williambrandes

Hi all:

 

I got to see Jim Wallis speak at the Network of Spiritual Progessives conference in Berkeley this past summer . . . he was great and the whole conference was excellent. Haven't read God's politics yet, but I do enjoy writings I have seen by Wallis in Sojourners and various other journals.

 

The Network of Spiritual Progressives is an ecumenical organization spearheaded by Rabbi Michael Lerner's Tikkun community. I encourage anyone who wants to participate in a political movement that seeks to form networks between progressive people of all faiths as well as spiritual-but-not-religious people to check out this organization! I guess I should actually start a thread about it. At any rate, there will be another meeting of this conference in Washington, DC, in February 06. If you're interested, go to www.tikkun.org.

 

At the Berkeley conference (and the DC conference will be similar) we had speakers / artists / groups like: Jim Wallis, Peter Gabel, Fritjof Capra, Matthew Fox, Carol Flinders, Holly Near, "Swami Beyondananda," Thandeka, Buddhist Peace Fellowhip, John Shelby Spong, Van Jones, Rami Shapiro -- in D.C. they'll also have Sister Joan Chittister!

 

Okay, sorry . . . I'll start another thread. Eventually.

 

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Thanks for the heads-up. Network of Spiritual Progressives - http://www.spiritualprogressives.org/

I think I liked the book more than you did William, but I also think it would have been more effective if pruned a LOT. I don't know who his editor, etc. was, but I thought that person should have done a better job. I eventually saw it as more of a bunch of essays and speeches which made it more readable, but still I agree wtih the your point. I think 100 pages or so would be about right.

 

I see the message as an essentially "new" (or at least rediscovered) one in American politics (not new in and of itself). Funny thing but I hear a few people sounding like him lately, and I am pretty sure they have read the book: Hillary Clinton, for one, talked about social justice issues as moral values.

 

 

--des

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Yeah. Clinton's Global Initiative has some of the same punch. Personally I think that Jim is courageous and right on track. However, the book needs slicing and dicing to get the message across. You might want to check the links I've put together below. The streaming audio files give you a much better taste of Jim than the book. Jim Wallis is an oral story teller and that medium is much more effective in presentation. I plan on taping the NPR interview and using snippets to re-enforce the central themes. This is a HUGE subject and requires some channeling to make it effective. William

I will also be leading and facilitating a three part forum on God's Politics. Although I agree with the premise that old and new testament prophetic faith/poverty/justice issues cannot be divorced from politics, I found the book sloppy, a laborious read, repetitive and full of clichés. It could have easily been 100 pages (or less) with a DVD/CD resource guide to boot. That would have been much more effective. Jim Wallis has been an effective voice for over 35 years and this book does him no justice (no pun intended). This book needed an editor with a big red marker. I feel it was rushed to print and reduces his voice to mediocre-dum. Still, I will be reading what folks are gleaning from this book in order to make an effective case for his central theme. William