The Politics of Jess is a powerful new biography of Jesus told from the margins. Miguel A. De La Torre argues that we all create Jesus in our own image, reflecting and reinforcing the values of communitiessometimes for better, and often for worse. In light of the increasing economic and social inequality around the world, De La Torre asserts that what the world needs is a Jesus of solidarity who also comes from the underside of global power. The Politics of Jess is a search for a Jesus that resonates specifically with the Latino/a community, as well as other marginalized groups. The book unabashedly rejects the Eurocentric Jesus for the Hispanic Jess, whose mission is to give life abundantly, who resonates with the Latino/a experience of disenfranchisement, and who works for real social justice and political change.While Jesus is an admirable figure for Christians, The Politics of Jess highlights the way the Jesus of dominant culture is oppressive and describes a Jess from the barrio who chose poverty and disrupted the status quo. Saying ';no' to oppression and its symbols, even when one of those symbols is Jesus, is the first step to saying ';yes' to the self, to liberation, and symbols of that liberation. For Jesus to connect with the Hispanic quest for liberation, Jess must be unapologetically Hispanic and compel people to action. The Politics of Jess provocatively moves the study of Jess into the global present.
