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Buying back "the unKingdom of God"

In September 2013, my second book the unKingdom of God was published. I want to buy back the rights for the book by buying out all of the remaining copies of the book. But I need your help to do that.

Why do I want the publishing rights to my book? Three reasons:

1) Recently, InterVarsity has decided that it would fire staff that support gay marriage. Here is a Time article about that. Since IVP is the publishing arm of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, I've decided that I can no longer allow my work to bear the InterVarsity name. 

2) Buying the rights back would allow me to rework, expand, and republish the book the way I see fit. I'd change the name, the cover, and change about 1/3 of the content. 

3) Buying out their inventory would allow me to give away a significant number of copies away for free. 81% of white evangelicals voted for Trump. Therefore, I would send free copies to white evangelical churches in my area with the hopes that its radical message might challenge them to see Jesus differently.

Meeting my funding goal will cover the buy-back of over 2000 remaining copies, as well as the cost of shipping donor rewards. 


Here are some of the reviews of the book:

"Sometimes I look around at the church and think its biggest need is a revolutionary manual, a manual for undoing the myths that enslave us, for revealing the ideologies that blind us, a manual that probes for new points of engagement where we can start living this grand radical life that has been made possible in Christ's victory over the powers. Mark Van Steenwyk's book could just be that manual." (David E. Fitch, from the foreword)

"Anyone who has ever asked the question 'What if we're doing it wrong?' should read this book. It offers a great opportunity to view a different perspective and broaden the range of possibilities of Christianity in America." (Church Libraries, Winter 2013–2014)

"In The Unkingdom of God, Mark Van Steenwyk calls us to rethink our faith. It's convicting, revealing and thought-provoking." (Relevant, November-December 2013)

"Mark Van Steenwyk is a committed voice of a new generation rising to the ancient calling of radical discipleship. Mark's perspectives will seem new and troubling to American Christians, yet they are rediscovering the historic stream of gospel dissent to empire that has always survived at the margins of the church, following the Jesus who forever afflicts the comfortable and comforts the afflicted." (Ched Myers, Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries)

"I've often wondered, if I had lived back in Old Testament times, would I have listened and repented of veering from God's ways or turned a deaf ear to the jarring words of his prophets? The prophetic message of The Unkingdom of God brings that question forward into the present. Gripping, unsettling and painful to read at points, this book exposes how we've reshaped Jesus in our own Western image and lost him in the process. Van Steenwyk calls himself and us to repent, rethink and 'rewild' our faith in God. Read at your own risk, but be forewarned--no one gets off easy." (Carolyn Custis James, author of Half the Church: Recapturing God's Global Vision for Women, www.whitbyforum.com)

Organizer

Maki Ashe Van Steenwyk
Organizer
Minneapolis, MN

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