Voices of the Religious Left

Rebecca T. Alpert is Assistant Professor of Religion and Women's Studies, Temple University. She is the author of Like Bread on the Seder Plate: Jewish Lesbians and the Transformation of Tradition, and the co-author of Exploring Judaism: A Reconstructionist Approach.

"...chock-full of politically engaged, theologically and textually grounded essays... Many of the essays also provide serious spiritual ammunition... Voices illuminates the ways some people have taken their sense of religious duty out into a broken world and infused their in-the-trenches tikkun olam with a relationship to the bigger picture. The magic here is both in the details and in the sweeping sense that we are all, in fact, working toward the same goals from, as somebody once said, a thousand points of light. Until we can get there, Voices of the Religious Left offers indispensable, high-octane edification and inspiration-just what we'll need along the way." -Danya Rutttenberg, LILITH "Alpert's collection is of genuine service for understanding and engaging with contemporary perspectives of 'the religious left'..." -Nova Religio "This book does a fine job of showing how the religious left can be part of religious belief, including for those who, for the most part, adhere to fairly traditional religious beliefs." -Journal of Church and State

• CONTENTS Introduction -- Rebecca T. Alpert Part One: Making Progressive Religious Theology / Warrant for Progressive Religious Thought and Action "Renewing the Heart of Faith," Jim Wallis "Womanist Theology: Black Women's Voices," Delores Williams "Theology as Public Responsibility," Richard A. McCormick and Richard P. McBrien "Reflections from a Latin American Theologian," Gustavo Gutierrez "Canaanites, Cowboys, and Indians: Deliverance, Conquest, and Liberation Theology Today," Robert Allan Warrior "Re-imagining God: Reflections in Mirrors, Motheroot, and Memory," Rita Nakashima Brock "Martin Luther King and the Future of America," Vincent Harding Part Two: Focusing on the Issues 1. Though suffering is limitless, I vow to end it "The Skewing of America: Disparities in Wealth and Income," Ron Pasquariello "Poverty, Women, and Reproduction: Welfare Reform and Social Justice," Catholics for a Free Choice (policy statement) "Jews, Money, and Responsibility," Lawrence Fush and Jeffrey Dedro "Options of the Poor: Preference or Platitude?" Thomas J. Paprocki 2. The Earth is the Lord's "The Greening of Buddhist Practice," Kenneth Kraft "The Theological Basis of Animal Rights," Andrew Linzey "From Compassion to Jubilee" 3. My Brother's Keeper "Aparteid as Idolatry," James H. Evans "Passover and the Palestinians," Arthur Waskow "The Martyr's Living Witness," Daniel Berrigan "Back to the Dust: How I Rediscovered the Power of Scriptures," Barbara Holmes "Catholics and Colonialism: The Church's Failure in Rwanda," Todd Salzman 4. Proclaim Liberty "Full Circle of Liberation: An American Indian Theology of Place," George Tinker "The Upward Mobility of the Gospel," Helen Prejean "Between Frick and Steel," Mumia Abu-Jamal "Release the Prisoners," Elizer Valentin-Castonon "Free Speech in Pauline Political Theory," David Fredrickson 5. Neither Male nor Female "The Worth of a Woman," Laila Al-Marayati "Violence Against Women: The Theological Dimension," Mary Pellauer "Coming to Terms with Leviticus," Rebecca Alpert "Homosexuality: Challenging the Church to Grow," John McNeill "Searching Scripture for a Model of the Family," Rosemary Radford Ruether "The New York Times Ad: A Case Study in Religious Feminism," Mary Hunt and Frances Kissling "Anti-abortion / Prochoice: Taking Both Sides," Helen Tworkov Part Three: Building Bridges; Know one another "Difference is No Excuse for Hatred," Diana Eck "American Christians, Jews, and Muslims Working Together for Middle East Peace," Ronald Young "Reconsidering Christopher Columbus and the Recovery of a Biblica Theology Mission," Wi Jo Kang "The Church's False Witness Against the Jews," Carl Evans "Arena for Interaction," Lee Ranck