Radical Prophet
Radical Prophet

Author: Christopher Rowland

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2017-08-30

Total Pages: 266

ISBN-13: 1786732386

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Christianity began with the conviction that the old order was finished. The mysterious, elusive and charismatic figure of Jesus proclaimed that a new era, the Kingdom of God, was dawning. Yet despite its success, and the conversion of the empire which had executed its founder, the religion he inspired was soon domesticated, its counter-cultural radicalism tamed, as the Church attempted to control both its doctrines and its followers. Christopher Rowland here shows that this was never the whole story. At the margins, around the edges, sometimes off the religious map, the apocalyptic flame of the New Testament continued to burn. In 1649 the Diggers occupied St George's Hill to put the egalitarianism of Christ into practice. 'You must break these men or they will break you', Oliver Cromwell declared of the 'lunaticks'. This book argues that such revolutionaries had divined the true intent of the enigma who threw over the tables of the money-changers: to summon a new epoch - strange, iconoclastic, uncomfortable and otherworldly. It gives full weight to a remarkable strain of radical religion that simply refuses to die.

Prophetic Tradition and Radical Rhetoric in America
Prophetic Tradition and Radical Rhetoric in America

Author: James Darsey

Publisher: NYU Press

Published: 1999-09

Total Pages: 291

ISBN-13: 0814719244

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This expansive volume traces the rhetoric of reform across American history, examining such pivotal periods as the American Revolution, slavery, McCarthyism, and today's gay liberation movement. At a time when social movements led by religious leaders, from Louis Farrakhan to Pat Buchanan, are playing a central role in American politics, James Darsey connects this radical tradition with its prophetic roots. Public discourse in the West is derived from the Greek principles of civility, diplomacy, compromise, and negotiation. On this model, radical speech is often taken to be a sympton of social disorder. Not so, contends Darsey, who argues that the rhetoric of reform in America represents the continuation of a tradition separate from the commonly accepted principles of the Greeks. Though the links have gone unrecognized, the American radical tradition stems not from Aristotle, he maintains, but from the prophets of the Hebrew Bible.

American Prophets
American Prophets

Author: Albert J. Raboteau

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2018-05-22

Total Pages: 244

ISBN-13: 0691181128

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A "powerful text" (Tavis Smiley) about how religion drove the fight for social justice in modern America American Prophets sheds critical new light on the lives and thought of seven major prophetic figures in twentieth-century America whose social activism was motivated by a deeply felt compassion for those suffering injustice. In this compelling and provocative book, acclaimed religious scholar Albert Raboteau tells the remarkable stories of Abraham Joshua Heschel, A. J. Muste, Dorothy Day, Howard Thurman, Thomas Merton, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Fannie Lou Hamer—inspired individuals who succeeded in conveying their vision to the broader public through writing, speaking, demonstrating, and organizing. Raboteau traces how their paths crossed and their lives intertwined, creating a network of committed activists who significantly changed the attitudes of several generations of Americans about contentious political issues such as war, racism, and poverty. Raboteau examines the influences that shaped their ideas and the surprising connections that linked them together. He discusses their theological and ethical positions, and describes the rhetorical and strategic methods these exemplars of modern prophecy used to persuade their fellow citizens to share their commitment to social change. A momentous scholarly achievement as well as a moving testimony to the human spirit, American Prophets represents a major contribution to the history of religion in American politics. This book is essential reading for anyone who is concerned about social justice, or who wants to know what prophetic thought and action can mean in today's world.

Prophet of Discontent
Prophet of Discontent

Author: Jared A. Loggins

Publisher: University of Georgia Press

Published: 2021-05-15

Total Pages: 150

ISBN-13: 0820360163

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This book is openly available in digital formats thanks to a generous grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Many of today’s insurgent Black movements call for an end to racial capitalism. They take aim at policing and mass incarceration, the racial partitioning of workplaces and residential communities, the expropriation and underdevelopment of Black populations at home and abroad. Scholars and activists increasingly regard these practices as essential technologies of capital accumulation, evidence that capitalist societies past and present enshrine racial inequality as a matter of course. In Prophet of Discontent, Andrew J. Douglas and Jared A. Loggins invoke contemporary discourse on racial capitalism in a powerful reassessment of Martin Luther King Jr.’s thinking and legacy. Like today’s organizers, King was more than a dreamer. He knew that his call for a “radical revolution of values” was complicated by the production and circulation of value under capitalism. He knew that the movement to build the beloved community required sophisticated analyses of capitalist imperialism, state violence, and racial formations, as well as unflinching solidarity with the struggles of the Black working class. Shining new light on King’s largely implicit economic and political theories, and expanding appreciation of the Black radical tradition to which he belonged, Douglas and Loggins reconstruct, develop, and carry forward King’s strikingly prescient critique of capitalist society.

Abraham Joshua Heschel
Abraham Joshua Heschel

Author: Julian E. Zelizer

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2021-10-26

Total Pages: 329

ISBN-13: 0300262353

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A biography of the rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, who became a symbol of the marriage between religion and social justice “When I marched in Selma, I felt my legs were praying.” So said Polish-born American rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907–1972) of his involvement in the 1965 Selma civil rights march alongside Martin Luther King Jr. Heschel, who spoke with a fiery moralistic fervor, dedicated his career to the struggle to improve the human condition through faith. In this new biography, author Julian Zelizer tracks Heschel’s early years and foundational influences—his childhood in Warsaw and early education in Hasidism, his studies in late 1920s and early 1930s Berlin, and the fortuitous opportunity, which brought him to the United States and saved him from the Holocaust, to teach at Hebrew Union College and the Jewish Theological Seminary. This deep and complex portrait places Heschel at the crucial intersection between religion and progressive politics in mid-twentieth-century America. To this day Heschel remains a symbol of the fight to make progressive Jewish values relevant in the secular world.

My Name is Erin: One Girl's Plan for Radical Faith
My Name is Erin: One Girl's Plan for Radical Faith

Author: Erin Davis

Publisher: Moody Publishers

Published: 2013-07-22

Total Pages: 137

ISBN-13: 0802486479

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Maybe you’ve had a moment when God did something radical in your heart. Putting your faith and trust in Him certainly feels like taking a giant leap, but really it’s just the beginning of the exciting, and—yes—radical journey that comes with agreeing to live as God calls you to. What does being radical look like? In the Bible, the common characteristics of "radicals" are: They trusted God. They listened to God’s voice and then obeyed—even when it cost them. Because of their faith, they lived lives that looked different from everyone else’s. That’s a short list and a tall order, but basically it means you can be a radical, too. There’s nothing on that list that is impossible for you. There’s nothing on that list that requires you to be older, or more financially stable, or to have a college degree. No matter who you are or where you live, you can live a radical faith. Meet Erin, who has learned practical ways to do just that. She'll help you be radical, too. My Name is Erin: One Girl’s Plan for Radical Faith is one in a series of four books, which can be read in any order. The other titles are: My Name is Erin: One Girl’s Journey to Discover Truth My name is Erin: One Girl’s Journey to Discover Who She Is My Name is Erin: One Girl’s Mission to Make a Difference

Aspects of Amos
Aspects of Amos

Author: Anselm C. Hagedorn

Publisher: A&C Black

Published: 2010-12-09

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 0567245373

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The volume brings together eight new essays on Amos, which focus on a range of issues within the book. They represent a number of different approaches to the text from the text-critical to teh psychoanalytical, and from composition to reception. Arising out of a symposium to honour John Barton for his 60th birthday, the essays all respond, either directly or indirectly, to his Amos's Oracles Against the Nations, and to his lifelong concern with both ethics and method in biblical study.