“Who Is My Enemy?” – A Reflection from Lee C. Camp

May 1, 2012 By

The following excerpt is taken from Lee C. Camp’s Who Is My Enemy? Questions American Christians Must Face about Islam-and Themselves.

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“Public Enemy Number One” was killed last night.

The night before I signed off on the proofs of this book, Osama bin Laden was killed. The United States’ Public Enemy Number One for a decade and the mastermind of the 9/11 terrorist plots, bin Laden had been hunted down and his death was greeted with widespread revelry and celebration. The media reported student gatherings in front of the White House complete with chants of “U-S-A!” President Obama, in announcing the killing of bin Laden, asserted, “Justice has been done.” Numerous government officials called bin Laden’s death a “victory against terrorism.”

But how do we determine who our enemies are? And, who is the we? “Our enemies are not flesh and blood,” said the apostle Paul. Nonetheless, if we do identify “enem” with any given person, how can killing that enemy be a victory for those who follow the Jesus who taught us to love our enemies? Moreover, does our celebration of such killing really serve as a victory over the forces of terror? Certainly Osama bin Laden, his body cast into the sea, will himself foment no more terror and strife. But ultimately, can such vengeance overcome evil? Can there even be such a thing as a “war against terror”? If the light of Christ has overcome the darkness through suffering love, if at the cross of Christ the justice of God was satisfied, and if we are called to take up our cross and follow Jesus, what then? Could it be that the killing of Osama bin Laden is but a continuation of bin Laden’s ways, which in the end can only be overcome in the longsuffering love of Christ?

These are neither trivial nor flippant questions, and I raise them with much trepidation.

©2011 by Lee C. Camp. Published by Brazos Press. Unauthorized use of this material without express written permission is strictly prohibited.

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For more information on Who Is My Enemy? click here.

To read a longer excerpt of the book, click here.

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Brazos Best of the Best of 2011

January 3, 2012 By

A very happy 2012 from us at The Brazos Blog. We are looking forward to what this new year will bring – and we have many new titles that we are excited about.

However, before focusing on 2012 we want to acknowledge our 2011 titles that recently appeared on various “Best Of” list around the online and print world.

Relevant magazine named Lee C. Camp’s Who Is My Enemy? number 4 on its Top 10 Books of 2011. They wrote:

“Camp suggests taking the question that was on everyone’s lips after the 9/11 attacks (“How could they do this to us?”) as an authentic agenda for understanding: “What in their experience, in their presuppositions, in their vision, could contribute to the deeds or words or actions we find so unjust and horrid?” Reading Who Is My Enemy reminded me of the growing pains I’d get as a kid, usually at night. It was going to be uncomfortable for a while, but I knew I was going to wake up bigger.”

 

Scot McKnight named Christian Smith’s The Bible Made Impossible the Jesus Creed Book of the Year.

“In spite of being panned by a few notable evangelicals, Smith is one of America’s finest scholars of evangelicalism, knows theology, and has poked populist evangelicalism in the eye — both eyes in fact. He has laid down a challenge that must be met: How to read the Bible in a way that does not lead to pervasive pluralism but leads to conclusions on which we can agree enough to say “Thus saith the Lord.” Until that happens, we’ve got too many lone rangers claiming “Thus saith the Lord.” What good is it to say we’ve got the very Word of God if we can’t agree on what the Word says?”

McKnight also listed Camp’s Who Is My Enemy? in his list of the best books of 2011 under the “World Issues” category.

The Englewood Review of Books named several Brazos titles in their Best Books of 2011 list – including Miroslav Volf’s A Public Faith, Christian Smith’s The Bible Made Impossible, and Lee C. Camp’s Who Is My Enemy?

Publishers Weekly named Volf’s A Public Faith among the Top 100 Books of 2011 (and the Top 10 in Religion):

“The gifted Christian theologian answers a pressing question in a pluralistic culture, arguing that nonexclusionary theological truth is not only possible but also socially healthy.”

Congratulations to our authors!

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The Weekly Hit List: December 23, 2011

December 23, 2011 By
There are several blogs that have recently engaged with Christian Smith’s The Bible Made Impossible: Why Biblicism Is Not a Truly Evangelical Reading of Scripture.

Here are a couple:

Soliloquium Blog

Hope Abbey Blog

 
Miroslav Volf’s A Public Faith: How Followers of Christ Should Serve the Common Good has also gotten some recent attention by various bloggers.

Here are a few:

CLR Forum

John Piippo Blog

Once Upon a Truth Blog

Keith Clark began a series of posts on Christian Scharen’s Broken Hallelujahs on his Exploring Apprenticeship Blog.

Tripp York wrote a brief review of Lee Camp’s Who Is My Enemy?, calling it “[p]robably one of the most important books in theology/Christian ethics published this past year.”

Check it out here.

Broken Hallelujahs Giveaway Winners

Congratulations to our winners: John Berard, Jonathan Hallewell, Dan Allison, Jennifer Lanthrope, and Nick Norelli!

They have each won a copy of Christian Scharen’s new Brazos book Broken Hallelujahs: Why Popular Music Matters to Those Seeking God.

Merry Christmas from all of us at The Brazos Blog!

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The Weekly Hit List: December 9, 2011

December 9, 2011 By
Several blogs have referenced or reviewed Christian Smith’s
The Bible Made Impossible this week:

Matt McCullough reviewed it at the Gospel Coalition website.

Tony Jones did several posts on the book:

Entry 1: The Ailment
Entry 2: The Cure

Scot McKnight made a reference to The Bible Made Impossible that points to the necessity of Smith’s book. Check it out here.
A piece from Samuel Wells, which is an excerpt from his book
Be Not Afraid: Facing Fear with Faith, was posted on RelevantMagazine.com:

A Gospel for the Rich
Lee C. Camp’s Who Is My Enemy? was reviewed by Joe James on the blog “Ends & Means.”

