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God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It
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Average Rating:  out of 220 Reviews
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Price: $14.95
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Sale: $7.00
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Manufacturer: HarperOne
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EAN (European Article Number): 9780060834470
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Number of Items: 1
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Binding: Paperback
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Author: Jim Wallis
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Publisher: HarperOne
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Dewey Decimal Number: 261.70973
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Publication Date: 2006-09-01
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Reading Level: 432
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Description: Secular liberals and religious conservatives will find things to both comfort and alarm them in Jim Wallis's God's Politics. That combination is actually reason enough to recommend the book in a time when the national political and theological discourse is dominated by blanket descriptions and shortsightedness. But Wallis, editor of Sojourners magazine, offers more than just a book that's hard to categorize. What Wallis sees as the true mission of Christianity--righting social ills, working for peace--is in tune with the values of liberals who so often run screaming from the idea of religion. Meanwhile, in his estimation, religious vocabulary is co-opted by conservatives who use it to polarize. Wallis proposes a new sort of politics, the name of which serves as the title of the book, wherein these disparities are reconciled and progressive causes are paired with spiritual guidance for the betterment of society. Wallis is at his most compelling when he puts this theory into action himself, letting his own beliefs guide him through stinging criticisms of the war in Iraq. In his view, George W. Bush's flaw lies in the assumption that the United States was an unprecedented force of goodness in a fight against enemies characterized as "evil." Indeed, although both the right and left are criticized here, the idea is that the liberals, if they would get religion, are the more redeemable lot. Wallis's line between religion and public policy may be drawn a little differently than most liberals might feel comfortable with, and while he pays some lip service to other faiths most of his prescription for America seems to come from the Bible. Still, for a party having just lost a presidential election where "moral issues" are said to have factored heavily, God's Politics is a sermon worth listening to. --John Moe
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Customer Reviews
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Review Summary: It's about time- |
Date: 2005-01-16 |
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Details: I have waited for years for someone to finally write a well-written book on the balance between political secularism and faith. A book that does not go overboard on any issues. A book that does not go into guttersniping or is so full of proselytization that the fanaticism makes you want to run and hide under a blanket. This book is incredible because it puts common sense back into emotionally charged issues that skew people too far in either direction. I think what keeps happening is that people posture so much to the far left or far right espousing God as their compass they lose their perspective in what is realistic and factual. They are so hell-bent on making someone else see their point of view they leave no room for consideration of another option.
I found myself agreeing with so much this author had to say. We are not about being a religious-based society but we are about having faith, compassion and spirituality. We have never been about disassociating conscientiousness from religious freedoms.
I so highly recommend this book I wish I could give it ten stars....... |
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Review Summary: Finally, a balance |
Date: 2005-01-15 |
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Details: Wallis gets it, and I think in truth so do most Americans. It isn't really about right, left, liberal conservative, it's about rational thinking and doing the right thing and no political ideology has a corner on that. A must read for those who are tired of one sided rightwing/leftwing screeds and writers who use tastless titles meant to anger as selling tools - pay attention Ann Coulter! |
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Review Summary: Challenging ideas from an old-fashioned Evangelical |
Date: 2005-01-26 |
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Details: After the 2002 midterm elections, Jim Wallis asked a Republican political operative the following extended question:
"What would you do if you faced a candidate that took a traditional moral stance on the social and cultural issues? They would not be mean-spirited and, for example, blame gay people for the breakdown of the family, nor would they criminalize the choices of desperate women backed into difficult and dangerous corners. But the candidate would be decidedly pro-family, pro-life (meaning they really want to lower the abortion rate), strong on personal responsibility and moral values, and outspoken against the moral pollution throughout popular culture that makes raising children in America a countercultural activity. And what if that candidate was also an economic populist, pro-poor in social policy, tough on corporate corruption and power, clear in supporting middle-class and working families in health care and education, an environmentalist, and committed to a foreign policy that emphasized international law and multilateral cooperation over pre-emptive and unilateral war? What would you do?" I asked. The Republican strategist paused for a long time, and then said, "We would panic!"
That sums up the spirit, the "angel" of this book. For Wallis, there is a fourth way in politics, beyond liberal, conservative & libertarian. It is a "prophetic politics" rooted in tradition. Jim Wallis is not a radical theologian. He's not trying to overturn The Apostles' Creed & reinterpret the Resurrection of Jesus Christ to make it compatible with the laws of physics as we understand them. He does understand, as so many Christians from Paul of Tarsus to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King have understood, that just to live truly as an authentic Christian is a revolutionary act. Can you imagine a society that really does comfort the afflicted, feed the hungry, heal the sick, & bless the peacemakers?
Both the Right (who get it wrong, but not all wrong) & the Left (who don't get it, but still get some of it) have to expect & demand more, much more, from our leaders, who are shallow when they are not deceitful, absurd when they are not hypocritical, inarticulate when they are not stringing together cliches.
It's too easy to say Jim Wallis is liberal because he backs away from some "button" issues & wants the government to partner with us as an agent for helping those desperately in need of practical & emotional sustenance. The middle & wealthy classes of America are loaded with entitlements we are loathe to sacrifice, & would willingly keep at the expense of those who have little or nothing. Through his own group, Sojourners, he also wants to bring people to Christ, but in the manner of the old Jewish saying, "No bread without Torah, no Torah without bread." That is, if Christians do what Christians are supposed to do, it's a lot easy to explain just what the "Good News" really is: That God's love is for everyone, & is most visibly expressed through our love for each other in community. By the standards of popular culture, Wallis is quite old-fashioned; neither a "make your own religion" new ager nor a mega-church pastor trying to fill the coffers & the parking lot, but a visiting preacher with real world experience who is justified in wanting to make us squirm a little bit & do some thinking when the service is over. |
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Review Summary: The Right Time for this Book |
Date: 2005-01-07 |
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Details: I can't think of a better time for a book like this to come out. Jim Wallis has long stood for a reasoned and yet passionate, engaged faith. At a time when the world cannot afford the squabbling and name calling that have shadowed American political and religious for years, GOD'S POLITICS says something we all need to hear: that American political life needs caring people of faith to talk across political lines, rather than from behind the barricades. Read this book and then get engaged! |
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Review Summary: Outstanding, even from a secularist viewpoint... |
Date: 2005-11-10 |
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Details: This book qualifies as serious political writing and thereby deserves a place in the Political Science libraries of mainstream colleges and universities. The author has an impressive command of current events and economics, and he critically addresses the salient political, military and economic policies of the present in terms of Christian ethics, that more often than not fall in line with the Progressive agenda of the Democrats, notwithstanding the abortion issue.
Father Wallis discusses how the Radcons and fundamentalists espouse what amounts to bad theology in respect to present economic policies that favor the wealthy at the expense of the poor. He also describes what constitutes a just war from the perspective of traditional Judeo-Christian philosophy. Needless to say, the conflict in Iraq is no such war. Also, the impressively researched chapters on world poverty are well worth the price of the book alone. For these reasons and others too numerous to mention, I highly recommend this book to people of faith and secularists alike. |
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