Jim Wallis has a widely held reputation as a powerful speaker and sermonizer. So his narration of his latest work is disappointing. Instead of interpreting the work, he so scrupulously reads it that his presentation at times lacks luster. He also pauses at awkward points in sentences. This is all disappointing because his message about how faith can exert a positive influence on politics and social change is so powerful. His book is well organized and argues its points effectively. Authentic faith, Wallis argues, has been a driving force behind many of America's greatest reforms, such as the abolition of slavery, women's suffrage, and the Civil Rights struggle. That spirit can be recaptured and utilized today. R.C.G. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine
The Great Awakening
Narrated by Jim Wallis
Jim WallisUnabridged — 14 hours, 4 minutes
The Great Awakening
Narrated by Jim Wallis
Jim WallisUnabridged — 14 hours, 4 minutes
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Overview
What will it take to solve the biggest issues of our time: extreme and needless poverty, global warming and environmental degradation, terrorism and the endless cycle of violence, racism, human trafficking, health care and education, and other pressing problems? While Washington offers only the politics of blame and fear, Jim Wallis, the man who changed the conversation about faith and politics, has traveled the country and found a nation hungry for a politics of solutions and hope. He shows us that a revival is happening, as people of faith and moral conviction seek common ground for change.
Wallis also reminds us that religious faith was a driving force behind our greatest national reforms, such as the abolition of slavery and the civil rights movement. These ""great awakenings"" happened periodically at crucial times in our nation's history to propel us toward the common good. The time is ripe for another movement that will transform this country. With The Great Awakening, Wallis helps us rediscover our moral center and provides both the needed inspiration and a concrete plan to hold politics accountable and find solutions to our greatest challenges.
Editorial Reviews
By the count of most religion historians, there have been four Great American Awakenings since Colonial times; the first in the early 18th century, the most recent in the 1960s and '70s. To this tally, Jim Wallis has now added a fifth, which he believes is already underway. The editor of the liberal evangelical magazine Sojourners contends that even in the heartland, Christians are now rallying behind a social justice agenda that is more comprehensive than traditional conservative calls for bans of abortion and gay marriage. A provocative manifesto for believers.
Recognizing that America's faithful have subverted their evangelical Christian ideology into a conservative political ideology, Wallis reminds readers that to follow the spirit of Christianity truly does mean to go beyond the simple two-party system and understand the greater principles of the faith. Wallis assesses the wide range of movements and new ideas emerging from Christians and what this new reckoning within their hearts and minds means for the political realm. With tools and goals that help listeners achieve spirituality over ideology, Wallis reveals the "common ground" upon which faith in America can be rebuilt and opened to a larger group of discontented believers. At a slow, deliberate pace, Wallis narrates with an elderly but genuinely sincere voice. A few voice shifts hint at poor sound editing, but the clarity and crisp voice of Wallis still shines through. However, his tone can be a bit droll, and it seems to move forward with almost languid reluctance. He performs a few vocal impersonations quite well, but often in doing so, only reinforces his overall weak performance in the straight narration. Simultaneous release with the HarperOne hardcover (Reviews, Dec. 10, 2007). (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.In God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It, Wallis took the Religious Right to task for usurping the role of faith in politics. His latest book represents a revival in which the progressive evangelical will now change the shape of American politics. From his viewpoint as an activist pastor, Wallis sees that the Right no longer controls the dialog concerning faith-based political action and that evangelicals now embrace wider, more traditionally liberal concerns such as the environment and social justice. The key to Wallis's proposed revival is the faith community's role in fighting poverty and the inequality and moral degradation it inspires. This call to arms is approachable and inspiring, if sometimes repetitive. Wallis's optimistic assertion that the Right holds less sway in the evangelical community is simply not well supported, based merely on anecdotes. Further, his refraining from discussing the inequalities facing same-sex couples and the transgendered weakens his arguments regarding the fight against social injustice. However, Wallis's analysis of the role of faith, especially Christian faith, in embracing progressive "common good" politics is highly astute and, overall, very compelling. Recommended for all libraries. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Jim Wallis has a widely held reputation as a powerful speaker and sermonizer. So his narration of his latest work is disappointing. Instead of interpreting the work, he so scrupulously reads it that his presentation at times lacks luster. He also pauses at awkward points in sentences. This is all disappointing because his message about how faith can exert a positive influence on politics and social change is so powerful. His book is well organized and argues its points effectively. Authentic faith, Wallis argues, has been a driving force behind many of America's greatest reforms, such as the abolition of slavery, women's suffrage, and the Civil Rights struggle. That spirit can be recaptured and utilized today. R.C.G. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940170094264 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | HarperCollins Publishers |
| Publication date: | 01/22/2008 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
Read an Excerpt
The Great Awakening LP
Reviving Faith & Politics in a Post-Religious Right America
Chapter One
Revival Time
When Faith Changes Politics
Arriving in Atlanta recently for a speaking appearance, I was happy. For any preacher, Atlanta is a wonderful place to be, a place where preaching is an art form. On this occasion, I returned to a favorite place—Ebenezer Baptist Church, the home congregation of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The pastor, Rev. Joe Roberts, was about to retire, and he welcomed me back warmly, "You've been to the old Israel, but now you're in the new Israel" (referring to the old historic church on Auburn Avenue and the brand-new sanctuary across the street where two thousand people had gathered that evening).
