The Heart Is a Little to the Left: Essays on Public Morality FROM THE PUBLISHER
William Sloane Coffin offers here a powerful antidote to the politics of the religious right with a clarion call to passive intellectuals and dispirited liberals to reenter the fray with an unabashedly Christian view of social justice. Refusing to cede the battlefield of morality to conservatives, he argues that "compassion demands confrontation," as he considers such topics as homophobia, diversity, nuclear weapons, and civil discourse.
SYNOPSIS
"An abundance of wisdom in an economy of words" by a leading activist preacher.
FROM THE CRITICS
Passionate, sometimes angry, yet never defeatist, Coffin reads as vibrantly and dynamically as he has lived. His confrontational tone serves as a challenge to anyone willing to engage this old moral warrior.
Library Journal
This short, readable work represents seven sermons and speeches delivered primarily to university audiences by controversial activist preacher Coffin (former chaplain at Yale University and senior minister of New York City's Riverside Church). By his own admission, he's an old man in a hurry: at times strident, at others just plain earnest. He comes down strongly on the side of social justice, championing notions like nuclear abolition, compassion for the homeless and disenfranchised, and the democratization of the American market economy. Not merely political, Coffin takes a strong stand against religious zealotry; the Bible, he claims, serves as a signpost, not a hitching post. Biblical literalists, he argues, sacrifice their intellect while holding to the self-delusional security of their fundamentalist creeds. Passionate, sometimes angry, yet never defeatist, Coffin reads as vibrantly and dynamically as he has lived. His confrontational tone serves as a challenge to anyone willing to engage this old moral warrior. Recommended for American religion and history collections.--Sandra Collins, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary Lib. Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
This slim volume gathers together seven essays by Coffin, former chaplain at Yale and pastor of New York's Riverside Church. For Coffin, politics and religion are inseparable, and the constant theme of these essays is the need for social justice. Quoting Brazilian Archbishop Camara, Coffin reminds readers that " `the heart is a little to [the] left.' You don't have to give socialist answers, but you do have to press socialist questions." In "The Warhorse," the antinuclear activist makes nuclear disarmament, an issue that faded from most people's radar screens years ago, seem not only relevant but feasible. The crown jewel of the collection is "The Politics of Compassion," a rousing jeremiad on behalf of the poor. It's unfortunate that many on the Christian right, who would be challenged and stretched by Coffin's political message, will be put off by some of his theological ax-grinding. His glib dismissal of scriptural authority, for example, is irrelevant to his larger vision and is guaranteed to be off-putting to orthodox readers. In the Bible, Joel prophesied that "Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams." This book makes clear why Coffin is one of America's most valuable visionaries and dreamers.
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