God's Politics

Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It

De: Jim Wallis

Narrado por: Jim Wallis, Sam Freed

Since when did believing in God and having moral values make you pro-war, pro-rich, and solely pro-Republican? And since when did promoting and pursuing a progressive social agenda with a concern for economic security, health care, and educational opportunity mean you had to put faith in God aside?

God's Politics offers a clarion call to make both our religious communities and our government more accountable to key values of the prophetic religious tradition -- that is, make them pro-justice, pro-peace, pro-environment, pro-equality, and pro-family (without making scapegoats of single mothers or gays). Our biblical faith and religious traditions simply do not allow us as a nation to continue to ignore the poor and marginalized, deny racial justice, tolerate the ravages of war, or turn away from the human rights of those made in the image of God. These are the values of love and justice, reconciliation, and community that Jesus taught and that are at the core of what many of us believe, Christian or not. Jim Wallis inspires us to hold our political leaders and policies accountable by integrating our deepest moral convictions into our nation's public life.

Read by Sam Freed

©2005 Jim Wallis; (P)2005 HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

Quotable

A minister I respect told me about this book. I can say two very important things. There were parts of the languge that was phrased such that I have memorized it and that other ideas from the book have stayed with me and shaped my thinking.

Still relevant

Although written in 2005, this ought to be one of the recommended reads in Audible's current list for Election 2008, just as Wallis' more recent "Great Awakening" should be. Unfortunately, even with all the hope given by the "emerging church," the book will probably still be relevant in 2012.

I loved Jim Wallis since I first stumbled across his "Agenda for a Biblical People" in the mid 80s.
I agree that his message of the prophetic potential of politics can be sound repetitive, but the Biblical prophets tended to repeat themselves, too - and we are still far from realizing God's call to justice.

Sometimes nonfiction audiobooks don't work for me because the content is NOT presented for an aural audience and I would prefer to read them. More than just presenting info, Wallis "teaches" in this text, so the audio version seems fine to me, repetition and all.

Needed Editing

What did you like best about God's Politics? What did you like least?

Some interesting points -- made over and over again. Seems biased toward liberal/progressive ideas, which I welcome but seemed counter to some main points about how we come together around biblical principles rather than partisan politics.

It was so repetitive that I kept losing track of what I had already listened to. Tried to share and discuss it with two friends, but they couldn't endure listening. Sounded like a string of newsletter articles and blog posts that were not edited to fit with each other.

Still, was glad to have listened and gave me much to mull over.

A truly prophetic voice

Sometime in the 1990s, a friend said to me, "Isn't there a political party that wants to get all the children born AND feed them?" Jim Wallis asks essentially the same question, quickly concludes that the answer is no, and then excoriates both major parties for failing to hear and respond to the cry of the poor. Reading this book is like an examination of conscience for political junkies and policy wonks.

it's still relevant!

if you were to update the names of the people to reflect 2019, I could believe this was written yesterday