What Religion Forgets and Politics Hasn't Learned about Serving the Common Good
December 10, 2012
Christian activist and writer Wallis (God’s Politics), president and CEO of Sojourners, a faith-based activist community headquartered in Washington D.C., which runs a magazine of the same name, draws on inspiration from Abraham Lincoln to reflect on the common good outside of political labels. Instead of money, power, and prestige, people of faith should be concerned about the biblical “least of these,” following the lead of the so-called Matthew 25 Christians, who focus on social justice. Wallis understands compassion as the doorway to justice for everyone around the world, and while he is poetic, a few notions—like postcandidate advocacy—lack the clear definition and conviction that defines much of the book. The volume is divided into two parts; the first delves into Wallis’s sources of inspiration for his thesis, which range from The Chronicles of Narnia to the biblical parable of the Good Samaritan. In the second part, Wallis writes about prioritizing his family life as an example of engaging in more intentional community at home to gradually improve current political and social ills. Agent: Kathryn Helmers, Creative Trust.
May 15, 2013
A manifesto for the common good, long on sense, short on inspiration. Wallis (Rediscovering Values: A Guide for Economic and Moral Recovery, 2011, etc.) presents a sober, common-sense argument that our political and religious institutions have lost their way in partisan infighting and ideological confusion and should return to first principles in the interest of serving the common good. In clearly reasoned, lucid prose and without rancor or dogma, Wallis traces the decline in civility in both the public and private sectors, the destructive effect of financial interests holding sway in politics, the importance of family to the development of individual and communal morality, and other such social issues. This even-tempered, mild, avuncular approach actually works to the book's detriment. Wallis' positions are so reasonable and obvious that some invective, zeal or sense of dramatic urgency is necessary to offset the essential banality of his arguments. As it stands, Wallis' plea for a kinder, deeper, more caring world has all of the revolutionary fervor of a speech from Mr. Rogers on the necessity of playing nicely together. Wallis can be charming, with his childlike devotion to the Narnia stories of C.S. Lewis and baseball, and the messages of tolerance and cooperation to be found within them (he is refreshingly progressive on such topics as same-sex marriage), and his friendly, conversational tone makes the book a relatively painless read. But the moral lessons presented here should be self-evident to any reasonably bright and engaged young teenager. That may in fact be Wallis' point, but the delivery of the message is simply too anodyne to make any kind of emotional or intellectual impact. An admirable, worthy message that could be contained on a bumper sticker.
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