Claiborne, Shane 1975-

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Claiborne, Shane 1975-

PERSONAL:

Born 1975. Education: Eastern University, graduated; graduate work at Princeton Seminary; attended clown school.

ADDRESSES:

Office—The Simple Way, P.O. Box 14751, Philadelphia, PA 19134.

CAREER:

Writer, activist, evangelist, circus performer, and public speaker. The Simple Way (a faith community), Philadelphia, PA, founding member. Member of board of directors of the Christian Community Development Association.

WRITINGS:

The Irresistible Revolution: Living As an Ordinary Radical,Zondervan (Grand Rapids, MI), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

Social activist, preacher, and author Shane Claiborne has been called an "urban monk." He is a founder of The Simple Way, an inner-city Philadelphia community of radical faith followers and religious activists who seek to "follow Jesus, to rediscover the spirit of the early Church" and to experience a "way of life standing in stark contrast to the world of militarism and materialism," noted a biographer in an article posted on theGreenbelt Web site. He has worked with the famed Mother Theresa and has served on peace teams in Baghdad, Iraq, where he saw firsthand the effects of U.S. bombardment. Claiborne remarked in a Publishers Weekly interview with Tania R. Lyon that while he feels "connected to the spirit of monasticism," he does not want to be seen as a superhuman or a saint. Instead, Claiborne prefers to describe himself as an "ordinary radical" in his approach to activism and religion, striving to live a genuinely Christian life. Outside of his efforts as an author and evangelist, Claiborne admits that he is an avid circus performer and clown. "I think what I love about the circus is that it taunts death," he commented to Lyon. "The resurrection was maybe the greatest circus act ever."

In The Irresistible Revolution: Living As an Ordinary Radical, Claiborne describes the foundations of evangelical Christianity as practiced by himself and other "ordinary radicals" of The Simple Way and related faith communities. He describes the interdependence of organizations that embrace the ordinary radical culture, including hospitality houses and other types of grassroots organizations. Claiborne also outlines his own background and his early upbringing in America's Bible Belt, his conversion to Christianity, his family's misgivings, and his own efforts to help those who need it and to make a difference in a world that suffers from enormous injustice and huge cultural and economic rifts. In thePublishers Weekly interview with Lyon, Claiborne commented that among his goals with the book is to "communicate the journey I made from a suffocating, judgmental culture to experiencing a lot of grace" as a member of the radical faith community.

Booklist reviewer June Sawyers called The Irresistible Revolution "a moving, often humorous account of a life of faith lived to the fullest." Claiborne's work stands as a "clarion call to rethink the meaning of church, conversion and Christianity," commented a Publishers Weekly contributor, who concluded that "no reader will go away unshaken."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, February 1, 2006, June Sawyers, review of The Irresistible Revolution: Living As an OrdinaryRadical, p. 7.

Publishers Weekly, November 28, 2005, Tanir R. Lyon, "PW Talks with Shane Claiborne: The Urban Monk," p. 46, and review ofThe Irresistible Revolution, p. 49.