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Title: The Heart Is a Little to the Left: Essays on Public Morality by William Sloane Coffin ISBN: 0-87451-958-6 Publisher: Dartmouth College Pub. Date: October, 1999 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.75 (4 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: The Heart is a lot to the Left!
Comment: Don't be fooled by the innocuous-sounding title of this book. It is filled with some good ideas but the liberal agenda of the book becomes clear by page 2! Mr. Coffin has no respect nor use for anyone in the conservative camp. His compassion is all-encompassing, it would seem, but given a choice between a poor fundamentalist Christian and a wealthy liberal congressman, his choice would clearly be the latter. Didn't Jesus mention something about not judging your brother harshly? Mr. Coffin has judged conservative Christians with all the vitriol that is so characteristic of the liberal community.
Rating: 5
Summary: Riveting and compelling
Comment: As a liberal Christian, I must admit that I'm biased in favor of most of Rev. Sloane's positions. However, I can still say without a doubt that this is one of the best books about liberal Christianity I've ever read.
Rev. Sloane's rhetorical skills are superior. He words come alive on the page and are easily comprehensible. Witty and engaging, Sloane carries a powerful message for change. I recommend this book for anyone interested in learning more about liberal Christiantiy.
Rating: 3
Summary: A short book on liberal Christian philosophy
Comment: The book itself is NOT a "little" to the left. The statement on page 72 illustrates just how far off center he is: "Clearly the Christian right is a tribe that feels slighted. I think we should oppose its views -- vigorously". This type of viewpoint places his views on the far left, not moderate as the title would imply.
While the author makes some very important and valid statements about the role of a Christian in our society, the book reads like a collaboration of unrelated chapters with little coherence of thought or flowing of ideas. Perhaps that was the point, but it certainly made the book less enjoyable.
Some of the strong points include his views on love as being an inclusive concept by its very definition and nature. He spends some time speaking of the Apostle (he uses the term Saint) Paul's statements concerning love, specifically "Now abide faith, hope,love, these three; and the greatest of these is love. Make love your aim". He says that many religious people make faith their aim, and faith is exclusive, not inclusive. I couldn't agree more.
However, his philosophy is lacking on the whole due to his often subtle and often direct conclusion that only those individuals who agree with his socialistic liberal views are capable of demonstrating the "love as the greatest aim, and love as inclusive" concept. For example, he says on page 17 that the "Christian right has trouble not only seeing love as the core value of personal life but even more trouble seeing love as the core value of our communal life". While I do not consider myself a member of the Christian right, I find his pushing of the superior exclusivity of his liberal political views to contrast oddly with his own statements about his desire to live to love, and therefore be inclusive. How does one be inclusive while being exclusive of others? A self contridiction he seems unaware of.
From a macro viewpoint though, he makes some excellent points about America's role as a compassionate nation, highlighting the injustice of our poor, and he really has some wonderful things to say about the role of evangelism by saying that good evangelism is not proselytizing but witnessing, bearing witness to "the light that shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it". Amen!
In conclusion, this book presents some wonderfully powerful challenges to Christians regarding our role in society, but it ultimately cannot seem to make the claims without at the same time being the very thing it condems; exclusive and unloving.
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Title: Credo by William Sloane Coffin, James Carroll ISBN: 0664227074 Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press Pub. Date: December, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: A Passion for the Possible: A Message to U.S. Churches by William Sloane Coffin ISBN: 0664254284 Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press Pub. Date: October, 1993 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: William Sloane Coffin Jr. by Warren Goldstein ISBN: 0300102216 Publisher: Yale Univ Pr Pub. Date: 10 March, 2004 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
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Title: The Courage to Love by William Sloane Coffin ISBN: 0060615087 Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Pub. Date: January, 1982 List Price(USD): $9.57 |
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Title: The Heart of Christianity: Rediscovering a Life of Faith by Marcus J. Borg ISBN: 0060526769 Publisher: Harper SanFrancisco Pub. Date: 23 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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