The Upside-Down Kingdom: Anniversary Edition Kindle Edition
by Donald B. Kraybill (Author), Lisa Sharon Harper (Foreword)
4.8 out of 5 stars 33 ratings
Length: 320 pages Word Wise: Enabled Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled
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The Upside-Down Kingdom calls readers to imagine and embody the reign of God on earth as it is in heaven.
Since its publication in 1978, The Upside-Down Kingdom won the National Religious Book Award and has become the most trusted resource on radical Christian discipleship.
In this completely updated anniversary edition, author Donald B. Kraybill asks: What does it mean to follow the Christ who traded victory and power for hanging out with the poor and forgiving his enemies?
How did a man in first-century Palestine threaten the established order, and what does that mean for us today?
Jesus turned expectations upside down. The kingdom of God is still full of surprises. Are you ready?
Editorial Reviews
Review
"This anniversary edition of Donald B. Kraybill's profound vision of the kingdom of God could not have come at a more timely moment."--Lisa Sharon Harper
"Reviews "
"A paradigm-shifting introduction to the life-disrupting message of Jesus of Nazareth."--Bruxy Cavey "
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"I dare you to read this book. It could very well turn your world upside down!"--Gregory A Boyd "
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"The Upside-Down Kingdom is a must-read."--Drew G. I. Hart "
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"Brilliantly combines a biblical scholar's grasp of the Scriptures, a sociologist's understanding of culture, and a master teacher's gift for clarity."--Peter Dula "
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"What a gift to another generation of Jesus' followers!"--Malinda Elizabeth Berry
"Reviews "
"I hope 'upside-down-ness' will touch generations of leaders to come."--John Paul Lederach "
Reviews
If you only read one book about Jesus and God's kingdom . . . this should be it." --Sara Wenger Shenk
"Readable, challenging, inspirational, and eminently practical." --Stuart Murray
"Reviews "
"Challenges us to translate the upside-down kingdom into our lives today." --Reta Halteman Finger "
From the Inside Flap
"Donald B. Kraybill works through an extensive list of Jesus' teaching against violence and concludes that 'the message of Jesus is clear. The use of violence, whether physical or emotional, is not God's way. Jesus shows us how to absorb suffering, not inflict it.'
"Jesus' call to love the enemy slices through the issues with simplicity and clarity. . . . Jesus calls us to faithfulness; to faithfully embody God's loving forgiveness."
-DreamSeeker
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Biography
Donald B. Kraybill, Ph.D., is senior fellow at the Young Center of Elizabethtown College in Elizabethtown, Pa. Among his many publications, he has authored, coauthored, or edited eight books on Amish society. The Riddle of Amish Culture (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001)is his flagship book that explains why the Amish are thriving. Amish Grace and The Amish Way (both by Jossey-Bass) explore Amish forgiveness and spirituality. His Concise Encyclopedia of Amish, Brethren, Hutterites and Mennonites is the only book that provides an overview of some 200 Anabaptist groups in North America. Kraybill's The Upside-Down Kingdom, which won the Religious Book of the Year Award, in print for more that thirty years, it is still widely read. His books have been translated into more than half a dozen languages. The Young Center, where he is based, is the premiere national institute for Amish studies. Kraybill's commentary on Amish life has been featured in dozens of broadcast and print media including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian (London), The Australian, Newsweek, NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, NPR, and BBC Radio to name a few.
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Arthur Sido
4.0 out of 5 stars Great book with a few cautionsReviewed in the United States on October 1, 2011
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
It took me a while but I finally finished Donald Kraybill's The Upside-Down Kingdom. Kraybill is Distinguished College Professor, and Senior Fellow of Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, which is a pretty impressive title, at least for its length, and one of the foremost experts on Anabaptism and especially the Amish in the world. The Upside-Down Kingdom (UPK for short) is not a book on Anabaptism per se but rather a look at the way that Christ's Kingdom is in every respect the exact opposite of what the world values. Up is down, great is least.
UPK is a fascinating book and challenging to boot. Some of the background information that Kraybill shares is absolutely incredible and really fleshes out portions of Scripture. He does a great job of drawing out from Scripture some crucial points regarding status, power, wealth, etc. that we take for granted and showing the reader where we have strayed far from the intent of Scripture.
It is a pretty devastating indictment of our traditional church culture in the West and should make any open-minded Christian ask some serious questions and take a deep introspective look. There are a few slow points but the book as a whole flows beautifully and reads easily while still be meaty.
That isn't to say that I don't have concerns. I do with every book but UPK has some issues that are especially concerning.
