Michael J. Rhodes

The church in the West is rediscovering the fact that God cares deeply for the poor. More and more, churches and individual Christians are looking for ways to practice economic discipleship, but it's hard to make progress when we are blind to our own entanglement in our culture's idolatrous economic beliefs and practices. Practicing the King's Economy cuts through much confusion and invites Christians to take their place within the biblical story of the "King Jesus Economy." Through eye-opening true stories of economic discipleship in action, and with a solid exploration of six key biblical themes, the authors offer practical ways for God's people to earn, invest, spend, compensate, save, share, and give in ways that embody God's love and provision for the world.Foreword by Christopher J. H. Wright.

The Bible calls us to live as disciples of Jesus in every area of our lives, including politics. But how do we live as faithful political disciples when politics has become so toxic? Too often, Scripture's political witness is reduced to a few verses to defend our partisan political team. For some, political neutrality is the gold standard in congregational life. But if God's people refuse to pursue political discipleship, someone--or something--will disciple our politics for us. Rather than rehashing America's current political context or attempting to offer a blueprint for contemporary political practice, this book invites readers from across the political spectrum to rediscover the startling, strange, beautiful, and often-neglected world of biblical politics and imagine how the Bible might transform our political witness. Each chapter offers a snapshot of a different biblical text or figure--such as Esther, the Torah, Jeremiah, Paul, the midwives of Exodus, and Jesus--and explores how they offer us a vision of political discipleship. To help us imagine how we might move from Scripture to political action, the author includes stories of faithful political discipleship from around the world and throughout church history. With a foreword by Carmen Joy Imes, Reimagining Biblical Politics empowers us to practice faithful political discipleship in our churches, neighborhoods, and communities.

Many Christians and churches are rediscovering that God cares deeply about justice, but opinions abound as to what an approach to biblical justice might look like in contemporary society. What exactly does the Bible mean by justice, and what does it have to do with poverty, racism, and other issues in our world? More importantly, how do we become the kind of people who practice justice? Biblical scholar Michael Rhodes argues that the Bible offers a vision of justice-oriented discipleship that is critical for the formation of God's people. Grounded in biblical theology, virtue ethics, and his own experiences, he shows that justice is central to the Bible, central to Jesus, and central to authentic Christian discipleship. Justice stands at the heart of Scripture. Following Jesus demands that we become just disciples in an unjust world.