Last week Shane Claiborne was in town for a PathLight luncheon. It was an honor to interview him and hear his take on faith, culture, justice, and activism. Plus I had fun teasing him about not following me on Twitter (he does now — woohoo!).
Shane is deeply concerned about the death penalty and recently wrote Executing Grace: How the Death Penalty Killed Jesus and Why It’s Killing Us. Although our interview did not cover this topic, PathLight gave a copy of the book to the 35 people who attended the luncheon. It is a powerful account of the history, theology and abuse of the death penalty. Highly recommended.
If the topic interests you, I also recommend Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson. Bryan is a defense attorney who has worked tirelessly for decades to ban the death penalty. His stories are tragic and unnerving. Shane interviewed Bryan to gather information for his book.
Although there is some overlap, Executing Grace focuses more on the theology of capital punishment, whereas Just Mercy looks more at the racial undertones of systemic racism. Both are excellent and probably must reading here in California where we will soon be voting on the issue.
Well, somehow my post about Shane’s visit veered into issues around capital punishment! But I know Shane will appreciate the call for better understanding of this important issue, so he won’t mind if I divert attention from him to the topic.
At least I hope so. Otherwise he’ll unfollow me.
