Why Christians Should Be Leftists
- Ethics, Culture & Social Issues
- Publisher: Eerdmans
- Published: 2025
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Publisher's Description
The Sermon on the Mount offers a rousing call to political solidarity—if only we have ears to hear it. Being a Christian and being a socialist go together for Phil Christman. He explains why in this stirring manifesto, which is part testimony of his own journey out of conservatism, part entertaining introduction to the American left, and part impassioned call to his fellow believers to take a fresh look at their own politics. Christman speaks particularly to Christians who are already uncomfortable with how political leaders on the right leverage sexism, racism, and homophobia. He encourages these believers: Keep going! Apply your moral discernment to capitalism, too! Demonstrating why he’s regarded as one of the best essayists in America, Christman deftly synthesizes politics, theology, pop culture, and ethics in this erudite and lively treatise. Throughout he offers a gentle but firm challenge to Christians who are disillusioned by politics as usual and searching for a new approach to civic life that takes Jesus’s teachings seriously. “I am approaching the social through the personal, by giving a testimony of sorts. You can take the boy out of evangelicalism, but can you really take the evangelicalism out of the boy? Even now, I have to tell the story." Last Syllable Book Award Nonfiction Longlist (2025)
Endorsements (6)
“An elderly priest once reminded me that the word ‘vocation" has at its root the word vocare, which does not just mean understanding your life as a calling, but understanding that you can call others to different ways of understanding the world. That is what Christman's book succeeds at doing.”
“This is a timely book that I hope will catalyze serious conversations in our churches, especially in the Protestant mainline.”
“It’s pretty common to hear American Christians complain of what they call ‘political homelessness.’ In Why Christians Should Be Leftists, Philip Christman has done the enormous service of showing us all what a home for us might look like. And what a home it is! With intelligence, wit, and generosity, Christman lays out a rich and relevant vision of biblically minded politics. If we have the courage to take this book seriously, there is no telling how much of the world could be changed for the better. I loved every page.”
“Leftists don’t have to be Christians, and Christians don’t have to be leftists, but there’s a case to be made that the vision of the Sermon on the Mount ought to be honored above all in a politics of equality, where the last can be first not just in God’s eyes, but in the arrangements of this world too. Here that case is made with a wit, vigor, and steadfast attention to grace that are pleasures to witness in themselves. Read the book, and whether or not you find your conscience prompting you to walk into a socialist meeting, you will be challenged to think more deeply and more prayerfully about the proper outworking of your faith.”
“Phil Christman’s Why Christians Should Be Leftists is an intelligent, witty, and necessary instructional manual and reminder that being a Christian is inseparable from the concepts and hard practice of justice and love—a practice which can begin anywhere and any moment, but must point towards challenging and resisting our current world which is defined by the winners enriching themselves by exploiting the so-called losers.”
“To love one’s neighbor as oneself, to trust mercy, to reject idolatry, to know oneself as a sinner in need of grace: this is the path of a Christian. In Why Christians Should Be Leftists, Phil Christman convincingly argues—sometimes with great gentleness and reason, sometimes with passion and irascible wit—that if you take the Sermon on the Mount seriously, that path should veer left. Beautifully written, rich with history, humor, and compassion, this book is a joy to read. I can’t imagine a more urgently important book for Christians—or anyone interested in religion, politics, human beings, or the planet—to read at this time in the life of the world.”
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