The Jesus Way is a series of short introductory theologies on various foundational topics written by a diverse community of pastors and scholars from the Anabaptist tradition. As I’ve grown in my own faith, I’ve found myself leaning ever and ever more toward Anabaptism because of how they have managed to blend evangelicalism with a robust theology of social justice and focus on church as a community. Even as a seminary-trained pastor, I have found personal devotional value in these foundational and accessible volumes because of their (unfortunately) unique perspective within evangelicalism.

Of all the volumes in this series, What is the Kingdom of God? is certain to be the most controversial and the most necessary. While the issue is nuanced and volumes upon volumes have been written about God’s Kingdom and, in particular, how God’s kingdom affects how we live in and rule our own empires, Cesar Garcia’s summation is incisive and comprehensive. While we often spiritualize the Kingdom of God as the community of believers or see it as a future hope, Garcia wastes no time getting into practicalities and politics.

Note that the word is politics and not partisanship. Nothing in the book is geared toward (or against) a specific political party or even indicative of any particular country. Garcia is simply adamant that living in God’s Kingdom is bound to affect how we live in our own polis (city). He wisely begins by noting that political partisanship was common in the day of Jesus. The Pharisees, Saducees, Zealots, and Essenes all had different political philosophies and ideologies for dealing with the Roman Empire. Christ doesn’t side with any one of them, but instead inserts his own reality.

Jesus spoke with political language and imagery that meant something to the people of his day. While the Jewish people hoped for a political Messiah who would overthrow Rome, what they got was a just-as-political Messiah who introduced a new, subversive upside-down Kingdom within the empire. It’s not a Kingdom that’s only otherworldly or for the eternal state, but a Kingdom that is situated in time and space as an alternative to man-created political structures.

This separation of church and state is a hallmark of Anabaptism, some of whom believe Christians should vote or hold public office. Garcia doesn’t go this far, but he is clear that our focus should not be “Christianizing” our secular politics, but ensuring that our churches are seen as sacramental representations of God’s Kingdom.

At a slim 85 pages, it’s amazing how much nuance Garcia brings to the text, never over-generalizing, never resorting to stereotype or caricature, somehow distilling all the complexities of the issue in a cogent and compelling manner. What is the Kingdom of God? is a book to be studied. Read it slow and soak it in. It’s the springboard toward how we develop our church communities and how we orient our own lives as ambassadors of reconciliation. As I closed the final pages, I was ready to start back from the beginning again to take notes, write down question, and ponder implementation.

I can already tell I am going to love the Jesus Way series of books. These short little works are filled with wisdom and thoughtful theology from an anabaptist perspective. In this part of the series Garcia examines what the Kingdom of God looks like in a world dominated by violence. He clearly describes how the kingdom of God is not right, left, center, liberal, working party, etc. but a way of following Jesus in the world that is at the same time beautiful, freeing, and immediately political. I loved his use of centripetal and centrifugal forces to capture what the kingdom is like. Looking for anabaptist thoughts on the kingdom? Check out this work. Want some anabaptist theology in short readable lengths, check out this series.