Was Jesus a Socialist?: Why This Question Is Being Asked Again, and Why the Answer Is Almost Always Wrong

Product Description

“If anyone was ever a socialist, it was Jesus.”

—Kelley Rose, Democratic Socialists of America
 
Economist and historian Lawrence W. Reed has been hearing people say “Jesus was a socialist” for fifty years. And it has always bothered him.

Now he is doing something about it.

His new book demolishes the claim that Jesus was a socialist. Jesus called on earthly governments to redistribute wealth? Or centrally plan the economy? Or even impose a welfare state?

Hardly.

Point by point, Reed answers the claims of socialists and progressives who try to enlist Jesus in their causes. As he reveals, nothing in the New Testament supports their contentions.

Was Jesus a Socialist? could not be more timely. Socialism has made a shocking comeback in America. Poll after poll shows that young Americans have a positive image of socialism. In fact, more than half say they would rather live in a socialist country than in a capitalist one.

And as socialism has come back into vogue, more and more of its advocates have tried to convince us that Jesus was a socialist.

This rhetoric has had an impact. According to a 2016 poll by the Barna Group, Americans think socialism aligns better with Jesus’s teachings than capitalism does. When respondents were asked which of that year’s presidential candidates aligned closest to Jesus’s teachings, a self-proclaimed “democratic socialist” came out on top. Sure enough, the same candidate earned more primary votes from under-thirty voters than did the eventual Democratic and Republican nominees
combined.

And in a 2019 survey, more than 70 percent of millennials said they were likely to vote for a socialist.

Was Jesus a Socialist? expands on the immensely popular video of the same name that Reed recorded for Prager University in July 2019. That video has attracted more than
four million
views online.

Ultimately, Reed shows the foolishness of trying to enlist Jesus in
any political cause today. He writes: “While I don’t believe it is valid to claim that Jesus was a socialist, I also don’t think it is valid to argue that he was a capitalist. Neither was he a Republican or a Democrat. These are modern-day terms, and to apply any of them to Jesus is to limit him to but a fraction of who he was and what he taught.”
 

Review

“A fun and eminently readable book. . . . Mr. Reed is a learned man, an economist and historian, steeped in the writings of the great classical writers and thinkers in history and theology. But this is a book geared to the popular audience, a worthwhile gift for your daughter, son, pastor, and good friends. With humor, direct quotation, and clear exposition, Mr. Reed demonstrates how Christianity and socialism, far from being in sync, are ultimately at odds with each other.”
—
Washington Times
 
“‘Jesus was a socialist’: Don’t you hear that a lot? Well, here’s an entire book that explains not only how that isn’t true but also how we can really
know it isn’t true. . . . I hope a lot of people will learn the truth from this book.”
—
Eric Metaxas, radio host and #1
New York Times bestselling author

“A timely, lively, learned and well-argued masterpiece that deftly demolishes the claims that Jesus was at heart a Marxist. Reed’s impressively deep knowledge of economics and the New Testament shines through. Woe to those who try to challenge him on the subject of Jesus’s alleged political beliefs!”
—
Steve Forbes
 
“What is the true defining characteristic of socialism? As Larry Reed shows, it is not compassion but coercion. . . . It is hard to find any argument for coercive force in Jesus’s teachings.”
—
Daniel Hannan, bestselling author of 
Inventing Freedom and 
The New Road to Serfdom, from the foreword
 
“Growing up as a pastor’s son, one of the earliest lessons my father gave me was this: ‘The love of money is the root of all evil, but a wise understanding of its nature and purpose is the beginning of much good.’ The teachings of Jesus are o