About this item
Parkland. Las Vegas. Dallas. Orlando. San Bernardino. Paris. Charleston. Sutherland Springs. Newtown. These cities are now known for the people who were shot and killed in them. More Americans have died from guns in the US in the last fifty years than in all the wars in American history. With less than 5% of the world's population, the people of the US own nearly half the world's guns. America also has the most annual gun deaths--homicide, suicide, and accidental gun deaths--at 105 per day, or more than 38,000 per year. Some people say it's a heart problem. Others say it's a gun problem. The authors of Beating Guns believe it's both.This book is for people who believe the world doesn't have to be this way. Inspired by the prophetic image of beating swords into plows, Beating Guns provides a provocative look at gun violence in America and offers a clarion call to change our hearts regarding one of the most significant moral issues of our time. Bestselling author, speaker, and activist Shane Claiborne and Michael Martin show why Christians should be concerned about gun violence and how they can be part of the solution. The authors transcend stale rhetoric and old debates about gun control to offer a creative and productive response. Full-color images show how guns are being turned into tools and musical instruments across the nation. Charts, tables, and facts convey the mind-boggling realities of gun violence in America, but as the authors make clear, there is a story behind every statistic. Beating Guns allows victims and perpetrators of gun violence to tell their own compelling stories, offering hope for change and helping us reimagine the world as one that turns from death to life, where swords become plows and guns are turned into garden tools.
About the Author
Shane Claiborne graduated from Eastern University and did graduate work at Princeton Seminary. In 2010, he received an Honorary Doctorate from Eastern. His adventures have taken him from the streets of Calcutta where he worked with Mother Teresa to the wealthy suburbs of Chicago where he served at the influential mega-church Willow Creek. As a peacemaker, his journeys have taken him to some of the most troubled regions of the world-from Rwanda to the West Bank-and he's been on peace delegations in Afghanistan and Iraq.Together with his friend Tony Campolo, Shane heads up Red Letter Christians, a movement of Christians committed to living out the lifestyle prescribed in the Gospels. Shane is also the visionary founder of The Simple Way, an organization in inner city Philadelphia that has helped birth and connect radical faith communities around the world. He is married to Katie Jo, a North Carolina girl who also fell in love with the city (and with Shane) . They were wed in St. Edwards church, the formerly abandoned cathedral into which homeless families relocated in 1995, launching the beginning of The Simple Way community and a new phase of faith-based justice making. Shane writes and travels extensively speaking about peacemaking, social justice, and Jesus. Shane's books include Jesus for President, Red Letter Revolution, Common Prayer, Follow me to Freedom, Jesus, Bombs and Ice Cream, Becoming the Answer to Our Prayers - and his classic The Irresistible Revolution. Shane's newest book is Executing Grace (June 2016) . Shane has been featured in a number of films, including Another World Is Possible and The Ordinary Radicals. His books are translated into more than a dozen languages. Shane speaks over 100 times a year, nationally and internationally. His work has been published in Esquire Magazine, SPIN, Christianity Today, and The Wall Street Journal. He has appeared on Fox News, Al Jazeera, CNN, and NPR. You can follow Shane on Twitter (@shaneclaiborne) , Facebook (ShaneClaiborne) , and www.redletterchristians.org.