I remembered. It was indeed the old place I'd been to before, on the occasion of the first annual national holiday for the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. For their Peace and Justice service, Ebenezer had invited a young white preacher. I was excited, but very nervous. When I stepped into that historic pulpit, I froze. Dr. King had preached here, so had his father, "Daddy" King, and so had countless leaders of the civil rights movement and the leading black pastors of our time. What was a young white kid from Detroit doing in this pulpit? I was, you might say, a little tentative as I began. "Well, Martin Luther King Jr. was for justice and . . . p-p-peace," I stammered, " . . . and probably we should be too." It was something short of powerful.
But then, from the lower left side of the church, a voice boomed back at me. "Oh, help him, Lord, help him! C'mon young man, you're supposed topreach." So I started to—a little. "Aw, you're not there yet!" he bellowed. He, of course, was enacting the "call and response" tradition of the black church, which I have grown to love. The old man was the "amen corner" of Ebenezer Baptist Church, and he proceeded with a litany of "well," "yes sir," "mercy, mercy," "preach it now," and lots of "amens" until I was proclaiming, prancing, and sweating—preaching my heart out until I was thoroughly exhausted when I finally finished. Afterward, I rushed down to my amen corner, whose name was Deacon Johnson. "You just pulled that sermon out of me," I exclaimed, breathless. Standing tall, he put his hands on my shoulders and smiled at me. "Son," he said, "I've raised up many a preacher in my time."
Deacon Johnson has passed now, Rev. Roberts told me, but I will always remember him. Just as Deacon Johnson had pulled the best out of me, I reflected that night in Atlanta, that pulpit at Ebenezer Baptist Church (and the civil rights movement rooted there) had called out the very best from the American people. The truth is that we've got some bad stuff in us as Americans, but we've got some good stuff, too. Bad religion calls forth our worst stuff, but good religion calls out our best. I smiled as I remembered how Deacon Johnson had raised me up that night, and I climbed into the Ebenezer pulpit once again. It's time for some good religion tonight, I said to myself.
Two of the great hungers in our world today are the hunger for spirituality and the hunger for social justice. The connection between the two is the one the world is waiting for, especially the new generation. And the first hunger will empower the second.
Those on the Religious Right did it wrong, allowing their religion to become too partisan, too narrow, and too ideological. They were used by politics and did plenty of using themselves—using both people and issues to further their own agenda. But I believe their day is over, and we have now entered the post–Religious Right era. That's not just optimism, but a claim based on serious observation, as this book will point out.
Some people believe the alternative to bad religion is secularism, but that's wrong, too. The answer to bad religion is better religion—prophetic rather than partisan, broad and deep instead of narrow, and based on values as opposed to ideology. In America (and in most of the developing world), religion is here to stay. The question is not whether faith and spiritual values will be applied to politics, but how? Can faith enter public life in ways that are respectful of democracy, pluralism, and diversity? Could spiritual renewal supply the energy that makes social justice more achievable? Is revival necessary for reform? I believe the answer to all those questions is an emphatic yes, and this book will explain why.
One learns a lot crisscrossing the country for three decades, speaking (and listening) in every part of America and to a multitude of audiences and constituencies. Because much of my speaking is also preaching, I have been with almost every religious denomination and faith community in America, and have watched the relationship between faith and politics significantly affect the issues of society—for good and ill. I've also traveled extensively overseas and been an eyewitness to many of the greatest crises the world faces today, as well as the kinds of initiatives and movements capable of changing those realities.
I have been listening, and I'd like to report that many Americans, and in particular many people of faith in this country, believe we can do better with both our religion and our politics—and around the world, people are hoping that we do. Listening to people across America and throughout the world convinces me that it is time for a new kind of politics, and that a better public engagement by faith communities could help get us there. The good news is that many people are ready for both—better religion and better politics. In fact, we may be approaching a new "revival" of faith, one that opens the door for real solutions that transcend partisan politics and leads the way to concrete victories for social justice. I am suggesting that we need nothing less than a powerful movement of faith to renew American politics—one that effectively combines personal conversion and social justice. Personal transformation is necessary for social movements, and social movements are necessary to transform politics.
The Great Awakening LPReviving Faith & Politics in a Post-Religious Right America. Copyright © by Jim Wallis. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.
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