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Paperback
Publisher: HarperOne
New York Times bestseller God's Politics struck a chord with Americans disenchanted with how the Right had co-opted all talk about integrating religious values into our politics, and with the Left, who were mute on the subject. Jim Wallis argues that America's separation of church and state does not require banishing moral and religious values from the public square. God's Politics offers a vision for how to convert spiritual values into real social change and has started a grassroots movement to hold our political leaders accountable by incorporating our deepest convictions about war, poverty, racism, abortion, capital punishment, and other moral issues into our nation's public life. Who can change the political wind? Only we can.
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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| Wallis Doesn't See |
| Customer Rating: 2 out of 5 |
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It is on rare occasion that I disagree so completely with a book as I do with Jim Wallis' "God's Politics" (2005 399-page paperback). This uninformed radical tome is only briefly resourced, with ten short pages of newspaper, magazine, and Internet references. (One wonders if Wallis reads books?)
The book's "progressive" (really revisionist) religious reflections tend towards anthrocentric humanism and not God's activity with people. The text is much more tuned for defining "politics" than suggesting God's concerns and abilities. Most disconcerting is Wallis comfort with eisegeting Scripture (bending it to his odd determinations).
Where, for example, in the Bible does God demand "social justice"? Wallis thinks the prophets, Jesus, and the Apostles preach this. The black and white words (and red letter edition) of Scripture say, over and over again, that God requires personal holiness, not social justice! Jesus is about bringing a personal revolution in individual faith, not about curbing society to contemporary progressivism control standards. Wallis' activist's eyes simply don't see.
"God's Politics" is too long (earning it fewer stars). Wallis is redundant, repeating the same point (thankfully with different stories) over and over. The text's entire position is gleaned by page 40 (the end of section 1 of 6). The book would be much more recommendable with a 200 page reduction.
The best part of the book is Wallis' illustrations. He likes a good story and likes to hear himself tell it. (He's a real name-dropper.) For those looking for narrative material, Wallis is a quick read (the first sentence of each of his long droning paragraphs will suffice).
Those looking for a text about God will be disappointed here. Others wanting to learn about early 21st century progressive humanism will want to read this book.
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| Speedy delivery; great product |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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It's everything I was looking for in the purchase of a book on-online: I sought out the title, purchased it with ease and it was delivered within a matter of days in perfect condition. Short of including a cup of coffee, it was all I could hope for with none of the hassle.
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| weak and inconsistent |
| Customer Rating: 2 out of 5 |
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This book is poorly written or poorly edited. It rambles along like a casual conversation, rather than a concise and principled exhortation. It is as if Wallis just talked into his tape recorder and no one ever took the time to edit or organize his stream of consciousness. He constantly digresses into subjects irrelevant to his then current topic.
Second, he is inconsistent, with no attempt to ever justify or explain. It is hard to believe that neither he nor his editors recognize these inconsistencies. He advocates for a strong government when it comes to the moral issues of poverty, etc, but a weak government on the moral issues of sex,abortion, and war........without ever explaining: a) why biblical principles somehow dictate a different role for government on these different subjects or b) why, as a practical matter, those issues must or should be attacked differently.
Likewise, he never explains why he loves to cite the Old Testament on the issues where he wants more government, but he ignores the Old Testament when arguing against all of the right wing's "moral" issues.
He strongly condemns President Bush, perhaps rightly, for overly confident, self-righteous language and a lack of self-reflection about his/the nation's own sin. But Wallis himself never once expresses the Lincoln-esque humility, self-doubt, self-examination that he so demandingly expects from Bush. Rather, Wallis not too subtlely sees himself as the modern day prophet of God.
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| God's Politics |
| Customer Rating: 4 out of 5 |
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This is a well-written book by a respected theologian. I suppose that is why so many conservatives give this book poor reviews. Jim Wallis has forgotten more about religion and Christianity than most so-called religious conservatives ever knew about those subjects. Wallis is critical of war, and critical of how certain elements of our society have hijacked religion and politics for their own gain, or at least to promote their own agenda.
The Bible can confuse and bewilder. Those who stand by it as their lifeblood often spew certain verses or Biblical references such as an eye for an eye when considering the current war in Iraq or the post 9/11 world in general. They conveniently forget Jesus' message of peace and forgiveness because it doesn't fit into their imperialistic world view.
Wallis shows how conservatives have played into the hands of those in Washington whose only goal is power. Christianity is being held hostage by the war machine. George Bush can say you are either with us or against us as if the world is so simple. Bush and his neo-conservative minions (actually one should say Dick Cheyney and his neo-conservative minions led by puppet Bush) forget the world is complex. For their part the Democrats are not really seen as the counterbalance to this mess, as they are really seeking a way to tap into the national sentiment of security and antiterrorism to get their own slice of the imperial pie. But one can love America and think this war is not worth either the cost in human lives or the billions of taxpayer's dollars being spent on it. Would George Washington support this war? One can only speculate, but our first president did advise against entangling alliances. What have us taxpayers got for our money? Not much.
Wallis illustrates how America has adopted the mantra of empire as a result of electing a president who convinced himself he's been put in power by God when the country needs such a person in power. Wow, the arrogance of it all. Wallis challenges Christians to stand up and take back their country in the face of hypocrisy and blatant blasphemy from the suits in power (I say suits because this mess is not just the making of Republicans and neo-conservatives, there are plenty of Democrats who buy into this imperialistic theory and want their piece of the action as well).
Wallis believes in Christianity's message of hope and love as opposed to embracing the shackles of oppression. He challenges Christians to ignore the seductive tendencies of empire and strive for a life of true Christian virtue. Who knows, maybe some day it will happen.
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| A much needed antidote to the Religious Right |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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I have had this book since 2005 and find it to be even more appropriate today as we near the 2008 Presidential election. Wallis does an excellent job of making his case for why Christians have an obligation to be involved in the political process. However, he also lays out the rationale why Christians must be concerned with more than just the hot-button issues of abortion and gay marriage. Wallis shows why Christians have an obligation to care about poverty, environmental issues and equal rights among other issues. He also shows why it is wrong for religious and para-religious organizations to be used by outside interests and political parties and he makes a good case that candidates should be supported for their values and ideas, not simply because of party affiliation.
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