The Great Awakening: Reviving Faith and Politics in a Post-Religious Right America (Hardcover)

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Key Phrases: nonviolent realism, consistent ethic, Religious Right, United States, Jesus Christ (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

First, the good news: according to Wallis, founder of Sojourners and author of the bestseller God's Politics, the era of the religious right is over, and a new crop of under-30 progressives may well be taking American religion—and American politics—by storm. The bad news: people of faith need to get to work to further this grassroots support for social justice. Wallis draws on lively stories from his speaking engagements and world travels to discuss how the silent majority of religious Americans who don't feel represented by the religious right's agenda can first take comfort in their sheer numbers and then take action in their communities to fight poverty, clean up the environment and eradicate disease. The book is as passionate, engaging and emotionally moving as readers have come to expect from Wallis, who comes across as a Rauschenbuschian teddy bear, alternately stumping for justice and proclaiming God's love. As a cohesive book, however, this has a rough and clunky sensibility, with considerable repetition of ideas, examples and even phrasing. It has the feel of discrete essays and speeches that have been knocked together and too lightly edited. Still, fans of God's Politics who are eager to learn of the next step will find compelling ideas and stories. (Jan. 22)
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Review

"This is a must-read for anyone concerned about the staggering problems that America faces today. Before you vote, read THE GREAT AWAKENING." -- FaithfulReader.com

Laden with anecdotes, Wallis’ book claims a groundswell of progressive believers could accomplish social transformation that mere politics cannot deliver. -- USA Today

The book is as passionate, engaging, and emotionally moving as readers have come to expect from Wallis. -- Publishers Weekly

This call to arms is approachable and inspiring . . . Wallis’s analysis of the role of faith, especially Christian faith, in embracing progressive ‘common good’ politics is highly astute and, overall, very compelling. -- Library Journal

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: HarperOne; 1 edition (January 22, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060558296
• ISBN-13: 978-0060558291
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #163,533 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

111 of 117 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An interesting call from one long thought in the wilderness, January 22, 2008

By	J. A Magill (Sacramento, CA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

For too long Jim Wallis has been a sort of preacher in the wilderness, calling people of faith to reengage in the public square, not as members of a particular partisan party, but instead to serve as messengers and workers on behalf of our fellow human beings. While it may be too early to say that Mr. Wallis is being at last heard, there are some early indications.

With this book "The Great Awakening: Reviving Faith in a post-Religious Right America" Mr. Wallis reminds readers that, while religion has been all over the map in conflicts since the beginning of history, it has also provided the vanguard in the great ethical crusades of our nation's past. From Abolition, to Worker's Rights, to Civil Rights, people of faith marched and preached, and agitated. Listening to many of those who imagine themselves as "religious leaders" of the current time, one might think that Moses descended Sinai with Tablets demanding reduced corporate regulation and Jesus on the Cross opined over the need to reduce the capital gains rate. Yet these individuals and their ability to crowd out other people of faith remain aberrant.

Wallis writes eloquently about those common principles which bind all faiths: caring for the weak and the poor, protecting human dignity, reminding everyone of our common value. Perhaps, if Wallis is correct, there is a great awakening bubbling up in America; if that is the case, one can only hope that a better, healthier nation will arise, a thing for which all people of faith can pray.

43 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Complaint and an Acclomade, January 29, 2008

By	A. L. Moss "Progressive Evangelical" (Santa Crua, California) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

"Political Junkie's" statement is unsubstantiated, namely that Jim Wallis is indifferent to the concerns of those who identify themselves as 'pro-life'. If he or she should have actually read Wallis' book, they would have discovered that Wallis unashamedly declares that "from a moral and religious standpoint, I believe that abortion is wrong, almost always indefensible." He takes a more balanced approach to this issue, by saying that although he has a strong bias toward ensuring every conceivable protection be provided the unborn, he doesn't want to see abortion criminalized as to thrust women into the dangerous and deleterious situation of back-alley, do-it-yourself abortions, either. He's trying to widen the dialogue that people like "Political Junkie" insist on choking. I have been very inspired by Mr. Wallis' even-handed treatment of many of the topics found in his book, and am surprised that he puts many of my own thoughts to paper, as though he lifted them away from me in my sleep or something. He seeks balance and compromise among conflicting parties and ideologies without sacrificing his strong sense of Biblical morality. His whole notion of a "conservative radical" is exactly what I have been trying to articulate myself as being to others, and Mr. Wallis has coined a useful term. His profuse quotations of John Howard Yoder, Jacques Ellul and others, whom I enjoy very much, reassures me that my Christian-political views are not fringe, but gaining ascendancy in the mainstream as evangelicals search for meaningful alternatives to the polarized debate on religion that has occurring throughout the last twenty years.