 

Daniel Taylor’s Creating a Spiritual Legacy was reviewed in the latest Englewood Review of Books.

Creating a Spiritual Legacy Giveaway Winners

Congratulations to the winners of The Brazos Blog Giveaway.

Karl Persson, Kyle Stevens, Craig Higgins, Dan Jesse, and Duane Young will each receive a free copy of Daniel Taylor’s Creating a Spiritual Legacy: How to Share Your Stories, Values, and Wisdom.

Check back next week for our next giveaway.

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The Weekly Hit list: December 2, 2011

December 2, 2011 By
  An excerpt from the recent Brazos release Be Not Afraid: Facing Fear with Faith by Samuel Wells will be featured in the December issue of Christianity Today.

You can check it out online here.
Lee C. Camp’s Who Is My Enemy? was reviewed by Dan Martin on the Nailing it to the Door blog.

John Mark Hicks also reviewed the book on his blog.
Several blogs have recently posted reviews of The Bible Made Impossible by Christian Smith:

John Byron at The Biblical World

Tim Perry at Texas Flood Blog

Crispin Schroeder at My Life as a Wrestler

Matt Rawlings at Pastor Matt Blog

Creating a Spiritual Legacy Giveaway

Don’t forget to enter our current giveaway at The Brazos Blog.

Five lucky winners will receive a copy of Daniel Taylor’s Creating a Spiritual Legacy.

To enter, click here.

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The Weekly Hit List: November 4, 2011

November 4, 2011 By
Lee C. Camp’s Who Is My Enemy? was reviewed by Joe Canner on Scot McKnight’s Jesus Creed Blog. Check it out here. 

Also, as we mentioned last week, Who Is My Enemy? is positively reviewed in the Nov/Dec issue of Relevant. They call it “one of the truly essential books of 2011.”

Here is a link to that review.
Christian Smith’s The Bible Made Impossible was reviewed on the Patrol website. Check it out here. 

Tony Jones just included The Bible Made Impossible on his list of “Some Books I Plan to Read.” He intends to read through Smith’s book and post some blog entries on it – and he invites anyone to join him. We look forward to his engagement with this book!

Don’t forget to enter our current giveaway.

We will be giving away copies of Susannah Clements’s book The Vampire Defanged: How the Embodiment of Evil Became a Romantic Hero to five winners. To enter, fill out the form here.

Winners will be announced on next week’s Weekly Hit List.

For more on The Vampire Defanged click here.

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The Weekly Hit List: October 28, 2011

October 28, 2011 By
Pastor Bob Cornwall reviewed A Public Faith on his blog Ponderings on a Faith Journey. Check it out here.

 

Also, look for a great review of Lee C. Camp’s Who Is My Enemy? in the Nov/Dec issue of Relevant magazine.
Rachel Held Evans recently featured two Brazos titles on her blog.

First, she recommended Christian Smith’s The Bible Made Impossible and previewed a series of posts that she will be doing on the book in January.

Then, she strongly recommended Stephen Binz’s Women of the Gospels and Women of the Torah studies (part of the Ancient-Future Bible Study series).

  

Hip-Hop Redemption Book Giveaway

Congratulations to Patrick Craig, Andy Goodliff, Nathan Gilmor, Ken Berry, and Jared Yaple! These five lucky winners will receive a free copy of Ralph Basui Watkins’s new book Hip-Hop Redemption: Finding God in the Rhythm and the Rhyme.

For more on Hip-Hop Redemption, check out www.HipHopRedemption.org.

And check back next week for our next giveaway!

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The Weekly Hit List: October 21, 2011

October 21, 2011 By
J.R. Daniel Kirk posted his fifth and final entry on his blog Storied Theology on Christian Smith’s The Bible Made Impossible. Check it out here.
Who Is My Enemy? author Lee C. Camp recently published an article in the Huffington Post entitled “Moving Beyond ‘Clash of Civilizations’.” Check it out here.
 An excerpt from Miroslav Volf’s A Public Faith was posted on the blog for Political Theology. Read it here.

Don’t forget about our current giveaway. We will be selecting five winners who will receive a copy of Ralph Watkins’s new Baker Academic book Hip-Hop Redemption: Finding God in the Rhythm and the Rhyme.

To enter, go here.

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The Weekly Hit List – October 14, 2011

October 14, 2011 By
J.R. Daniel Kirk continued his review of Christian Smith’s The Bible Made Impossible on his blog Storied Theology:
Part II

Part III

Part IV (“So my love fest with The Bible Made Impossible continues.”)
Scot McKnight posted his third blog post on Who Is My Enemy? Check it out here.

Camp’s Who Is My Enemy? and Volf’s A Public Faith were both included in The Christian Century’s “Take & Read” list for Practical Theology.

Speaking of Volf, check out Byron Borger’s review of A Public Faith on the Q Ideas website.

The Brazos Blog’s Song of Songs Giveaway

Congratulations to Robert Marcello on winning our most recent giveaway. Robert will receive a complimentary copy of Paul J. Griffiths’s Song of Songs entry in the Brazos Theological Commentaries on the Bible series.

Check back here next week for our next giveaway.

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Video: Lee Camp on Religion in the Public Square

October 3, 2011 By

Here is our final video clip with Lee C. Camp on the questions that animate his new book Who Is My Enemy? In this video Camp addresses religious violence and the potential of religion in the public square.

Also, all the articles and videos from the Who Is My Enemy? Patheos Book Club Feature will remain online. You can access them here: http://www.patheos.com/Book-Club/Lee-Camp-Who-Is-My-Enemy.html

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