About the Book
This sweeping new anthology shows how religion has joined with and learned from movements for social justice, peace, and ecological wisdom. Liberating Faith surveys the entire range of religious social activism: from liberation theology and feminist religion to ecotheology and peace activism. It includes theology, social critique, position papers, denominational statements, manifestos, rituals, prayers, biographical accounts, and journalistic descriptions of real world struggles, beginning with a survey of ethical teachings from traditional sources. Following sections deal with 'precursor' voices before the 20th century, Gandhi's exemplary vision, overviews of the connections between religion, society, and political movements, and impassioned accounts of particular issues. Containing voices from a multitude of traditions, national settings, and perspectives. Liberating Faith includes writings by Latin American liberation theologians and radical American religious activists, statements on social justice by the Pope and environmental morality by the Eastern Orthodox Patriarch, religious critiques of collective and interpersonal violence, passionate denunciations of racism and quiet eloquence which demands that we all stand up for morality in dark times. Among the more than eighty authors are Thomas Berry, Thich Nhat Hanh, Abraham Heschel, Martin Luther King, Winona Laduke, Michael Lerner, Thomas Merton, Henri Nouwen, Judith Plaskow, Rosemary Ruether, and Vandana Shiva. An invaluable teaching resource and the definitive introduction to global religious social activism, this book offers a visionary alternative to both repressive fundamentalism and spiritless secularism.
Table of Contents:
Chapter 1 Introduction: A Liberating Faith
Part 2 Part I: Tradition: Ethical Roots of Spiritual Social Activism
Chapter 3 Judaism
Chapter 4 Christianity
Chapter 5 Islam
Chapter 6 Jainism
Chapter 7 Hinduism
Chapter 8 Buddhism
Chapter 9 Confucianism
Chapter 10 Taoism
Chapter 11 Luther Standing Bear, "Nature"
Part 12 Part II: Precursors of a Liberating Faith
Chapter 13 from Women Resistance and Revolution
Chapter 14 from Women Speaking
Chapter 15 from Abuses and Uses of the Bible
Chapter 16 Feminist Theology, 1880-1900
Chapter 17 Prejudice Against the Colored Man
Chapter 18 The Sin of Slavery and Its Remedy
Chapter 19 from Solidarity and Communism, and The New Apstolate
Chapter 20 from Rerun Novarum: The Condition of Labor
Chapter 21 from A Letter Concerning Toleration
Part 22 Part III: Ghandi: The Exemplar
Chapter 23 Selections from writings
Chapter 24 Gandhi for the 21st Century
Part 25 Part IV: Overviews of Transformation: The Sacred, the Social, and the Political
Chapter 26 The Struggle Between Two Voices of God in Torah
Chapter 27 The Justice of Transcendence and the Transcendence of Justice
Chapter 28 from Mysticism and Resistance
Chapter 29 from Quar'an, Liberation, and Pluralism: An Islamic Perspective of Interreligious Solidarity Against Oppression
Chapter 30 The Social Teachings of the Buddha
Chapter 31 from Moral Man and Immoral Society
Chapter 32 from Jesus of Nazareth/Christ of Faith: Foundations of a Reactive Christology
Chapter 33 How Christians Become Socialists
Chapter 34 Beyond the Enlightenment Mentalilty
Part 35 Part V: "Justice, Justice ye shall pursue"
Chapter 36 Letter from a Birmingham Jail
Chapter 37 from Black Theology and Black Power
Chapter 38 from A Theology of Liberation
Chapter 39 Toward the Rights of the Poor: Human Rights in Liberation Theology
Chapter 40 The Martyrs' Living Witness: A Call to Honor and Challenge
Chapter 41 from Gaudium et Spes: Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World
Chapter 42 from Economic Justice for All
Chapter 43 Love is the Measure; Our Brothers, the Communists
Chapter 44 from Disarmed and Dangerous: The Radical Life and Times of Daniel and Philip Berrigan
Chapter 45 Faith takes a seat at bargaining table
Chapter 46 Religion and the Fall of Communism
Chapter 47 A Catholic Rural Ethic for Agriculture, Environment, Food, and Earth
Chapter 48 Globalization and the Perennial Question of Justice
Chapter 49 Mammon and the Culture of the Market: A Socio-Theologial Critique
Chapter 50 Sarvodaya
Chapter 51 Alternatives to Consumerism
Chapter 52 Islamic Banking
Chapter 53 Statement of Indigenous Nations, Peoples, and Organization
Chapter 54 Voices of the peoples-voices of the Earth; Indigenous peoples-subjugation or self-determination
Chapter 55 from The Disabled God: Toward a Liberatory Theology of Disability
Part 56 Part VI: The Liberation of Gender
Chapter 57 from Introducing Feminist Theology
Chapter 58 Prophetic Tradition and the Liberation of Women: A Story of Promise and Betrayal
Chapter 59 from Standing Again at Sinai: Judaism from a Feminist Perspective
Chapter 60 In Search of Women's Heritage
Chapter 61 from Islam, Women, and Gender Justice
Chapter 62 The Feminine Critique
Chapter 63 A Theology of Pro-Choice: A Feminist Perspective on Abortion
Chapter 64 Every Two Minutes: Battered Women and Feminist Interpretation
Chapter 65 from Ministry to Women: Hearing and Empowering "Poor" Black Women
