reading of the gospels open up a fresh view of the politics of Jesus Christ. While the words of Jesus have been appropriated and exploited by right-wing interests in recent years, Miller deconstructs Christ's words with patience and clarity to demonstrate that the core of his message reflects a strong commitment to liberal values of social justice, economic equality, and regard for the environment."
--Jerry Roberts, Author of Diane Feinstein: Never Let Them See You Cry
"Christians readily embrace Jesus the divine and Jesus the man, but what will they make of Jesus the politician? Doug Miller makes a convincing case that Jesus was a progressive, offering provocative interpretations of Jesus' views and actions regarding human sexuality, a living wage, affirmative action, ecology, and even judicial activism." --Anne Semans, Author of The Good Vibrations Guide to Sex
"For too long, Jesus' gospel has been preached as a kind of disembodied spiritualism that the church then tried to tie to social justice action. Doug Miller's approach reverses that order, grounding the teachings of Jesus as a form of social justice action and countering the last hundred years' tendency to frame Jesus as a teacher of individualistic piety. This is a real and valuable contribution."
--Wes Brown, Professor Emeritus of Psychology and the Department of Religion, St. Olaf College