Praise for Grand Theft Jesus

“If Robert McElvaine had been Jesus’s lawyer, Pontius Pilate would have released him on his own recognizance.”

— George Carlin

“Jesus never wrote a book, but I recognize his hand writing in Grand Theft Jesus. Like Jesus, McElvaine uses lively illustrations and a serious sense of humor to cleanse the temple of exclusive and exploitative religion.”

— Reverend Alan Storey,

Calvary Methodist Church, South Africa

"Full of wordplay, puns and parodies, this no-holds-barred satirical polemic eviscerates the religious right."

— Publishers Weekly

"McElvaine has demonstrated in this unique apologia, the beauty and utility of Jesus' message free of the misguided and hypocritical interpretations by some of today's frenetic religionists."

— Gov. Mario Cuomo,

former governor of New York

 “Grand Theft Jesus will annoy a lot of the sanctimonious neo-Puritans of the Religious Right—and that’s good! For everyone else, especially those seeking a full-throttled Christianity that actually reflects what Jesus taught, McElvaine offers one heck of a ride.”

— Reverend Barry W. Lynn,

Executive director, Americans United for Separation of

Church and State, and author of Piety and Politics

“Robert McElvaine reveals with startling clarity that much of the religious establishment in America has become like the religious establishment that betrayed Jesus. Grand Theft Jesus is at times funny, at times infuriating, but always on target. It should be read by everyone who proclaims the name of Jesus.”

— Dr. Obery M. Hendricks, Jr.,

author of The Politics of Jesus

“Robert S. McElvaine has written a hard-hitting, easily accessible, fact-filled and yet charming and fun-to-read account of how the Religious Right continues on its course to steal Christianity from its most hopeful and progressive New Testament ideals. It’s the truth behind the news in the 2008 election.”

— Rabbi Michael Lerner,

Chair, The Network of Spiritual Progressives

“Where there is hypocrisy, McElvaine calls it hypocrisy, and where the self-advertised speakers for God are ‘ungodly,’ they get unmasked. And he does this with memorable turns of phrase, no little wit, and seriousness of purpose.”

— Dr. Martin E. Marty,

Distinguished Professor,

University of Chicago Divinity School

 “Grand Theft Jesus is one of those rare books that might just make a huge difference in the world! It manages to combine a hilarious satiric voice with passionate, no-nonsense clarity about the lost gospels—of the actual Christian bible! There are few people on the planet who can mobilize such a voice of Christian conviction against right wing Christianity.”

— Dr. Catherine Keller,

Professor of Theology,

Drew University

“Grand Theft Jesus vigorously and passionately attacks the pseudo-Christianity so prevalent today, but does so from a Christian perspective. It makes its powerful case with humor as well as serious argument.”

— Dr. Harvey Cox,

Harvard Divinity School

author of The Secular City and

 When Jesus Came to Harvard

“Grand Theft Jesus will hearten progressives everywhere and show the nation that the Religious Right does not represent true Christianity.”

 — Rev. Will Campbell,

maverick Southern Baptist preacher

 

 “This book will be explosive in the United States and around the world. It is past due. Many lives hang in the balance.”

 — Rev. Ross Olivier,

former General Secretary,

Methodist Church of Southern Africa

 

“A highly entertaining (and infuriating) romp through the foibles of extremism in all its forms: extremist conservative politics, extremist self-righteousness, and extremist ‘ChristianityLite.’”

—Sarah Posner,

The American Prospect

“Grand Theft Jesus is a full-fledged modern Jeremiad, and Bob McElvaine is today’s Jeremiah.”

 — Greg Miller,

poet, author, Iron Wheel and Rib Cage

“Grand Theft Jesus is a sometimes hilarious and always theologically pointed wake-up call to those who are being taken for a religious ride. It is also a powerful exposé of the political abuse of right-wing religion in service of the Bush administration's ideology. It reminds us that authentic faith is not manufactured in the television studios of those McElvaine calls the ‘Right Reverends,’ like Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, James Dobson and Ted Haggard, but that it must square with the mind and spirit of a teacher called Jesus.”

— Rev. Dr. Peter Storey,

Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Duke University Divinity School, Former President of the South African Council of Churches

“This is absolutely an important book because it does not just bash the religious right from a secular point of view, a polemics that has dominated the left's view of religion. Instead, Grand Theft Jesus takes religion seriously and exposes the sham religion of the political religious right.”

— Rita Nakashima Brock,

Faith Voices for the Common Good

“Momentum is building for an alternative movement within Christianity that will rally Evangelicals who are fed up with being identified with the Religious Right. We’re not the majority, but we’re getting closer to being one. A book like this will go far to help us build momentum. We need clever and concise critiquing and this book provides it. The monologue is ending.”

— Rev. Dr. Tony Compolo,

Evangelical Baptist Minister, author, A Reasonable Faith,

Spiritual advisor to President Clinton

“McElvaine in writing this book is performing a great service for the American people by opening our eyes to the political and spiritual slippery slopes we find ourselves on. Grand Theft Jesus is just exactly what we need to counter the disturbing political forces that are seeking to co-opt religion in our country for their very selfish purposes.”

— Gov. William F. Winter,

former Governor of Mississippi

"If you want to smell the gunpowder, check out Robert S. McElvaine's brand new Grand Theft Jesus: The Hijacking of Religion in America. He's a historian who is deeply sympathetic to the power of faith. He writes movingly about what the Amish taught us after the shooting tragedy in Pennsylvania in 2006. But he devotes 300 pages to savaging the remnants of what we once called 'the religious right.'"

— David Crumm, 

Read the Spirit

"Grand Theft Jesus is not a compendium of village atheist 'gotcha' points. Bob has a theological agenda to argue that Christian principles actually oppose the approach that the Christianists take on various hot-button issues. He's making arguments from what is coming to be called the 'Christian left.' But while the book is peppered with quotes from people identified in some way with that religious trend, notably Barack Obama and Jim Wallis, Bob does not indulge the Republican-friendly game of scolding the Democrats for allegedly being insufficiently respectful of "people of faith". Instead, he takes the stance of a committed Christian focused on preventing the Christian religion from being wrongly identified with the religious and political positions of the Republican Party's Christianists."

— Bruce Miller

The Blue Voice