The Sermon on the Mount offers a rousing call to political solidarity—if only we have ears to hear it.

Being a Christian and being a socialist go together for Phil Christman. He explains why in this stirring manifesto, which is part testimony of his own journey out of conservatism, part entertaining introduction to the American left, and part impassioned call to his fellow believers to take a fresh look at their own politics. Christman speaks particularly to Christians who are already uncomfortable with how political leaders on the right leverage sexism, racism, and homophobia. He encourages these believers: Keep going! Apply your moral discernment to capitalism, too!

Demonstrating why he’s regarded as one of the best essayists in America, Christman deftly synthesizes politics, theology, pop culture, and ethics in this erudite and lively treatise. Throughout he offers a gentle but firm challenge to Christians who are disillusioned by politics as usual and searching for a new approach to civic life that takes Jesus’s teachings seriously.

“I am approaching the social through the personal, by giving a testimony of sorts. You can take the boy out of evangelicalism, but can you really take the evangelicalism out of the boy? Even now, I have to tell the story.