The Non-Violent Radical

Description:
This book interprets the wisdom of Jesus' sayings in the gospels in words and images. McCollough examines Jesus' wisdom in the context of the political and economic world of the Roman Empire and then applies it to our own time for both personal growth and social action. Original works of art by McCollough illustrate the texts of these sayings and can be used in private reflection, worship, and educational settings. In addition, readers may use the images for newsletters, church bulletins, and program announcements. A DVD with color images of many more illustrations of the book is available from the author.

The short wisdom sayings of Jesus are almost always interpreted as private or interpersonal instruction and ignore the political/economic context of his time. The result is often sentimental piety or otherworldly speculation. Yet it is hard to imagine that Jesus and his followers were blind to the tyranny of Rome and the economic exploitation of a tiny minority over the vast majority of people living desperate lives in the Roman colonies. This book uses the insights of formerly colonized Bible readers in the non-Western world to understand the postcolonial meanings of Jesus' time and our own.


Endorsements:
""Charles McCollough assembles much wisdom in this wonderful book, from Jesus, scholars, his own life, and friends. Some of it he presents with words, some he presents in an extensive array of extraordinary, sculptured visual images. Read, look, and look again.""
--Warren Carter, Brite Divinity School

""Tell the truth. Keep it simple. Anyone charged with the responsibility of this paradox of preaching will appreciate, even treasure, this book from Charles McCollough. Dense theories of postcolonial biblical studies, tender mercies from a life of ministry, and articulate forms of an artist are molded skillfully together. The reader, teacher, and preacher will feel the heat of its firing and carry that flame into their task of living the truth that is both justice and love.""
--Heather Murray Elkins, Drew University

""The Nonviolent Radical is a sumptuous tapestry that offers a new angle of vision and an invitation to walk wisely so that all might experience God's shalom. Weaving together insights from postcolonial biblical studies, his own everyday experiences, stories from around the globe, and his whimsically serious sculptures, McCollough probes the depths of Jesus' wisdom sayings. McCollough's gifts as sculptor and scholar come together here to gently and powerfully re-form our perceiving and living.""
--Rene House, New Brunswick School of Theology

""The Nonviolent Radical by Charles McCollough is an inspired melding of lively, accessible scholarship and visual art in a study of Jesus' proverbial wisdom teachings. As the foreword attests, McCullough sculpts both words and clay so that the sayings of Jesus 'cut to the marrow of our being.' McCollough places Jesus' often spiritualized, individualized wisdom sayings in their political economic context, the brutality and inequity of the first century, highlighting parallels with the twenty-first century . . . The sculptures the author/artist has created and the stories behind them become an incarnation in clay of Jesus' wisdom teachings.""
--Alyce M. McKenzie, Perkins School of Theology


About the Contributor(s):
Charles McCollough, PhD, is a sculptor and the author of seven books, including The Art of Parables. He was the resident artist at five seminaries, and a former policy advocate on the national staff of the United Church of Christ in Washington, DC. He lives in Hopewell, New Jersey.