First Kraybill seems pretty comfortable with traditional church structures. He certainly has criticisms of them but he seems to miss in places that the very traditions we cling to in many ways hamper living as citizens of the Upside-Down Kingdom. He also takes great liberties in assigning motivations and emotions, especially to Christ, that are absent from the text. What Jesus, the eternal God, is thinking in a situation is not a topic I am comfortable making definitive statements about.
My bigger concern has to do with how Christ is represented and how His cross is understood. The language about the deity of Christ and the relationship between God the Father and God the Son is a bit sloppy and imprecise. Someone could read this book and perhaps get the impression that God is the Father is God and that Jesus is something less than God. His treatment of the cross is even more troubling. Statements like this for example...
"...Jesus demolished the entire sacrificial system when he announced full forgiveness, direct from God - any time, any place without a bloody sacrifice." (The Upside-Down Kingdom, pg. 248)
Kraybill seems to be saying that the sacrificial system was overturned symbolically and finally when Jesus overturned the money changers tables in the temple and that the cross is primarily the result of the social unrest caused by a life of radical service. The problem is that this is doesn't match Scripture which tells us that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins (Heb 9:22) and that Jesus brought peace between man and God by His shed blood on the cross (Col 1:20). So there are certainly some places where red flags popped up in an otherwise outstanding book.
So in summary I would absolutely recommend The Upside-Down Kingdom to most Christians but I would add a note of caution.
Read with your eyes (and Scriptures!) wide open and be discerning in places where Kraybill starts to stray from orthodox teachings. I would caution a newer believer who is not solidly grounded in the Bible to be very cautious here. Perhaps read in the context of a study group UPK would work but I would be concerned that a new believer would miss some of the red flags I saw. I don't want to give the impression that this is not an outstanding book because it absolutely is and one I highly recommend.
Just read with caution, which is good advice for any book!
9 people found this helpful
Willys Wrencher
4.0 out of 5 stars Living like Jesus ChristReviewed in the United States on May 3, 2010
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
"The Upside-Down Kingdom" by Donald B. Kraybill is an excellent book challenging all Christians
Mr. Kraybill, a sociologist and Christian of Anabaptist/Mennonite background, correctly and lovingly challenges Christians to abandon the philosophies of this world in order to accurately represent the Kingdom of God on earth.
The Upside-Down Kingdom shows that the Kingdom of God really is opposed to any worldly system of thinking or government. To win, you must lose. To live, you must die. To gain, you must live. Every one of Christ's commands are the direct opposite of those taught by the leading thinkers of the world. If Christians are to impact their generation for the Kingdom of God we must start living like true ambassadors of the Kingdom.
I give this book four starts because I thought it was slightly repetitive at points and not quite as conservative in some of its views as I would have liked. The main instance of this is when the author contrasts the Greek definitions of "love" in a way that I think stretches sound exegesis. This is common in modern evangelicalism but is really not as significant as Mr. Kraybill would have us believe. However, this book is still a great, easy read and will certainly challenge those who want to live like Jesus did.
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Gabbarta
5.0 out of 5 stars The Upside-Down Kingdom
Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2011
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
In order for us to have a clear understanding the theology of Kingdom we have to know who Jesus are without any cultural, theological, spiritual, or philosophical assumptions, or what the author calls detours around Jesus. We have to know Him from his own story and words. Therefore, Kraybill's the theology of Kingdom is based on the story of Jesus Christ and centered on His ministry. He provides a biblical framework for understanding the kingdom.
The author calls the Kingdom that Jesus preached the upside down kingdom of radically different principles and values, because its realization stands in contrast to the common ways of this world. The king of this Kingdom is God (the author uses Jesus sometimes), and its principle are Jubilees, Sabbath and Shalom that were insinuated in Jesus' words and message, and their main goal is to elevate men and women from the social, political, religious monarchal, economical labels or boxes to the level of siblings in the Kingdom. However, these principles contradict with the principles of the world. He explains that the political and religious power plays had drastic effects on the economic life of the majority poor. Therefore, Jesus himself has to face the three spheres of social power: politics, economics and religion.
The author believes that Jesus teaching on kingdom is personal and realistic, and it is not to be lived aggregately but collectively. By personal, I mean that God rules in believer's heart and relationships to elevate them to a new status. By realistic I mean it could be applied to our live wherever and whenever human live. We can envision this in the church as assembly of people who are citizens of the Kingdom, and who adopt the idea and the values of the Kingdom in any culture they reside in. Because believers are, like any other human beings, social, they need a social structure to meet their needs and the needs of others. The church is the social structure that the values and culture of the Kingdom are practiced and passed on to others. Therefore, church as a "social vehicle" of the Kingdom culture uses its "servant structure" to accomplish Kingdom's mission, which is church's work. Its mission is to be the prophetic voice in the world against social discrimination, political oppression, religious scandals, and economic injustice according to God's purpose and will.
