Bread for the Journey....

Theology Books Worth Checking Out:

* The Powers That Be: Theology for a New Millennium, Walter Wink
* The God We Never Knew: Beyond Dogmatic Religion to a More Authentic Faith, Marcus Borg
* Open Christianity: Home by Another Road, Jim Burklo
* The Church Before Christianity, Wes Howard-Brook
* Unveiling Empire: Reading Revelations Then & Now, Wes Howard-Brook
* Rescuing the Bible From Fundamentalism, John Shelby Spong
* The Dishonest Church, Jack Good
* Ten Things I Learned Wrong from a Conservative Church, John Killinger
* The Good Book: Reading the Bible with Heart & Mind, Peter Gomes
* Liberals & Other Born-Again Believers, Sally Geis
* Theological Crossfire: An Evangelical/Liberal Dialogue, Clark Pinnock & Del Brown
* Good Goats: Healing Our Image of God, Dennis Linn, et al
* God of The Possible: A Biblical Introduction to the Open View of God, Gregory Boyd, Jr.
* Most Moved Mover: A Theology of God’s Openness, Clark Pinnock
* Grace & Responsibility: A Wesleyan Theology for Today, John Cobb, Jr.
* Affirmations of a Dissenter, C. Joseph Sprague
* United Methodism @ Risk: A Wake-Up Call, Leon Howell

Books Specifically Concerning Jesus:

* Stealing Jesus: How Fundamentalism Betrays Christianity, Bruce Bawer

* By John Shelby Spong: Born of a Woman: A Bishop Rethinks the Birth of Jesus; Resurrection: Myth or Reality?: A Bishop's Search for the Origins of Christianity; Liberating the Gospels: Reading the Bible with Jewish Eyes

* By Marcus Borg: Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time: The Historical Jesus & the Heart of Contemporary Faith; Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography- A Startling Account of What We can Know About the Life of Jesus; The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions; Jesus A New Vision; In Parables: The Challenge of the Historical Jesus; Who Killed Jesus?: Exposing the Roots of Anti-Semitism in the Gospel Story of the Death of Jesus; The Essential Jesus: Original Sayings and Earliest Images

Discipleship:

* The Peaceable Kingdom: A Primer to Christian Ethics, Stanley Hauerwas
* The Politics of Jesus: John Howard Yoder
* Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger: Moving From Affluence to Generosity, Ron Sider
* The Soul of Politics: Beyond Liberal and Conservative, Jim Wallis
* The Call to Conversion: Recovering the Gospel for These Times, Wallis
* Becoming Children of God: John’s Gospel and Radical Discipleship, Wes Howard Brook

Devotions/Spiritual Aides:

* Beyond Guilt: A Christian Response to Suffering, George Johnson
* For They Shall Be Fed: Scripture & Prayers for a Just World, Ron Sider
* Listening to Your Life: Daily Meditations with Frederick Buechner
* In God’s Presence: Theological Reflections on Prayer, Marjorie Hewitt Suchocki (prayer from a Process perspective)
* With Open Hands: Henri Nouwen - a classic
* Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home, Richard Foster
* Praying for Friends and Enemies: Intercessory Prayer, Jane Vennard

Magazines:

The Other Side – A progressive Christian magazine - theotherside.org
Sojourners – A prophetic liberal evangelical monthly. See also www.sojo.net newsletter (Jim Wallis is the senior editor & leader of a Christian communal advocacy/urban ministry community in D.C.)
PRISM – an evangelical social justice magazine (connected to Ron Sider) (see also: the Prism E-pistle of Evangelicals for Social Action www.esa-online.org )
Christian Social Action – applies UM (United Methodist) Social Principles and Resolutions to current public policy issues/social needs
The Christian Century – a mainline Christian magazine www.christiancentury.org
The New Zion's Herald - www.zionsherald.org - Liberal UM magazine
The Door Magazine: A religious satire magazine -thedoormagazine.com
Associations & Organizations:

