President Obama’s speech calling for a "new beginning" for American and Muslim relations inspired warm responses from several progressive religious leaders featured in my recent book, Progressive & Religious. They were especially unified in praise for his focus on justice, interfaith cooperation, and common values, all of which serve as cornerstones for future peace and mutual respect. Obama highlighted the need for open and frank discourse in this process. These leaders are important progressive, religious voices in this dialogue, where emphasis is shifting from a history of suspicion to a future of cooperation.

Below I've featured video responses from two important leaders featured in Progressive & Religious, Rabbi David Saperstein and Dr. Eboo Patel.

Rabbi David Saperstein, Director of the Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism, called Obama's address an "extraordinary, remarkable speech" that contained impressive "moral consistency" and "political courage." Click here to watch the video. Rabbi Saperstein also noted:

"One of the greatest challenges facing humanity today is finding common ground between diverse religious traditions and working with all religions to delegitimize extremism that embraces violence."

Dr. Eboo Patel, Director of Interfaith Youth Core, highlighted the hopeful vision of "interfaith cooperation," rather than "a clash of civilations" that has been a mark of President Obama's administration from its beginning. Click here to watch the video.

These video responses, and audio and written responses to President Obama's speeach from other leaders featured in Progressive & Religious, including Asra Nomani and Rami Nashashibi, are featured on a new religion website, www.Patheos.com. Thanks to Patheos for gathering these resources into one page.

To hear more of the inspiring religious perspectives that Rabbi Saperstien, Eboo Patel, and others are bringing into American public life, you can check out the "Progressive Religious Voices Podcast," which features interviews with these leaders.

To read more about the emerging progressive religious movement, you can check out Progressive & Religious: How Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and Buddhist Leaders are Moving Beyond the Culture Wars and Transforming American Public Life. Rowman & Littlefield has made my book available at the best price so far ($12.48 for hardcover). To buy the book at this sale price, click here, and enter promotion code “4S9JONE50″ at checkout.

Labels: Christian, eboo patel, interfaith, jewish, muslim, obama, progressive, rami nashashibi, religion, saperstein

Wanted to flag for everyone in the Progressive & Religious community a new book and another important contribution by Diana Butler Bass.

Gifted historian Diana Butler Bass has a knack for bringing back into focus ignored or forgotten parts of the story of Christianity. Just over two years ago, she gave us Christianity for the Rest of Us: How the Neighborhood Church Is Transforming the Faith, the story of much-ignored mainline Protestant congregations that were defying stereotypes and thriving by combining traditional worship practices with social engagement.

In her latest book, she gives us an accessible and much-needed reminder of the dynamic--and often contested--nature of lived Christianity as expressed both in the lives of its people and its institutions. In our times, when churches are wrestling with a variety of issues that challenge the orthodoxies of the past, the reminder that the traditions we take for granted today represent the outcomes of struggles from the past is invaluable. This modest but powerful insight, brought home through lively examples, has the potential to humanize current debates. It moves the question from, "What was the winning argument from the past?" to "What does faithfulness for our time require?" While seminary courses delve into the material covered here, Bass makes it accessible. The importance of these insights and the accessibility of this book make it a major contribution.

Labels: book review, Christian, church

Rev. Dr. Susan Thistlethwaite talks about the importance of religious education, Biblical literalism, and the emerging progressive religious movement that she calls a 'Second Reformation.'

In this new episode of Progressive Religious Voices, Rev. Dr. Susan Thistlethwaite, professor of theology at Chicago Theological Seminary and senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, emphasizes critical thought and thorough Bible study as the backbone of progressive religious education and talks about the "divine human project" of helping to heal the world.

Here's a short excerpt from the podcast:
That’s the divine human project, to heal the world. And you contribute your piece. King was right, it may be slow, but 'the arc of history bends towards justice.' Isaiah 58 says, `You shall be called the re-builders of the walls, the restorers of houses in ruins.’ Our country is in ruins. I mean, seriously. And so Isaiah 58 calls us, `I despise your feasts, your solemn assemblies.’ [And God says], 'What are you doing? You’re over here, you’re wasting my time with all of this religious ritual when the world is broken, and it’s the world that I care about. It’s the world I created as God, and so your job as a human being is to work with me in the re-building of the world, the healing of the world.' That’s what you’re doing. You’re trying to help with others the world heal itself. So for me, it is the healing of the world, that’s the human project.

Click here to listen to the podcast.




About Rev. Dr. Susan Thistlethwaite
Rev. Dr. Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite is professor of theology at Chicago Theological Seminary and senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. She was president of CTS from 1998-2008. Her area of expertise is contextual theologies of liberation, specializing in issues of violence and violation. An ordained minister of the United Church of Christ since 1974, she is the author or editor of thirteen books and has been a translator for two translations of the Bible. Her works include Casting Stones: Prostitution and Liberation in Asia and the United States (1996) and The New Testament and Psalms: An Inclusive Translation (1995).

About the Podcasts
Progressive Religious Voices is a bi-monthly podcast of interviews gleaned from nearly 100 interviews with progressive religious leaders. You can subscribe to the podcast feed directly or on iTunes to get all the exciting interviews that we will feature throughout 2008.

Other Resources
If you enjoyed this podcast, you might also enjoy our podcast featuring Rev. Dr. James Forbes, Jr., President and Founder of the Healing of the Nations Foundation of New York and Senior Minister Emeritus of Riverside Church.

You can also read more about the growing progressive religious movement in my new book, Progressive & Religious: How Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and Buddhist Leaders are Moving Beyond the Culture Wars and Transforming American Public Life.

Labels: Christian, podcast, progressive and religious, progressive christianity, progressive religious voices, susan thistlethwaite