In another level, the author criticizes the institutional church. He believes that Kingdom of God is above any place, nation, and culture. However, as the author get to the end of this point, he ultimately realized that we need to periodically evaluate the rule and purpose of its activities.
Being from an Anabaptists background, the author articulates very well the Kingdom children's respond to the violent. Responding to violent with violent will naturally produce greater loss for both parties. A quick peak to the history, we will find that violent never solved problems. When we do not respond violently, we might think it is weakness, but according to Jesus Teaching it is power. Responding to violent with love serves many purposes.
Firstly, we do not give the perpetrator what he or she intended by acting violently.
Secondly, we teach the aggressor a lesson that some of them might not be familiar with.
Thirdly, we are showing our ultimate obedience to our Master who commanded us to love our enemy.
The author bases his argument on the principle of non-reciprocal love (agape). Agape is a love that does not expect something in return. It is like God's love for us.
What Kraybill makes it clear is that the kingdom is not compromising to culture, powers or convenience; rather, its main goal is to transform them. The only way to that is through what he calls them the triple symbols, basin, cross, and tomb. The symbol of basin represents what is known recently by the servanthood leadership. Serving others without any regards to sex, nation, religion, and ethnicity is the core of the Kraybill's Kingdom Theology. This is not an easy task, because it will lead to the cross. But because we trust God, and we are accomplishing Kingdom's mission, the final word is for God. When the church adopts the triple symbol concept, its journey toward accomplishing its mission is not going to be a comfortable one.
Looking at the political climate during the time, we will realize that the Jewish people were in desperately waiting for a king to liberate them from Romans. In the wilderness, Jesus had faced that temptation. He did not accept political authority that was offered to Him by the tempter. Instead, He chose to be a revolutionary. He was a revolutionary not in the Zealous type of rebel that used violence, but in violating Pharisees' laws and regulations that were above God's law, criticizing the false political tranquility of the Romans, and condemning the right-wing Sadducees lucrative temple operation. Serving others out of love was His policy.
The second sphere that Jesus faced was religious power. The religious practice grew stale, empty, and lucrative. Jesus was tempted to reveal His Messianic secret to influence people to make a new movement or create a new religion. He might have struggled with this thought during His mission. Instead, again He preferred the role of the servant Savior.
The third sphere was the economic power. Again and again Jesus preached against economic injustice that trampled the poor to benefit the rich. Jesus was tempted to use His power to feed the hunger and end the economic unjust. Instead, He chose to be the bread of life for all nations. His life, His way, and His teaching will form a new foundation of living.
I read the book entirely, and I, without any doubt, can say that it is one of the most transforming books that I have read in English. It presents a universal theology of the Kingdom that could be applied to different contexts and understood in any given situation. The strengths of the Kraybill's theology of Kingdom is that it is a biblical theology, which could be applied to any church in any place in the world within their current context. Just as he provides context for the reader, he allows for contextual interpretation for those that wish to apply what they have learned from the text. And this might be the genius of this book. It never imposes context but rather exposes it. Moreover, the author incorporates his sociological education to bring to life in a very articulated and easy to understand language the historical, political, and social culture of the New Testament.
My criticism of this book is that Kraybill seems to be ambivalent in his argument about the church. In one hand, he sees it as a servant structure for the Kingdom's mission. In the other hand, he does not seem happy with concept of the church. I believe that all human being's effort will fall short in living the faith. However, I also believe, that the church with all its shortcomings will remain the beloved bride of Christ. We cannot disvalue the rich meanings of the symbols of the church. At the same time, I agree with the author that we have to evaluate the meaning and purpose of these symbols periodically. The author also seems to accommodating from time to time for those who may yearn for personalized version of the Gospel of the kingdom and find this kind of interpretation repelling.
The author theology fits best into the Anabaptist perspective of Church, State, and Public Justice. By taking Jesus words to heart, the church can become the prophetic voice in the community. Jesus called his disciples light and the salt of the world. Its mission is to add Kingdom's value and speak God's truth by loving the other and caring the community. The church already has a great deal of influence on people and communities' values. It is not expecting to benefit from this task financially, nor try to gain power over people whom she is serving. Rather to transform them to the image of Jesus. It is not going to be an accomplishable task. However, it is going to be an earthly time process. The test will show how faithful she will remain to her Master, "but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved."
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