The Interfaith Alliance - [URL=http://www.interfaithalliance.org]
The Center for Progressive Christianity - http://tcpc.org
Pax Christi - a Roman Catholic Peace movement - paxchristiusa.org
FOR: Fellowship Of Reconciliation (an ecumenical & interfaith peace org.) - www.for.usa.org
www.voice4change.org (anti-war articles and "actions")
www.Democracynow.org (alternative news source)
General Board of Church and Society - www.umc-gbcs.org
United Methodist UMPower Action & Advocacy http://capwiz.com/gbcs/home/
Every Church a Peace Church - www.ecapc.org
Bread for the World - www.bread.org
The Jesus Seminar - www.JesusSeminar.com www.westarinstitute.org www.JesusSeminar.org

Helpful Hints for Faithful Living:

* Pray Daily * Engage in Daily Devotions (especially the Psalms [& see Devotional aides above]) * Participate in shared Worship & Communion * Put your Faith into Action by: Forgiving yourself and others and engaging in personal and systemic Action & Advocacy * Fellowship * Collaborate * Recreate *

Soul Food For Thought:

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed individuals can change the world, Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. - Margaret Meade

One little person, giving all of her time to peace, makes news.
Many people, giving some of their time, can make history. - Peace Pilgrim

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor/Jubilee! - Isaiah & Jesus

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord! - Paul

If you want to be follower of Jesus, you need to look good, on wood. - Daniel Berrigan

We must accept finite disappointment,
but we must never lose infinite hope. - Martin Luther King Jr.

Hope is believing in spite of the evidence, and watching the evidence change. - Sojourner's Community

It is better to light a single candle, than to curse the darkness. - The Christophers

He shall judge between many peoples and shall decide for strong nations far off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. - Micah


Be still and know that I am God. - Gode][[COLOR=purple]SIZE=7][B]

Here's another progressive Christian resource to check out. It's a brand new interfaith and ecumenical organization called Clergy Leadership Network. They are based in D.C. and seem similar to the Interfaith Alliance.

[Clergy Leadership Network

Two more books to commend to y'all:

Marcus Borg's newly released The Essence of Christianity
&
Christian Perspectives on Politics, by J. Philip Wogaman

Excellent resources for those seeking to prepare sermons that lift up the social justice implications of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

From: Sojourners http://www.sojo.net
Subject: Preparing a Sermon? We Can Help.

For more than 30 years, Sojourners has provided timely and discerning commentary on scripture. Now we've brought it together in one convenient online resource to help you prepare sermons or other biblical reflections.

New from the editors of Sojourners, Preaching the Word offers you the best biblical commentary available - every month - including exclusive access to articles previously unavailable online.

>>Check out a free sample.
>>Order today - special discount for magazine subscribers!

We've done the research for you, and brought together some of the most insightful commentators of our day, including:

Walter Brueggemann
Rosemary Radford Ruether
Walter Wink
And many more!

Preaching the Word is organized according to the Revised Common Lectionary for Sundays, so preachers, worship leaders, pastors, and Bible study groups can easily get to the challenging heart of the scriptures.

You won't find a more helpful resource linking the biblical texts with the contemporary faith that does justice. And it's all one click away.

>>Check out a free sample. http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=resou...p&week=C_Lent_2

Just want to say how much I appreciate this list of resources!

Thank YOU.

a bit of shameless advertising. Got my blog up and guess it counts for a resource

My Weblog

Here are some other great books I found online that i plan on getting and reading soon.

"Ten Wrong Things I Learned From A Conserative Church." Written by a former Southern Baptist who is now Progressive.

"The Rapture - The Belief That Leaves the Bible Behind." Written by a Catholic

"The Fire That Consumes" A book that supports conditionalism.

Some updates/corrections:

1. The new book by Marcus Borg is not called The Essence of Christianity, but rather, The Heart of Christianity.

2. The Clergy Leadership Network has just transformed into The Clergy and Laity Network:
... continuing public role. The reshaping of CLN involves: - a new official name:
Clergy and Laity Network. The logo will remain CLN. A new ...
http://www.clnnlc.org

I think http://www.theocracywatch.org is an excellent website. Their purpose in their own words:
"TheocracyWatch is a project of the Center for Religion, Ethics and Social Policy (CRESP) at Cornell University. CRESP is a nonsectarian, action-based educational organization with its roots in religious dialogue, human rights advocacy, and ethical thought.

