Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove

Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove
Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove
Language	English
Nationality	American
Citizenship	United States
Alma mater	Eastern University; Duke Divinity School
Genre	Christian devotional literature
Subject	New Monasticism
Years active	2005-present
Spouse	Leah Wilson-Hartgrove
Website
	jonathanwilsonhartgrove.com

Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove is a Christian writer and preacher who has graduated both from Eastern University and Duke Divinity School.^[1] He associates himself with New Monasticism.^[2] Immediately before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, he and his wife, Leah, were members of a Christian peacemaking team that traveled to Iraq to communicate their message to Iraqis that not all American Christians were in favor of the coming Iraq War.^[3] Wilson-Hartgrove wrote about this experience in his book To Baghdad and Beyond: How I Got Born Again in Babylon.^[4] Also in 2003, he became one of the co-founders of Rutba House, a Christian intentional community in Durham, North Carolina's Walltown Neighborhood.^[5] In 2006, he founded the School for Conversion, a popular education center committed to "making surprising friendships possible." He taught workshops there alongside his mentor and freedom teacher, Ann Atwater until she died in 2016. Wilson-Hartgrove has also worked with the Rev. William J. Barber, II to promote public faith for the common good through Moral Mondays, the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival,^[6] and the Center for Public Theology and Public Policy at Yale Divinity School.

In his 2008 book Free to Be Bound: Church Beyond the Color Line (NavPress), Wilson-Hartgrove writes about racism and the central importance of racial reconciliation to Christianity.^[7] He co-wrote the 2008 book Becoming the Answer to Our Prayer: Prayer for Ordinary Radicals (InterVarsity Press) with fellow New Monastic Shane Claiborne,^[8] and published a book on what new monasticism has to say to the church, New Monasticism (Baker Books). They also collaborated on the popular daily prayer guide Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals (Zondervan).^[9]

Wilson-Hartgrove wrote God's Economy (Zondervan), published in 2009, and a study of the Benedictine practice of stability, The Wisdom of Stability (Paraclete Press), published in 2010. He published two books in 2012: The Awakening of Hope: Why We Practice a Common Faith (Zondervan) and The Rule of St. Benedict: A Contemporary Paraphrase (Paraclete Press).^[10] In 2013, he wrote a book about his experiences with hospitality called Strangers at My Door: A True Story of Finding Jesus in Unexpected Guests.^[11] During Holy Week 2015, Wilson-Hartgrove was one of approximately 400 Christian theologians and leaders who signed a public statement arguing that capital punishment in the United States should cease.^[12] He has worked closely with the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II in Moral Mondays and the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival and is co-author of The Third Reconstruction: Moral Mondays, Fusion Politics, and the Rise of a New Justice Movement (Beacon Press).^[13] After the 2016 election, Wilson-Hartgrove began teaching about the legacy of slaveholder religion in American Christianity^[14] and published Reconstructing the Gospel: Finding Freedom from Slaveholder Religion (InterVarsity Press).^[15] In 2020, he published Revolution of Values (InterVarsity Press), a book that explores how the religious right taught Americans to misread the Bible as an endorsement of Christian nationalism and invites people of faith to re-read Scripture from the perspective of the poor and marginalized whom Jesus blessed.^[16] In 2024 he published White Poverty: How Exposing Myths About Race and Class Can Reconstruct American Democracy (Liveright) with William J. Barber, II.

References

^ Forman (2009), p. 47.
^ Jacobs (2010), p. 144.
^ Flanagan & Lanzetta (2013), pp. 28-29.
^ Byassee (2013), p. 52.
^ Gorman (2015), p. 103.
^ "Love Thy Neighbor". The Sun Magazine. Retrieved 2020-09-16.
^ Harvey (2014), p. 26.
^ Riess, Jana (September 1, 2008). "Two "New Monastics" Tackle Prayer". Publishers Weekly. Vol. 255, no. 3. p. 11.
^ "Short Takes". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2018-12-04.
^ Buschart & Eilers (2015), p. 206.
^ Merritt, Jonathan (November 14, 2013). "Recovering the Discipline of Hospitality: An Interview with Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove". Religion News Service. Archived from the original on October 21, 2015. Retrieved May 31, 2015.
^ Kaylor, Brian (May 21, 2015). "Former Baylor Law Prof: Jesus' Death Convicts Capital Punishment". The Baptist Standard. Archived from the original on July 22, 2015. Retrieved May 31, 2015.
^ "Rev. William Barber is building a new 'moral movement' to reach people on race". PBS NewsHour. 2017-06-23. Retrieved 2020-09-16.
^ Race, Religion & Resistance, retrieved 2020-09-16
^ "Nonfiction Book Review: Reconstructing the Gospel: Finding Freedom from Slaveholder Religion by Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove. InterVarsity, $20 cloth (192p) ISBN 978-0-8308-4534-7". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2018-12-04.
^ "Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove wants white evangelicals to reckon with the Bible". Religion News Service. 2020-01-02. Retrieved 2020-09-16.

Bibliography

Buschart, W. David; Kent Eilers (2015). Theology as Retrieval: Receiving the Past, Renewing the Church. InterVarsity Press. ISBN 978-0830824670.
Byassee, Jason (2013). Discerning the Body: Searching for Jesus in the World. Wipf and Stock. ISBN 978-1621898788.
Flanagan, Bernadette; Beverly Lanzetta (2013). Embracing Solitude: Women and New Monasticism. Wipf and Stock. ISBN 978-1606083376.
Forman, Mary (2009). One Heart, One Soul: Many Communities. Liturgical Press. ISBN 978-0814699256.
Gorman, Michael J. (2015). Becoming the Gospel: Paul, Participation, and Mission. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. ISBN 978-0802868848.
Harvey, Jennifer (2014). Dear White Christians: For Those Still Longing for Racial Reconciliation. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. ISBN 978-0802872074.
Jacobs, Alan (2010). Wayfaring: Essays Pleasant and Unpleasant. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. ISBN 978-0802865687.