Congratulations: this is your best book yet, Jim.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Before you vote, read THE GREAT AWAKENING, February 25, 2008

By	Bookreporter.com (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

In the dramatic lead-up to the 2008 presidential election, author Jim Wallis believes that Americans are poised on the edge of a spiritual revival --- what he calls "The Great Awakening" --- that could bring about justice in critical areas such as poverty, the environment and the affirmation of the dignity and sacredness of life.

God, Wallis contends, is neither a Republican nor a Democrat. Rather, religion calls us to moral accountability, and we must work together to achieve justice. There is a leveling of the "praying field," he (and The New York Times) says, between both parties on religion and moral values. The left is beginning to "get it" --- remembering its own religious history and recovering the language of faith. Although "politics is still broken," people of faith can work within the political system to effect change to seemingly unsolvable issues.

Wallis, a self-proclaimed "progressive evangelical," says that the evangelical social agenda is now much broader and deeper, and includes issues such as poverty and the ethics of war. He is careful to say that the shift from the Religious Right among evangelicals is not necessarily a shift to the left: "In fact, it is the typical right-left divide on almost every political issue that makes them weary." Evangelicals are looking for a new agenda that is more consistent with their deeply-held values. And younger voters are replacing the Religious Right with Jesus.

Catchy, isn't it? Wallis delivers page after page of rhetoric, exhorting the faithful to get on board with social justice. He is extremely persuasive, and his passion and conviction is contagious. He likes to drive his points home, and if that means telling the reader three or five or seven times the same thing, then so be it.

It's an intriguing book. Who could resist a chapter called "How to Change the World, and Why"? Readers will find a dizzying array of Wallis's views on a myriad of topics: creation care, racial equality, poverty, illegal immigration, the particular challenges of being a woman (and the need for leadership by females in religious communities) and modern slavery and sex-trafficking. Take a deep breath --- Wallis is just getting started. There is an urgent and much-needed call for louder public outcry on the genocide in Darfur, and what it means to be pro-life in the broadest sense of the phrase. And how did America get to the point where "torture" is debatable? "All life is sacred, and all threats to human life and dignity are important and worthy of our attention," and it is this ideal that provides the "seamless garment" (as Joseph Cardinal Bernardin would have said) that weaves these different topics together.

Solutions come on three levels, Wallis believes: the personal/individual response, the congregational/communal response and the national/international political response. And, "The best movements usually have spiritual foundations." He then offers a theological foundation for how and why faith is supposed to change the world and the "rules of engagement" for people of faith (including seeking the common good and keeping a global perspective).

Wallis, the founder of Sojourners (a global faith and justice network), is perhaps at his most persuasive when he writes about poverty --- it is the new slavery, he insists, imprisoning bodies, minds and hearts. "It is time to lift up practical policies and practices that help the poor escape their poverty and clearly challenge the increasing wealth gap between rich and poor." Several times throughout the book, he reminds us that 30,000 children die each day because of poverty and three billion people on our planet live on two dollars a day. Staggering statistics, sure to trouble even the most stoic reader.

Christian readers active in charity may find some soul-searching in Wallis's writing on inclusion. Those who have hammered nails for a Habitat for Humanity house or doled out food for the homeless at the soup kitchen may have instinctively felt that their efforts fell short of what was needed...and Wallis tells them they are correct. Although individual efforts are important, we must address the bigger questions. We have to look at the reason we tutor an inner-city kid (failed educational systems) or why we need free health clinics (failed health systems). We need a commitment to move from a lens of charity to justice and from paternalism to empowerment.

Wallis's previous book, GOD'S POLITICS, challenged Christians to rethink what it meant to be a person of faith who votes in America. THE GREAT AWAKENING moves from examining politics to action, putting into place an agenda that reflects justice. This is a must-read for anyone concerned about the staggering problems that America faces today. Before you vote, read THE GREAT AWAKENING.

--- Reviewed by Cindy Crosby. Contact Cindy at [e-mail].