TheocracyWatch raises awareness about the pervasive role of the Religious Right in the U.S. government. It disseminates information through its speakers bureau, powerpoint presentations, CDs -- both audio and powerpoint -- and a DVD. It also conducts interviews with the media."

It is not specifically progressive. It could be as well for concerned nonsectarians, those of other faiths (Jewish, Buddhist, Moslem, New Age, etc.), Christian moderates, and even conservatives who oppose moves to make this society (or others) a theocratic society.


--des

I highly recommend Borg's The Heart of Christianity. If you've read (or tried to read) his others, I thought this was much less dry. It is heartening (pun intended) and informative.

An update:
----------
Resources for Christian Peace & Justice Work:

Faith-Based Peace & Justice Organizations:

General Board of Church & Society www.umc-gbcs.org
UM-POWER is an email “action alert” service
The United Methodist Church
100 Maryland Avenue NE, Washington, DC 20002

United Church of Christ www.ucctakeaction.org

National Council of Churches www.councilofchurches.org & www.ncccusa.org

The Interfaith Alliance www.interfaithalliance.org
Founded in 1994, The Interfaith Alliance (TIA) is a non-partisan, clergy-led grassroots organization dedicated to promoting the positive and healing role of religion in the life of the nation and challenging those who manipulate religion to promote a narrow, divisive agenda. With more than 150,000 members drawn from over 70 faith traditions, 47 local Alliances and a national network of religious leaders, TIA promotes compassion, civility and mutual respect for human dignity in our increasingly diverse society.

Faithful America www.faithfulamerica.org
Faith In Action: Free action alerts & inspiration. FaithfulAmerica.org is an online community of people of faith who want to build a more just and compassionate nation. It aspires to be an online wing of a powerful, new progressive faith movement, like the ones that fought for independence, abolition and civil rights.
FaithfulAmerica.org believes in the common good and in community – local, national and global. We reject a go-it-alone culture that reduces our politics and our personal lives to selfishness and fear. We accept the separation of church and state, but not the separation of moral principles from politics.

Church Folks for a Better America www.cfba.info
A project of the Peace Action Education Fund, educational arm of the Coalition for Peace Action, 40 Witherspoon Street, Princeton, NJ 08542

The Clergy & Laity Network www.clnnlc.org

Fellowship for Reconciliation (FOR) www.forusa.org
The Fellowship of Reconciliation seeks to replace violence, war, racism, and economic injustice with nonviolence, peace, and justice. We are an interfaith organization committed to active nonviolence as a transforming way of life and as a means of radical change. We educate, train, build coalitions, and engage in nonviolent and compassionate actions locally, nationally, and globally.

American Friends Service Committee www.afsc.org
(the political activist arm of the Quaker Church) 1501 Cherry Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102

Every Church a Peace Church
www.ecapc.org

Bread for the World www.bread.org

Churches for Middle East Peace www.cmep.org
110 Maryland Ave NE, #311, Washington, DC 20002
(special focus upon Israeli-Palestinian conflict)

Pax Christi www.pcusa.org & www.paxchristiusa.org
(an unofficial peace & justice wing of the Roman Catholic Church) LWH Online weekly e-newsletter, editor, Johnny Zokovitch – email: johnnypcusa@yahoo.com

The Catholic Worker Movement www.catholicworker.org
(another unofficial peace & justice wing of the RCC, founded by the late Dorothy Day)

Interfaith Worker Justice capwiz.com/nicwj
1020 W. Bryn Mawr Ave., 4th Fl., Chicago, IL 60660

Secular Peace, Political & Anti-war Advocacy:

www.peacefultomorrows.org www.listenforpeace.org/ www.unitedforpeace.org
www.womeninblack.net/ www.peacemaker.org www.veteransforcommonsense.org
www.prioritypeace.org www.commondreams.org www.moveon.org
www.truemajority.org www.workingforchange.com www.costofwar.com
www.Globalhealing.net 2020vision@democracyinaction.org www.unionvoice.org

Faith-Based Peace & Justice-Oriented Media:

Sojourners Magazine www.sojo.net
(a “progressive” evangelical Christian journal & intentional Christian community led by Rev. Jim Wallis in D.C.)
Sojomail - weekly email newsletter SojoMail@sojo.net

Evangelicals for Social Action (ESA) (connected to Ron Sider and Tony Campolo)
PRISM ePistle - epistle@esa-online.org - a bi-weekly e-newsletter
PRISM publications encourage Christians to live out the whole of the gospel with the whole of their lives. If you find the PRISM ePistle helpful, forward it to your friends. Our desire is that the ePistle be a forum for challenging discussion and exploration of all issues pertaining to whole-life discipleship.

