Claiborne Shane - Beating guns: hope for people who are weary of violence

What does history teach us? Guns and violence offer the momentary illusion of controlthe thrill of powerbut then we look up and find ourselves seeped through with the stench of death. From the genocide of Native Americans to slave patrols armed by the Second Amendment to the militarized racism of the last century to Columbine and Pulse nightclub and Chicago, guns have promised Americans peace and delivered heartbreak again and again and again. Beating Guns dives deep and uncovers the pathologies of violence in our society. Claiborne and Martin shine light on a path out of the madness. Its time to never again say never again.

Lisa Sharon Harper , founder and president of FreedomRoad.us

Beating Guns fills a spiritual void in our national conversation on guns. This powerful book employs pragmatic wisdom and challenging biblical insight to offer a fresh, humane, and sacred view of our guns, our violence, and the nations collective response to human suffering.

Otis Moss III , writer, activist, sacred troublemaker, and pastor of Trinity UCC, Chicago, Illinois

This is the quintessential pro-life book if there ever was one! The tireless, intrepid Shane Claiborne is joined by Michael Martin in a summons to face up to the claims of faith in response to gun pathology. This book is both a bold summons to imagine a gun-regulated society and a mandate to act in the public domain. A must for those who care but who have not yet cared enough to weigh in actively for the sake of an abundant life that overrides the lethal power of fear.

Walter Brueggemann , Columbia Theological Seminary

Outrage about gun violence in this so-called Christian nation is the easiest path of resistance. In fact, outrage is too easy. It is much harder to grieve over those suffering from gun violence and over how Christians have embraced a legal rightcalled the Second Amendmentas their Christian right. But the most difficult path is hope carried by love, and it is this love that empowers Beating Guns . It is time for Christians to turn from the insane violence of guns and their defense by rights to a cross-shaped vision of how we ought to live.

Scot McKnight , professor of New Testament, Northern Seminary

This book could change America and awaken Christianity! Seldom have I seen such a combination of documented history, compelling narrative, helpful visuals, and practical, readable theology in one book. Read Beating Guns and try to decide whether you need to weep or rejoice. Probably both!

Richard Rohr, OFM , Center for Action and Contemplation

This is a book worth reading and then doing something about.

Bob Goff , New York Times bestselling author of Love Does

Anyone who is worn out by our countrys day-to-day infatuation with violence needs the hope that is contained in this skillfully written tour de force. The authors ask the question, Can one carry a cross in one hand and a killing machine in the other? Some may answer yes. But, if one reads this book, no simplistic answers are possible.

James E. Atwood , retired Presbyterian pastor and author of America and Its Guns: A Theological Expos and Gundamentalism and Where It Is Taking America

A story behind every statistic. Beating Guns is a book of stories that will crack our hearts wide openstories that will convince us that if we value life, if we are pro-life, we have to find a way to beat guns. Mike Martin beat a gun at Middle Collegiate Church, beat it into a farming tool. Shane Claibornes honest prose will convert you. Together these visionaries show us the way to beat guns.

Jacqui Lewis , senior minister, Middle Collegiate Church, New York; executive director, The Middle Project

Beating Guns helps gun lovers and gun haters to suspend their assumptions and look afresh at lethal firepower and find surprising solutions to the deadly problems associated with them. A very timely book that can be enormously helpful to individuals, churches, and whole communities who know that something must be done.

Rob Schenck , subject of The Armor of Light , an Emmy Awardwinning documentary on evangelicals and guns; president of The Dietrich Bonhoeffer Institute

The violence epidemic in America that has made guns a part of Americas wardrobe is making our children road kill. It comes from a love affair with guns and the deception that they somehow make us safer. In Beating Guns , we are reminded of what Dr. King taught us, that if we can change our hearts we can change our world.

Michael L. Pfleger , pastor of The Faith Community of Saint Sabina

For any who feel helpless in a society that seems to accept gun violence as inevitable, this book will change you. Being faithful to Jesus requires taking seriously the message of this book.

Tony Campolo , professor emeritus, Eastern University