The Soul of Politics: A Practical and Prophetic Vision for Change [Hardcover]

Jim Wallis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1994

From the bestselling author of God's Politics, a seminal call to reintegrate politics and spirituality.

Jim Wallis's classic The Soul of Politics, originally published by The New Press in 1994, has sold 60,000 copies to date and has been widely praised for its prescience and passion. In fact, no issue has become more topical or polarizing in the United States than the intersection of religion and politics, with the country seemingly irreconcilably split between the "religious right" and the "secular left."

In this "dynamic, hopeful" (The Nation) book, Wallis, the nationally known activist, preacher, and editor of Sojourners magazine, shows why both the traditional liberal and conservative visions are inadequate to the challenge before us, and outlines instead a new political morality combining social justice with individual responsibility. Arguing that we need to look beyond the traditional corridors of power to find the resources for a political movement that will foster true democracy—emphasizing compassion, community, racial reconciliation, gender equality, justice, imagination, and joy—The Soul of Politics "speaks to how all Americans—not just churchgoers—need to take personal responsibility for change rather than rely on politicians" (Cleveland Plain Dealer).

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This eloquent manifesto for political and social transformation challenges liberals and conservatives alike. Wallis, a Washington, D.C.-based grassroots activist who is founding editor of Sojorners and an evangelical Christian preacher, writes in the tradition of Wendell Berry, Michael Lerner, Cornel West and others who have sought to reconnect politics to personal responsibility and the need to rebuild family and community. Attacking the religious right for supporting wasteful military build-up, fueling the backlash against women's rights and discriminating against homosexuals, Wallis argues for a new political morality that places the nation's-and world's-poor people at the center of our attention and is committed to ending institutionalized racism, sexism, selfish materialism and ecological destruction. Drawing on his own experiences fighting poverty, discrimination and gang violence in Washington, Los Angeles, South Africa and the Philippines, he sets forth numerous proposals ranging from community-based economic development programs to redistribution of land.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

A passionate plea for social justice and renewal, from the nationally known activist, preacher, and editor of Sojourners magazine. Drawing on his firsthand experience of inner-city life in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and Chicago and his visits to trouble spots such as Nicaragua, the Philippines, and South Africa, Wallis (The Call to Conversion, 1981) sets out his vision of a new politics, based on biblical principles, that incorporates both liberal social concern and conservative zeal for personal responsibility. He is at his best, however, when describing actual incidents and people. We meet Mrs. Mary Glover, a 60-year-old African-American woman at the Sojourners' Neighborhood Center, 20 blocks from the White House, who prays aloud each morning before the hungry arrive for food: ``Lord, we know that you'll be comin' through this line today. So help us to treat you well.'' We hear of 13-year-old Eddie, who gets drawn into drug-dealing and death on the streets of the capital. Wallis, whose heroes are Gandhi, Dorothy Day, and Nelson Mandela, is eloquent in his denunciation of consumerism and the huge gap between the affluent and the poor. He argues that the concept of human rights, rather than being seen as individual rights, should be broadened by a notion of community and deepened by a sense of the image of God in each person. Wallis's view of a social action that would link the issues of poverty, racism, sexism, and nuclear weapons is more visionary than practical, and his style is overly rhetorical and preachy. He avoids discussing the underlying philosophical questions of how society should be run and what people's duties are to each other, and his assessments of people and situations, such as that of contemporary South Africa, can be idealistic and na‹ve. The foreword is by Garry Wills and the preface by Cornel West. A stimulating vision of a just society but with little meat for those who want to ask deeper questions. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: New Press, The; 1St Edition edition (October 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565842049
• ISBN-13: 978-1565842045
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 5.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,940,012 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

63 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Disgusted with politics? Give this book a try!, March 4, 2002

By 

Kerry Walters (Lewisburg, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Soul of Politics: Beyond "Religious Right" and "Secular Left" (Paperback)

Have you ever bought an interesting-looking book, tucked it away on a shelf, finally gotten around to reading it a couple of years later, and then kicked yourself for waiting so long? That's how I felt when I at last read Jim Wallis' *Soul of Politics*. If it doesn't reinspire you to work for a better society, nothing will.

Wallis calls for what he calls a "prophetic politics of personal and social transformation," one that's built on the Judaeo-Christian insight that righteousness requires both individual and social responsibility. A contemporary re-application of this insight can help the secular left and the religious right learn from and complement one another and break free of the dysfunctional impasse they've reached. The left tends to overemphasize structural evil at the expense of individual responsibility; the right tends to overemphasize individual virtue while ignoring structural evil. But the prophetic politics--the politics with soul--Wallis advocates takes both into consideration. Individual responsibility to other individuals, to the community, to the environment, a call to action that "challenges the old while announcing the new" (p. 53), a spirit-filled replacement of unjust institutions that prevent humans from attaining maximal being: this is the heart of Wallis' message.

It's easy to become cynical and opt out of the political arena to cultivate one's own garden. But if Wallis is correct, such a withdrawal--if I may use an old-fashioned word that we perhaps ought to take seriously again--is a sin. To remain silent in the face of injustice is to acquiesce to it. Wallis' book gives us a good idea of how to go about healing the fragmentation of our society. The last third of the book deals with strategic details.

Read this book. Politics is too important to be left to the professional politicians.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A needed alternative to the "religious right", April 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Soul of Politics: A Practical and Prophetic Vision for Change (Hardcover)

Please ignore the media's obsession with portraying all people of faith as right wing Republicans.

Wallis understands that being a Christian is not about intolerance to minorities, or unbridled capitalism. Wallis understands Jesus' ministry to the poor and warnings to those in power and with great wealth of the responsibilities they have to "the least among us."

While the mass media continues to consult the likes of Ralph Reed, Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, etc for the "Christian" view, pastors like Wallis are reminding us the faith in God is not about power grabs and ostracizing others.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A MUST READ for all Christians!, November 24, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Soul of Politics: A Practical and Prophetic Vision for Change (Hardcover)

Wallis may be the most balanced voice in our culture today. In The Soul of Politics, he first tears away at silly conservative notions of "me first" and "us against them". He especially dresses down the radical religious right for misappropriating the sacred name of Jesus for the sake of obtaining raw political power. But just as you begin to think Wallis is a left-wing liberal, he rips into "feelgood" liberal approaches to society that have been proven failures. Instead, Wallis suggests a new polemic, really rooted in the prophets of old, that teaches both personal, moral responsibility and genuine, Christian compassion. He rejects false choices of left versus right and invites all people of faith, especially Christians, to create a new politics of community, compassion and civility. Wallis is a noted Evangelical. He's currently a fellow at Harvard but also heads the Christ-centered "Sojourners" magazine and urban ministry in the nation's capitol. Please...read The Soul of Politics. You will be challenged and encouraged!