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About Just Discipleship
An interview with Michael Rhodes
EV: What led you to edit this book? What problem or issue(s) are you seeking to address?
MR: I came to faith in Jesus in a church and evangelical movement that was re-discovering God’s heart for justice, and have spent a good deal of time living and working in marginalized neighborhoods as a result. But I became increasingly convinced that the problem we faced was less deciding whether God cared about justice and more how we might become the sorts of people who pursued it. In other words, I became
increasingly convinced that, at least in my circles, we needed to think about justice in terms of discipleship.
EV: What is the thesis of your book?
MR: The thesis of my book is that Scripture not only tells us that God cares about justice, but also offer us tools to help us become just in our journey of discipleship. Rather than focusing on the call to justice, then, Just Discipleship explores some of what Scripture says about how disciples of Jesus become just. Each chapter explores a different portion of Scripture, exploring what it might suggest about just discipleship and drawing that discussion into dialogue with a contemporary justice issue. So, to give a few examples, I explore Deuteronomy’s feasts as practices that shape the community for justice, and bring that into dialogue with the contemporary issue of economic segregation; I explore the relationship between wisdom and justice in Proverbs, and bring that into dialogue with debates about minimum wage policy; I explore the Year of Jubilee in dialogue with the Black Manifesto and contemporary debates about reparations for Black Americans; I look at the politics of Joseph and Daniel, and bring them into dialogue with contemporary debates around Christian Nationalism.
EV: Who’s your target audience, and what are you most hoping they hear from it?
MR: The short answer is, people who are deeply committed to Scripture and responsible for discipling and training others (teachers, pastors, scholars, students, elders, etc).
Here’s the slightly longer version. On the one hand, the questions the book is trying to answer and the specific contemporary issues I wrestle with emerged from my own experience as a white, upper-middle class male living in an incredible, beautiful South Memphis neighborhood that is overwhelmingly Black and faces a long history of economic exploitation and marginalization. So, for me, the book is really practical, and I tried to make clear just how practical and important just discipleship is for churches and Christians in the pews. The goal is transformed practice.
At the same time, while there are many excellent books calling Christians to do justice, I think Just Discipleship spends more time than most digging deeply into Scripture. I wrote the book as a biblical scholar, and I wrote a book that I believe can convince biblical scholars and could be used in biblical studies classrooms. And I wrote a book that I hope can actually help pastors preach on just discipleship with integrity, because the arguments emerge out of deep exegetical engagement with the Bible. Or at least, that was my goal!
EV: Did you have any “aha” moments while writing the book?
MR: So many! This book was a genuine research project for me. For instance, my original proposal didn’t include a chapter on the Psalms, but stumbling into the prayerbook of the Bible’s deep interest in justice prayers and songs has been deeply transformative, and comparing that justice singing to contemporary Christian worship was an eye-opener. Comparing the political discipleship of Joseph and Daniel changed the way I think about the Bible’s imperial context and our own. While I wrote extensively on the Year of Jubilee in a previous book (Practicing the King’s Economy: Honoring Jesus in the Way We Work, Earn, Spend, Save, and Give [Baker, 2018]), and even named a daughter Jubilee, reading the Jubilee in dialogue with conversations about reparations taught me a great deal about reparations and opened new avenues for me on this text that I’ve loved for so long. I could go on and on!
EV: What was the most challenging part of the book to write?
MR: The hardest part for me in nearly any writing project is trying to figure out how to grab and keep the reader’s attention, while also giving the complexity of the topic its due. In this book, I’m both calling normal Christians to dig into justice-oriented discipleship in very practical ways and trying to break new exegetical ground; trying to present all that with the right tone and balance is always a challenge.
EV: What kind of seminary/church classes should assign your book?
MR: I had friends read the book who have no academic background in biblical studies to try to make sure that adult education classes and church Sunday Schools could use Just Discipleship. I think those that do will find it enriches their reading of Scripture and gives them ideas for taking the “next step” together in justice-oriented discipleship. In terms of seminary classes, I think that the book could be used in courses on biblical theology, Christian ethics, discipleship, and maybe even mission.
About the Author
Michael Rhodes (PhD, University of Aberdeen/Trinity College Bristol) is Lecturer in Old Testament at Carey Baptist College.