New Zion’s Herald Magazine www.zionsherald.org

Alternative Secular Media & Watchdog groups:

Democracy Now! www.democracynow.org
(an alternative, non-mainstream, media source)
Democracy Now! airs on over 300 radio and tv stations, including Pacifica and community radio stations, NPR stations, public access tv stations, PBS stations, and on Free Speech TV (DishTV Ch. 9415) and LinkTV (DishTV Ch. 9410, DirecTV Ch. 375),...

www.pbs.org/now/ www.indymedia.org www.globalbeat.org www.prwatch.org www.antiwar.com www.fair.org www.truthout.org www.commondreams.org

Peace & Justice related Books:

The Holy Bible
Vincent Harding, Hope and History: Why We Must Share the Story of the Movement
Martin Luther King: The Inconvenient Hero
Stanley Hauerwas, The Peaceable Kingdom: A Primer to Christian Ethics;
Resident Aliens;
Richard Horsley, Jesus and Empire;
Jesus and the Spiral of Violence;
Religion and Empire
Wes Howard-Brook, Becoming Children of God: John's Gospel and Radical Discipleship
Unveiling Empire: Reading Revelation Then & Now
Theodore Jennings, Good News to the Poor: John Wesley's Evangelical Economics
George Johnson, Beyond Guilt: A Christian Response to Suffering
Martin Luther King Jr., Any book by this author
Mary Alice Mulligan & Rufus Burrow, Daring To Speak in God's Name: Ethical Prophecy in Ministry
Oscar Romero, The Violence of Love
Ron Sider, For They Shall Be Fed: Scripture & Prayers for a Just World
Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger: Moving From Affluence to Generosity
The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience: Why Are Christians Living Just Like the Rest of the World?
Jane Vennard, Praying for Friends and Enemies: Intercessory Prayer
Jim Wallis, The Call to Conversion: Recovering the Gospel for These Times
The Soul of Politics: Beyond Religious Right & Secular Left
God's Politics: Why the Religious Right is Wrong & Why the Left Doesn't Get It
Juan Williams, The Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years
Walter Wink, The Powers That Be: Theology for the New Millennium
John Howard Yoder, The Politics of Jesus

Peace & Justice related Movies:

Romero – starring Raul Julia
The City of Joy -starring Patrick Swayze
Entertaining Angels: The Dorothy Day Story
Hotel Rwanda – Don Cheadle
The Mission – Robert DeNiro/Jeremy Irons
To End All Wars – Kiefer Sutherland
Gandhi – Ben Kingsley
Erin Brokovich – Julia Roberts
The Thin Blue Line – doc. re: death penalty
Chattahoochee – Gary Oldman/Dennis Hopper
The Fog of War – doc. featuring Robert McNamara
Bonhoeffer – Ulrich Tukur
Born on the 4th of July - Tom Cruise
Amistad –Morgan Freeman/Matt.McCon.
Dances With Wolves – Kevin Costner
Dead Man Walking – Susan Sarandon/Sean Penn
Schindler’s List – Liam Neeson
The Killing Fields – Sam Waterston
Eyes on the Prize – PBS doc. re: civil rights mvmt.
The Corporation – documentary
Amandala – doc. re: ending aparthied in S. Africa
The War – Kevin Costner
The Control Room – doc.re:media coverage of Iraq war
Silver City– Chris Cooper

And let's never forget that the Bible is the primary source of our progressive/liberal Christian activism:

When we read our Bibles, we see a visible theme of God’s constant siding with the poor, the marginalized, the oppressed - including the blind!

Throughout the life of Israel, God’s Word displays a clear concern for the welfare of the poor, for “the least of these.”

