I Pledge Allegiance: A Believer's Guide to Kingdom Citizenship in Twenty-First-Century America

by David Crump, Soong-Chan Rah (Foreword by)

Overview

What does it really mean for Christians to live as faithful kingdom citizens in today’s world?

Bitter partisan conflict. State-sanctioned torture. Economic injustice. Ethical corruption. Even a cursory glance over daily news headlines shows a stark contrast between the American political state and the kingdom of heaven. Where, then, does the Christian’s ultimate allegiance lie?

In I Pledge Allegiance David Crump issues a clarion call to Jesus’s twenty-first-century disciples, stirring them up to heed God's word and live out their kingdom citizenship here on earth. Closely examining the ethical teachings of Jesus and his apostles in the New Testament and using real-world examples to illustrate the vital issues at stake, Crump challenges Christians to embrace the radical, counterintuitive, upside-down way of Jesus—a way of living and thinking that turns the world’s values on their head, smashes through stale political and cultural conventions, and welcomes God’s kingdom into the very heart of our shared society. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802871749
Publisher:	Eerdmans, William B. Publishing Company
Publication date:	02/01/2018
Pages:	262
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

David Crump is a retired professor of New Testament at Calvin College and a former pastor with more than thirty years of combined experience in the pulpit and the classroom. His other books include Encountering Jesus, Encountering Scripture: Reading the Bible Critically in Faith and Knocking on Heaven's Door: A New Testament Theology of Petitionary Prayer.

Table of Contents

Foreword ix

Preface xi

Acknowledgments xv

1 Whom Would Jesus Torture? 1

2 What Is the Kingdom of God? 11

3 Seek First the Kingdom of God 29

4 Living with Dual Citizenship 46

5 Aliens in a World of Politics 67

6 How Is the Kingdom Political? 81

7 When Disobedience Is a Virtue 96

8 Taking Exception to Exceptionalism 115

9 Does Kingdom Service Permit Military Service? 134

10 God Hates Poverty 152

11 "Blessed Are Those Who Suffer Because of Me" 171

12 Being a Kingdom Church 188

Notes 200

Select Bibliography 229

Index of Names and Subjects 234

Index of Scripture References 242

Editorial Reviews

Stanley Hauerwas
— author of Resident Aliens and Hannah’s Child
“New Testament scholar David Crump has the courage to write a book in Christian ethics that explores how Christians must learn how to negotiate a world in which they are no longer in control. One of the delights of this book is Crump’s careful and constructive use of the New Testament to help us see what it means for Christians to recover the radical character of an ethic of discipleship.”

William T. Cavanaugh
— author of Being Consumed and Migrations of the Holy
“This book meets two needs. The first is for a biblically based analysis of the ethical issues of our day aimed at an educated lay audience. The second is for a book by an evangelical Christian that challenges evangelicals to take Jesus seriously in living out their citizenship. In forthright language and with the aid of real-life examples, Crump calls Christians to reject the idolatrous political and economic allegiances that divide the church.”

Ronald J. Sider
— author of Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger and The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience
“A powerful, passionate plea to American Christians to follow Jesus rather than conform to a broken culture. . . . Biblical, urgent, provocative. A must-read.”

Gregory A. Boyd
— author of The Myth of a Christian Nation and Letters from a Skeptic
“Well-written, insightful, and compellingly argued. Crump exposes the frightful degree to which the church in America has been co-opted by the secular ideals and agendas of our country. I Pledge Allegiance is a much-needed clarion call for the American church to turn from its divided loyalties and once again embrace the singular devotion to Christ and his kingdom that lies at the heart of the gospel.

From the Publisher

★ 12/01/2017
Crump (retired, New Testament, Calvin Coll.; Encountering Jesus, Encountering Scripture) calls on evangelicals to consider the idea that Christians are both strangers and sojourners in this world. He advocates Christians to be a prophetic voice that holds society to account on issues of justice and human dignity, and maintains that a Christian community cannot be replicated as a secular society. He notes that attempts to create a Christian nation often result in the Church taking on the values of the state, and the Christian community becoming more concerned with protecting its secular privilege than living out the Gospel. After examining the more radical teachings of Jesus and the example of the early church as found in the Book of Acts, Crump traces the evolution of the church from Constantine's Edict of Toleration through the Reconstructionist strains of Calvinism in America. The author then explores issues such as Christian Pacifism and God's preferential option for the poor. VERDICT While the relationship between the church as prophetic witness and its radical distinction from the larger society could have been fleshed out more thoroughly, Crump succeeds in challenging his fellow evangelicals with this theological account.—JW

Library Journal