I wanted to flag for everyone this article in the National Catholic Reporter that mentions my new book, Progressive and Religious, and role of religion in the 2008 election.

"I think what the emerging progressive religious movement is poised to do is to help us move from the culture wars, where religion is the tip of the spear that divided Americans," said Robert Jones, a sociologist and author of "Progressive & Religious."

"What we're really seeing is a rebalancing in many ways in this election," said Jones. "In 2004, we had the artificial constriction of religion to a couple of hot-button issues and one party."

The full article is available here.

Labels: catholics, election, progressive and religious

Check out this newest review of Progressive and Religious from the Baptist Studies Bulletin of Mercer University. You can access the full article here.

Progressive and Religious: How Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and Buddhist
Leaders Are Moving Beyond the Culture Wars and Transforming
American Public Life
by Robert P. Jones
Reviewed by Wil Platt

Having lived through a decade or more of supremacy by the Christian right, some will be tempted to interpret the short title of this month’s selection as an oxymoron. How could any movement be both progressive and religious? As Rosemary Radford Reuther observes in her recommendation for the book, we have been presented with “the falsehood that only conservative evangelicals are seriously religious.” The basic purpose of the author is to “paint a compelling portrait of an emerging progressive religious movement in America.” I believe he succeeds in his task.

Robert P. Jones (Robby to his friends) describes himself as “a speaker, scholar, and consultant on religion and progressive politics.” He is president of Public Religion Research, a consulting firm advising advocacy groups, and visiting fellow in religion at Third Way, a progressive think tank. He completed his M. Div. at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary; the fundamentalist takeover of that institution occurred in his final semester and definitely influenced his outlook. He went on to earn a doctorate at Emory University in Atlanta. After a brief period of teaching in the Religious Studies Department of Missouri State University, he accepted a position as the founding director and senior fellow at the Center for American Values in Public Life at People for the American Way Foundation in Washington, D. C. While there and during the year following his departure, he completed the work for the book. Since 2007, he has been working as an independent consultant in progressive circles in Washington. Additional information about his background and activities can be found on his Web site.

Progressive and Religious is based upon nearly one hundred interviews with progressive religious leaders from synagogues, churches, mosques, meditation halls, and homes across the United States. Protestants who were interviewed include Tony Campolo, evangelical scholar, speaker, and writer; James Forbes, former senior pastor of the The Riverside Church in New York; Welton Gaddy, Director of the Interfaith Alliance; Brian McLaren, speaker, pastor, and leader in the Emerging Church movement; and Jim Wallis, President of Sojourners/Call to Renewal. Three chapters of the book are devoted to the Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The final chapter covers progressive Buddhists. The book contains a complete list of interviewees divided according to their religious or professional affiliation, extensive notes, and a generous bibliography.

Jones states that there were two meta-narratives that dominated late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century thought in regard to religion in America. One was the belief among mainline Protestants that the twentieth century would witness the “the full blossoming of Christian principles” and the Christianizing of the culture. On the other hand, some predicted the demise of religion in the face of an assault by science and reason. As things happened, neither of these visions came to pass. Buffeted by two world wars, economic collapse, the Holocaust, and the Cold War, the vision of a Christianized culture never came to fruition. The vision of secularization did not come to pass either; religion persisted, and continued to challenge science and rationalism. By the end of the twentieth century, in the place of these “exhausted visions,” two other forces emerged: “a defiant, rejectionist form of religion represented by the religious right and an equally militant condemnation of religion by the angry neoatheists. . . .” The religious right focused on a narrow range of issues: abortion, same-sex marriage, and stem cell research. As a result of his research, Jones believes that the majority of Americans are looking beyond the culture wars toward religious and political progress. He sees the progressive voices that he interviewed as “the vanguard of a new public face of religion in American public life.”

In the conclusion to the book, Jones discusses the “shared principles and values” of people who are both progressive and religious. First, these individuals and groups place an emphasis on social justice. They do not see this as optional; it is central to their faith. The Jewish concept of tikku olam, “healing the world,” is a way to express this concept. Second, progressives follow a relational approach to truth. Strong emphasis is given to experience in community, the use of human faculties in discerning truth, and humility. Third, progressives emphasize a “rigorous engagement with tradition” not a break with tradition. The past must be revered and respected, but it cannot supplant the present. Fourth, progressives have a belief in the unity of all humanity. In the Abrahamic faiths, this is based upon the belief that all have been created in the image of God. All people have not only a common origin but also a shared fate. Fifthly and finally, progressives have a new vision of America that emphasizes interdependence and generosity instead of unilateralism.

While some Baptists seem to be “circling the wagons,” Robert P. Jones paints a picture of a future characterized by openness, attention to issues of social justice, and religious cooperation. The progressive voices he has identified give us cause for hope.

The full article is available from the Baptist Studies Bulletin.

Labels: progressive and religious, reviews

I wanted to highlight this most recent positive review of Progressive and Religious. You can access the full text from the Spirituality and Practice website here.

Book Review

By Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

Progressive & Religious
How Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and Buddhist Leaders Are Moving beyond the Culture Wars and Transforming American Life
Robert P. Jones

Robert P. Jones is president of Public Religion Research, a consulting firm advising national advocacy groups, and visiting fellow in religion at Third Way, a progressive think tank. With great elan and spunk, he has completed a three-year project of interviewing 100 Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and Buddhist leaders. The result is a book that presents a glimpse of the emerging face of religion in a new era in America which E. J. Dionne and others have dubbed "a post-religious right America." Here are progressives who are deeply rooted in religious traditions, "voices that unite rather than divide; and voices that demand attention to a broader agenda of peace, social justice, care for the environment, respect for pluralism, and the common good."

For years, the religious right, comprised mainly of white evangelicals within the Republican Party, have dominated the media with their political views and wedge issues such as abortion, same-sex marriage, and embryonic stem cell research. The excesses of the Christian right have spawned a series of vitriolic antireligious books. Conspicuously absent are liberal religious voices. Jones maintains that an authentic new movement has arisen that is very different from the still vocal Christian right and the reactionary antirelgious left.

In a chapter titled "Lifting the Line of History: How Progressive Jews Are Healing the World," the author claims that Judaism presently has "the strongest and most engaged progressive voice." He talks about tikkun olam and the challenge of repairing the broken world. The sacred texts used to energize social justice issues are Genesis 1 (Creation in the Image of God), the Exodus story of liberation, and Isaiah 58 where holiness refers to an ethical orientation toward just acts. In addition to working for the alleviation of poverty and the support for LGBT equality, many Jews have joined Rabbi Michael Lerner's Network of Spiritual Progressives. On the international front, this organization calls for a "Global Marshall Plan" and "an ethical way to end the war in Iraq."

In other chapters, Jones covers three other religions: "More Truth Breaking Out: How Progressive Christians Are Seeking the Reign of God on Earth"; "Knowing One Another: How Progressive Muslims Are Fostering Justice, Beauty, and Pluralism"; and "Just Sitting Down: How Progressive Buddhists Are Being Peace and Embodying Justice." The author shares five common characteristics of a progressive religious orientation:

• An emphasis on social justice
• A relational approach to truth
• A rigorous and critical engagement with tradition
• A belief in the unity of all humanity
• A new vision of America that emphasizes interdependence, generosity, and prophetic critique

Jim Wallis has called the new energy among progressive voices a "great awakening." Jones does a fine job of mapping this new movement which offers an alternative to the present day national mood of fear and self-interest.

You can also access the full review here.

Labels: progressive and religious, reviews