In Leviticus we see that God established the “year of Jubilee,” a policy that held that every fifty years, every generation, the people were to forgive all debts and redistribute the nations’ wealth and provide for the relief of the poor and oppressed.

The Law of Moses is a law of mercy toward the poor to ensure their protection.

The Prophets proclaimed God’s judgment against Israel whenever they’d forsake God’s righteousness in favor of worshiping foreign gods, wealth for its own sake, and worldly power. They issued warnings when the nation forgot God’s law and oppressed the poor.

We also see in our Gospels that God came to earth, incarnate, as one of us, in the person of Jesus - as a vulnerable babe born to a working class couple from a backwater town. Jesus grew up to live for and with the poor and oppressed people of His day. His ministries led Him to intimate fellowship with the most despised and marginalized people in His society.

So when your conservative friend wears their "WWJD?" bracelet,
make sure they really know what Jesus did!

I totally agree BroRog. Since you mentioned Leviticus... you've got to check out www.GodHatesShrimp.com Hilarious.

LOL! : )

Helpful tips for those who don't fit in so well in the Southern States...

Being Presbyterian in the Bible Belt:
As a Presbyterian pastor in the Bible Belt, I am ... a Presbyterian church even though I was Methodist (go figure ... and searched for answers about being a Presbyterian ...
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...501095?v=glance


Being Methodist in the Bible Belt: A Theological Survival Guide ... ... Being Methodist in the Bible Belt: A Theological Survival Guide for Youth, Parents, and Other Confused Methodists. Format, Paperback. Subject, Religion / Methodism ...

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/066...0651493-3633416

[URL=http://www.booksmatter.com/b066422685X.htm]
http://www.booksmatter.com/b066422685X.htm[/URL]

Another new resource:

A new DVD and 100-page study guide about militarism and peacemaking includes rap, stories, many activities, and Bible study (called "Thermostat: Peacemaking 101" -- see description below). It's a great resource for responding to the intense military recruiting efforts that most high school youth are now exposed to.

Thermostat: Peacemaking 101 (DVD 2005)
Thermostat is a DVD for high-school-age youth about war, peace, and Christian conscience which features a wide variety of resources including: Bible studies, role plays, stories, images, handouts, poetry, background reading, and a leader’s guide. Thermostat is intended for use in a group setting as it relies on discussion and activities to encourage interaction and learning.
The content of the DVD is divided into the categories of: Peacemaking 101, Imagination, Allegiance, Camouflage, Security, Terrorism, and Non-violence. Each of these categories is then sub-divided into study units that include a combination of activities using both the written study materials and the audio-visuals.
There is enough material here for more than 30 different learning sessions, providing a variety of choices in theme and format.
Youth/Adult Participation: Although Thermostat is designed for use with high-school-age youth groups, the concerns that Thermostat addresses are the concerns of the whole church. We encourage you to use Thermostat in some combined settings where youth and adults participate together. The burden of living the peace of Christ in our world does not rest on youth alone. It is important for young people to hear adults struggle with the questions of Jesus’ Way. The role of adults in these settings is not so much to provide answers, but to be transparent about how their faith leads them, and honest about the dilemmas they face.
In many cases, it may be important for youth to interact with the material on their own. However, we encourage you to arrange at least some opportunities for inter-generational work with the various study units. In this way, the whole church will grow and be nurtured in the peace of Christ.
(Available for loan or purchase from Mennonite Central Committee; cost is $25).

[The DVD editors also would like to produce a Spanish edition, if sufficient funds can be found.]

For still more details, see http://www.mccus.org/thermostat/

A resource I just learned about:
http://www.preachingpeace.org

Here's another resource I just discovered:

http://www.progressivetheology.org/quotes.html

http://www.progressivetheology.org

Yes, it counts. We need to share our journeys here, our stories, and blogs are a really helpful new tool for doing that. As you can see below, I promote my blog a lot!

Another organization:

The Network of Spiritual Progressives:

www.spiritualprogressives.org.

They will be having another conference in February 06 in Washington, DC! It will include folks like: Jim Wallis, John Shelby Spong, Joan Chittister, Rabbi Michael Lerner, Matthew Fox . . . I went to the one in Berkeley last summer and it was awesome -- nourishing and inspiring.

~Mary