The Great Awakening: Seven Ways to Change the World [Paperback]

Jim Wallis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 6, 2009

Now in paperback: the bestselling author of God’s Politics revives our hope in a politics that reflects our highest common values and offers a roadmap for solving our biggest social problems.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Recognizing that America's faithful have subverted their evangelical Christian ideology into a conservative political ideology, Wallis reminds readers that to follow the spirit of Christianity truly does mean to go beyond the simple two-party system and understand the greater principles of the faith. Wallis assesses the wide range of movements and new ideas emerging from Christians and what this new reckoning within their hearts and minds means for the political realm. With tools and goals that help listeners achieve spirituality over ideology, Wallis reveals the common ground upon which faith in America can be rebuilt and opened to a larger group of discontented believers. At a slow, deliberate pace, Wallis narrates with an elderly but genuinely sincere voice. A few voice shifts hint at poor sound editing, but the clarity and crisp voice of Wallis still shines through. However, his tone can be a bit droll, and it seems to move forward with almost languid reluctance. He performs a few vocal impersonations quite well, but often in doing so, only reinforces his overall weak performance in the straight narration.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Offers insight into religious activism and the possibilities for a more progressive approach to religious engagement in the public square (In These Times )

“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 )

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 )

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

...a timely, powerful, persuasive book which richly deserves a wide hearing.... (Christian Ethics Today )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: HarperOne; 1 Reprint edition (January 6, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 006144488X
• ISBN-13: 978-0061444883
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,254,448 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jim Wallis is a bestselling author, public theologian, speaker, preacher, and international commentator on religion, public life, faith, and politics. He is president and CEO of Sojourners, where he is editor-in-chief of Sojourners magazine. He regularly appears on radio and television, including shows like Meet the Press, the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, the O'Reilly Factor, and is a frequent guest on the news programs of CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, MSNBC, Fox, and National Public Radio. He has taught at Harvard's Divinity School and Kennedy School of Government on Faith, Politics, and Society. He has written eight books, including: Faith Works, The Soul of Politics, Who Speaks for God? and The Call to Conversion.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

116 of 126 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
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

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

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.

49 of 54 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)   

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

"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.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

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

By 

Bookreporter (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

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

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].