Chapter 66 Ecology is a Sistah's Issue Too: The Politics of Emerging Afrocentric Ecowomanism
Chapter 67 from The Men We Long to Be: Beyond Lonely Warriors and Desperate Lovers
Chapter 68 Rituals of Healing: Ministry with and on Behalf of Gay and Lesbian People
Chapter 69 Resolution on Same Gender Officiation
Part 70 Part IIV: The Wholeness of Peace
Chapter 71 Religion and Conflict Resolution
Chapter 72 Jesus' Third Way
Chapter 73 The Fourteen Mindfulness Training of the Order of Interbeing
Chapter 74 The Christian Challenge: Love Your Enemies
Chapter 75 from The Journey Toward Reconciliation
Chapter 76 Founding Document
Chapter 77 Speak Truth to Power
Chapter 78 Resisting the Forces of Death; "No" to the Vietnam War
Chapter 79 Toward a Theology of Resistance
Chapter 80 September 11, 2001: A Pacifist Response
Chapter 81 The Meaning of this Hour
Part 82 Part VIII: This Sacred Earth: Religion and Environmentalism
Chapter 83 Saving the World: Religion and Politics in the Environmental Movement
Chapter 84 Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Environmental Futures
Chapter 85 An Aboriginal Perspective on the Integrity of Creation
Chapter 86 To Save All Beings: Buddhist Environmental Activism
Chapter 87 Faith, God, and Nature
Chapter 88 Islam and Deep Ecology
Chapter 89 The Universe Story: Its Religious Significance
Chapter 90 The Trinity and Human Experience: An Ecofeminism Approach
Chapter 91 The Chipko Women's Concept of Freedom
Chapter 92 Race, Sacrifice, and Native Lands
Chapter 93 The Earth Charter
Chapter 94 The Cochabamba Declaration on Water: Globalization, Privatization, and the Search for Alternatives
Chapter 95 Evangelical Declaration On the Care of Creation
Chapter 96 Address of his Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew
Chapter 97 The Theological Basis of Animal Rights
Part 98 Part IX: From the Heart: Rituals, Prayers, Celebrations
Chapter 99 Breaking Ground: A Traditional Jewish Lesbian Wedding
Chapter 100 National Council of Churches, Worship Resources Earth Day Sunday
Chapter 101 Dance to Heal the Earth
Chapter 102 Peace Prayers of the People
Chapter 103 We All Drink from One Water
Chapter 104 All That Has Divided Us Will Merge
Chapter 105 Please
Chapter 106 In the Name of Daybreak
Chapter 107 Anonymous Lutheran Prayer from France When Did We See You Hungry?
Chapter 108 Peace Seeds
Part 109 Further Study
About the Author :
Roger S. Gottlieb is professor of philosophy at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He is the author and editor of eleven books on politics, religion, philosophy, and environmentalism.
Review :
Roger Gottlieb has done us all an enormous service by bringing together in this volume the words of the most inspiring and insightful thinkers of our time, from all over the world. We learn here, in passage after passage of surpassing eloquence, that political activism on behalf of peace and justice cannot live and grow unless suffused with spiritual powers. I hope this book will be widely read in classrooms all over the country, because it is a needed corrective for politics without heart, and religion without justice.
A powerfully inspiring interfaith overview of social change perspectives.
A must-read for those who want to rejuvenate their spirit, fire their religious imagination, and live interdependently with earth.
Roger Gottlieb has gathered for us voices that bring together passion for justice, reverence for nature, religious depth, and a commitment to act. They sharpen our vision of what is and what could be. They speak with the peace and perserverance that arises from spiritually rooted political engagement. These are voices we dearly need. Listen.
This volume could hardly be more timely! It appears just as new alliances of religious progressives are most needed. For discouraged progressives of all persuasions, it is an inspiring and instructive reminder of what has gone before, with remarkable achievement along the way. And for those who don't know the deep running streams of progressive religion, it is a vital education at the right time.
Roger Gottlieb offers a splendid anthology of sanctity and hope. Religious and secular voices, in the best tradition of each, speak up, loud and clear. The sum is a synthesis of enlightened, courageous idealism. In a dark time, gratitude befits.
The first word that came to mind was, very simply: exciting! This is the kind of collection for which many of us have yearned: ethically strong and substantive selections rooted in religious vision and devoted to social and environmental transformation. The readings reflect the breadth and depth of the editor's learning and moral commitments. This book will be a boon for the classroom and for religious leaders of all kinds. These readings can do more than inform; they have the power to inspire and enlightened activism in the quest for social justice and ecological integrity.
What a treasure-trove Liberating Faith is. Reading it is both intellectually enriching and spiritually nourishing. It offers an alternative to 'repressive fundamentalism' and 'spiritless secularism.' Truly, it is a rich resource for the seasoned social activist and beginner alike.
