About this title: A leading voice of Christians in this country offers a prophetic indictment against America's pursuit of individual spiritualities to the exclusion of any social responsibility for the common good, as well as the lack of political options for believers who want to link their personal ethics to social justice.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Harperone
Date Published: 02/2005
ISBN-13:9780060558284ISBN:0060558288
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 416 p. Previous Owner's Inscription. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: HarperOne
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780060558284ISBN:0060558288
Description: Acceptable. Book and Dust Jacket have considerable wear, but is still very usable. Has dampstaining, but does not affect text. SHIPS W/IN 24 HOURS! FREE INSURANCE on all orders! E-mail notification! Careful, thorough packaging. Fast, personal service. No hassle, full refund return policy! COMBINE SHIPPING-TENS OF THOUSANDS OF OTHER BOOKS/CDs/MOVIES AVAILABLE! read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: HarperOne
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780060558284ISBN:0060558288
Description: A wonderful copy with some minor edgewear to the cover. Dust Jacket may have chips and close tears. -, Hard Cover, Very Good / Good. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: HarperOne
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780060558284ISBN:0060558288
Description: A wonderful copy with some minor edgewear to the cover. Dust Jacket has some edgewear present. -, Hard Cover, Very Good / Very Good. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: HarperOne
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780060558284ISBN:0060558288
Description: A wonderful copy with some minor edgewear to the cover. Dust Jacket has some edgewear present. -, Hard Cover, Very Good / Very Good. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: HarperOne
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780060558284ISBN:0060558288
Description: Good in Good jacket. Ex-library. 166-x 200-V. Good. Books rated "Good" may have some notes, underlining, or highlighting. These books also may contain the previous owner's name, stamp, sticker, or gift inscription, or may be library discards. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: HarperOne
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780060558284ISBN:0060558288
Description: Good in Good jacket. 34-X-Add Good Condition: A copy that has been read, but remains in good condition. All pages are intact, and the cover is intact (including dust cover, if applicable). The spine may show signs of wear. Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include "From the library of" labels or be an ex-library item. Some pages or dust-jacket may have tiny tears. Books rated "Good" may have some notes, underlining, or highlighting. These books also may contain ... read more
Description: Very Good. 0060558288 light shelf wear / edge wear cover / pages very good condition//"Buy with Confidence-Satisfaction Guaranteed! Customer Service Makes All the Difference. " read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Acceptable. Shows definite wear, and perhaps considerable marking on inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
"I really like the balanced approach that Wallis takes to discussing a Christian's role in politics. Though it's a bit too dependent on his experiences alone, he does an excellent job of dispelling the myth that God is a Republican.
One of the things I enjoyed most about this book was his description of the most successful Christian political movements--they didn't start at the top but at the very bottom, serving those who were disenfranchised, forgotten, and marginalized (the civil rights movement, women's suffrage, etc.) and grew in public support and political influence gradually to the point where they could no longer be ignored. He contrast this approach with the current approach of the Christian Right, seeking to influence political leaders at the top without creating community support first.
"This was a pretty meaty book to get through, and I don't think that has everything to do with an abundance of unique content. This book probably could have been cut down a bit.
That being said, I think I generally enjoyed the book and the challenges that Jim Wallis gives. I loved the call to a new kind of approach to politics, and it helped me to understand my own misgivings about the whole political process. At times, I feel negatively about American politics, and this book helped me to articulate why. I gleaned a ton of quotes and points from the book that I hope will allow me to take another step towards developing my own political views, incorporating faith into those views, and also learning to deeply care about the things that God cares most about.
On the other side, the book was not the balanced treatise that I expected. A significant portion of the book was spent lambasting the Bush administration, and it seemed to spend quite a bit more time critiquing the conservative approach as opposed to the liberal approach. Since I read the book after Bush left office, I was hoping for less on specifics and more on guiding principles. At various times, I found myself questioning Wallis' logic and wondering if the alternative to his thinking might also have been valid. I wasn't exactly an exuberant supporter of the Bush administration myself, but I also don't think he was responsible for every problem in the country.
The book does shine, however, in the moments when Wallis spends less time on Bush and various conservative leaders, and more on overarching issues and principles like vision, social justice, personal morality, etc. Those bits are what I've latched onto."
"I wish I'd read this book years ago. It says so well some of the things that have bounced around my brain for years.
Let me start with a little background on the reader (me) because of course I can only see the book through my own particular lenses. I grew up in a very politically conservative and fairly religiously conservative Christian home. By college (if not before) I knew I didn't quite agree with all I'd been taught. I was very involved with a Southern Baptist group on campus, but also talked secretly with a few friends about what we didn't like about the typical ideas of our fellow believers. We laughingly called ourselves "heretics" but didn't let anyone else know how we felt. We still felt strongly attracted to the message of Jesus, but not to the way it was used and abused to promote narrow viewpoints and unloving judgmental attitudes. We also were put off by some very unscientific literalist interpretations of scriptures. But most of all (at least in my case) we did not feel so dedicated to the right-wing politics of our families. It just didn't jibe with the words of Christ. Still, we didn't know what to do. We didn't feel we could just jump ship. We were still Christians and we'd grown up in our conservative churches--should we just leave or should we find more open-minded but still related churches or should we try to foster revolution from within. I think we've all tried different routes. Personally I have chosen to slowly move into a mainline church that matches my own belief system more closely so that I feel more at home and not like a secret heretic.
Now I'm wondering what's the point of all that...oh yeah, the book. Reading this book was like an affirmation of how we were feeling in college (and afterward). God is neither right nor left and neither side can really claim to be God's politics. The right side often exploits the God card and the left is generally just uncomfortable with religion, even though they have much to offer believers. Many believers agree with typically liberal ideas--helping the poor, conserving the environment, promoting peace, granting equal rights, etc. but of course the more strident right-wing religious side gets all the press.
This book is definitely a keeper and one I'll read again and again. I'm tempted to send it to family members but I doubt they'd even crack it open."
"Evangelical Leftism on steroids. The liberal plea for a generic set of "moral principles" ends up being as much a farce as the Religious Right's plea for "traditional moral values." Wallis rightly sees many of the problems with Evangelical Rightism's insistence on personal salvation, pro-life, etc., at the expense of other important social issues like poverty and third-world debt relief. But his solutions to these problems end up being as utopian statist as are those of his "rivals" from the Religious Right. This is another good book proving the inescapability of some kind of theocracy to take care of the world's woes: it will either be a Statist theocracy that tries to do it, or a Christ-centered/Church-led Theocracy."
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