The (Un)Common Good: How the Gospel Brings Hope to a World Divided

by Jim Wallis

Overview

Jim Wallis thinks our life together can be better. In this timely and provocative book, he shows us how to reclaim Jesus's ancient and compelling vision of the common good--a vision that impacts and inspires not only our politics but also our personal lives, families, churches, neighborhoods, and world. Now available in paperback with a new preface.

"Personal/political, religion/politics, faith/power, ideology/pragmatism . . . Jim Wallis is a wrestler of values, ideas, and policies and how they interact to shape the world we live in. His deep, melodious voice is easy to listen to, but what he says takes a harder commitment to live by."--Bono, lead singer of U2; cofounder of ONE.org

"Wallis persuades more powerfully here than ever before. . . . He lays out the theology of [Jesus's gospel of the kingdom] and then issues to all Christians a rallying cry to apply that theology both in private life and in the arena of public activity."--Phyllis Tickle, author of Emergence Christianity

"Jim Wallis has long been an influential voice on Christian ethics and public life. . . . A fresh take on the interplay of faith and politics in America."--Relevant

"Jim Wallis and I have a variety of differences on domestic and international policy, but there is no message more timely or urgent than his call to actively consider the common good."--Michael Gerson, op-ed columnist,
The Washington Post

"Reading this book will help you be more like Jesus, especially in the public square."--Joel C. Hunter, senior pastor, Northland--A Church Distributed

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781441221827
Publisher:	Baker Publishing Group
Publication date:	05/27/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Jim Wallis is president and founder of Sojourners and editor in chief of Sojourners magazine. He is a bestselling author, public theologian, national preacher, social activist, and international commentator on ethics and public life. Wallis has written ten books, including the New York Times bestsellers God's Politics and The Great Awakening, and is a frequent speaker in the United States and abroad.
Jim Wallis is an author, activist, preacher, teacher, and pastor. He is a bestselling writer, convener of faith-inspired movements for justice and peace both outside and inside politics, public theologian in a secular culture, renowned speaker in the United States and abroad, and international media commentator on ethics and public life. He is the founder and leader of Sojourners, a magazine, movement, and global network whose mission is to put faith into action for social justice. Wallis has written more than ten books, including The (Un)Common Good and the New York Times bestsellers God's Politics and The Great Awakening. He has written for major newspapers, does regular columns for top digital news networks, and appears frequently on a wide variety of television and radio networks. Wallis also teaches at Georgetown University and has taught at Harvard University. He is husband to Joy Carroll, one of the first women to be ordained a priest in the Church of England, father to two teenage boys, Luke and Jack, and a decades-long Little League baseball coach.

Table of Contents

Contents

Part 1: Inspiring the Common Good
1. A Gospel for the Common Good
2. The Lion, the Word, and the Way
3. Who Jesus Is and Why It Matters
4. Lord, Help Us to Treat You Well
5. The Good Samaritan Goes Global
6. The Beloved Community Welcomes All Tribes
7. Surprising Our Enemies
Part 2: Practices for the Common Good
8. Conservatives, Liberals, and a Call to Civility
9. Redeeming Democracy
10. Economic Trust
11. A Servant Government
12. Making Things Right
13. Healthy Households
14. The World Is Our Parish
Epilogue: Ten Personal Decisions for the Common Good
Index