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

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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.

"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.

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 phrelanzer@aol.com.

This book was not written for me. It was written for American Christians, and since I am neither an American nor a Christian, I found it a little difficult at times to slog through. However, the book has a message. It is a good message, and it is an important one. I recommend it to all Christians who believe that their faith can and should influence their politics.

Jim Wallis is an evangelical Christian preacher. His previous book was "God's Politics: Why the Right gets it wrong and the Left doesn't get it". The central message of the book is that religion should not be partisan. Religion is beyond left and right. Religion should affect the way people behave and make policy regardless of political views.

Personally I don't like his thesis that social change can come only through religion. I don't think that this is true. The influence that authors like Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris have had through their books shows that one can be socially active without a religious base for one's politics.

When I saw Wallace interviewed on The Daily Show, I was surprised and pleased that he acknowledged the existence of the nonreligious, which by some accounts makes up 14% of the population of the United States. I read this book expecting to find a little more exploration of the role of seculars in American society. Only a little - I didn't expect much - but I did expect some. Alas, I was disappointed. His acknowledgement of the nonreligious was confined to a total of two sentences. One near the beginning and one near the end.

I also thought that he was guilty of cherry-picking and selectivism. I'll give you an example to show what I mean.

The book quotes extensively from the Bible - as one would expect - and especially from the various epistles of Paul. Paul had some good things to say about helping one's fellow man, and how to behave in society. However, in the chapter on the status of women, there was not a single Biblical quote. Not one.

As we all know, the Bible is not silent on the status of women in society. In fact, Paul has some very strong ideas on the subject. However, these ideas are the complete opposite to what Wallis believes. Paul says "the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man" (1 Cor 11:3) and "Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression." (1 Tim 2:11-14).

This to me is cherry-picking. He is taking the nice bits of the Bible, and using them to support his thesis, but he is discarding the bits that don't agree with him.

However, I don't really object to that. He is extracting from the Bible what is essentially a good message. The world would indeed be a better place if every Christian cherry-picked in this way.

He speaks of "God's Kingdom". This is not heaven or any kind of rapture. It is the kingdom of God on earth. The Kingdom is a metaphor for the ideals of peace and tolerance that Wallis preaches in his own ministry. He wishes to bring the Kingdom of God to earth - which essentially means that he wishes that everyone would adhere to the ideals of peace and tolerance that was part of the teachings of Christ. He believes that Christians should be politically active and work as they are able to bring this goal about.

This is a good message, and I support Christians saying this. I would support it more if he acknowledged in the book what he acknowledged in the interview with Jon Stewart: that religion does not have a monopoly on morality.

"God is not Republican"... a phrase in this book still reverberating in my mind, even though I have never declared myself in the GOP ranks. As a citizen not only of the US, but of the planet, I have always had issues with conservative america's approach to global warming, fair trade, poverty reduction, etc; issues widely overlooked and even aggressively resisted. Yet, if we claim to know and fear a "just" God, why must I give my vote to those who care nothing for these principles.

Enter "The Great Awakening", a book confronting not only economic and social poverty abroad, but bringing it home to American soil as well. The poverty many fellow Americans live in, as exposed in hurricane Katrina's aftermath, prevalent racism and sexism still rooted in our society and the passive attitude the body of Christ has had towards these, are but a few of the issues raised.

Social justice is a term that is not widely taught in Sunday church around the country. Yet it is something many Americans are beginning to come to terms with and which Wallis drives deep into the reader's conscience. He helps us realize that it is in God's own heart to see us take responsibility for helping those less fortunate, for proper stewardship of the planet and its resources and becoming increasingly aware of the world as a whole. Our God is personal, but not individual.

This is a Christian book, written by a Christian man. Yet I recommend it to all as a call to a higher level as citizens of the most privileged country on the planet.

This wonderful book is so timely. It seeks and succeeds in large part, in trying to bring all sides together to refocus on the important lessons Christ taught and to remind all of us that God is neither Republican or Democrat.

And as someone who is a registered Republican and somewhat conservative in some ways, I find myself agreeing with what the author writes. One need only step back and see how many Christians from all walks of life, work with groups like Habitat For Humanity, local food banks, homeless shelters, unwed mothers to see we have more in common than we realize. And we can do even better. We have in the past as the author reminds us, and we can do so again.

And I agree with the author (using my words not his) that Christ has been hijacked by radicals who have sadly also turned many people off of church, and even God because they simply don't want to get sucked into the hate talk and divisiveness.

What I think this book can do, is remind all sides that we are all in this together and that there are some serious concerns that need dealing with. Be it divorce, abortion, war, unemployment, stressed out families, forgotten elders, and a general decline in real quality of living for all of us.

If you are interested in the role of faith and politics, this is a must-read before the next election. It doesn't preach ... it reminds us that faith SHOULD influence our social action. While I'm not sure I see the religious right quite so silenced as Rev. Wallis, the surge in presence of other religious persons, accross religious lines, is an encouragement.

Read it. Show it to your friends. Bring it to your place of worship and encourage others to social justice, peace, and faith.

Jim Wallis' new book, 'The Great Awakening' is an inspired and inspiring work that gives all readers extraordinary hope for the future. Jim writes about an imminent 'great awakening' and a passionate hunger for justice that is apparent, especially amongst the youth of the world. Jim shows a depth of analysis of the topics he covers and gives his readers a concrete direction forward in their fight for justice. He encourages everyone to put social justice issues on their personal agenda, spurring them on to push through any apparent barriers. The book has left me inspired and I have already found issues in my own State of Victoria, Australia, that I have begun to tackle with a ferocity I have not experienced before.

Jim Wallis has produced an important document for Christians considering their place in the political process. Although the content is a bit repetitious of his 2005 book, God's Politics, Wallis makes a strong case that there is a growing Christian revival happening in our politics and that Christian beliefs can no longer be claimed solely by the Republican party. In fact, Wallis sets forward an excellent argument that the issues of abortion, gay marriage and family values that have been championed for so long by the Religious Right are not the only issues on which to judge the morality or beliefs of a candidate or party. Wallis argues that Jesus would want us to look at additional issues such as poverty, global warming, environmental stewardship and a consistent culture of life as we decide who to support. He clearly explains why Christians should be involved in secular culture, yet should never be co-opted by any one political party or organization. In short, he suggests that voters take the time to determine which candidates overall stance on the issues best fits within a system of Christian ethics and beliefs. As an example, candidates who support continuing an unjust war, devaluing life through the accepted use of torture or expanding the death penalty may not be the best choices for a voter who believes in a consistent culture of life as expressed in the teachings of Jesus.

Jim Wallis' most recent previous effort, "God's Politics", was a manifesto for the faithful and downtrodden of the Bush years. It called us to endure, remembering that it is God we worship, and not his all too self appointed emmissaries of the "Moral Majority".

This book is less a lamentation of what has fallen apart in America. Instead, it is a call to action. Wallis reminds us of so much that has happened in the last 2 years, and re-focuses the reader in the belief that there is a new age dawning for the faithful in America. We are no longer badgered to see faithfulness as a vacuous commitment to nationalism, anti-gay, and anti-abortion politics. Instead, we're asked to bear witness to, and indeed to join, the enormous outflow of activism that is occurring in our country. This, "Awakening", Wallis assures us, places AIDS, the environment, poverty, and human dignity on the very same platform that the narrowly held focus of the religious right dominated for a decade and more.

The Great Awakening is a call to wake up and smell the coffee, better yet, to stand up and be part of the revolution of truly holy service that has begun in our land.

Amen, so be it.