Prophetic Activism: Progressive Religious Justice Movements in Contemporary America

Religion and Social Transformation Series

by Helene Slessarev-Jamir

While the links between conservative Christians and politics have been drawn strongly in recent years, coming to embody what many think of as religious activism, the profoundly religious nature of community organizing and other more left-leaning justice work has been largely overlooked. Prophetic Activism is the first broad comparative examination of progressive religious activism in the United States. Set up as a counter-narrative to religious conservatism, the book offers readers a deeper understanding of the richness and diversity of contemporary religious activism.Helene Slessarev-Jamir offers five case studies of major progressive religious justice movements that have their roots in liberative interpretations of congregational community organizing; worker justice; immigrant rights work; peace-making and reconciliation; and global anti-poverty and debt relief. Drawing on intensive interviews with activists at all levels of this work—from pastors and congregational leaders to local organizers and the executive directors of the national networks—she uncovers the ways in which they construct an ethical framework for their work. In addition to looking at predominantly Christian organizations, the book also highlights the growth of progressive activism among Jews, Muslims, and Buddhists who are engaged in reinterpreting their religious texts to support new forms of activism. Religion and Social Transformation series

290 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 13, 2011

Reviews

[Helene Slessarev-jamir]

Folks, My book offers one of the broadest overviews of contemporary forms of progressive religious activism to date.Not only do I provide any reader with a solid background on the many issues these activists are engaged in, I also demonstrate how activists construct what I call "a religious scaffolding" to support their work as well as the varying organizing methodologies that activists use. Chapter Two has an extended discussion of biblical perspectives on key issues taken up by many religious activists. I argue that context shapes this work in profound ways, so I distinguish between work that occurs in poor urban, African-American and immigrant communities and work that occurs among people from more privileged sectors of American society who have developed cosmopolitan views of the world. These cosmopolitan perspectives enable them to advocate against injustice occurring in other parts of the world, often among people who are very different than themselves.

Five of the chapters provide up-close assessments of many of the particular interreligious organizations engaged in community organizing, worker justice, immigrant rights, peace-making, and global solidarity work. The book ends with some projections of the future directions of this work. It is a must read for anyone who cares about progressive religious activism.

[Drick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book contains a series of case studies of various social movements in U.S. history that were largely motivated by people with religious convictions. Not only does the author do an excellent job of describing the movements and the key persons involved, but also the way religion and religious commitments were a major impetus for change. While the book focuses primarily on Christian activism, it does include organizations from Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist and more secular convictions. While focusing progressive movements, her description of the ONE campaign indicates that even conservative, evangelical folks can work for significant change at times with progressives.

In the Spring (2016) I hope to teach an undergraduate course on social movements and this book will be an excellent resource for highlighting the way in which people of religious faith can be and have been at the forefront of social change, something that is often noted but under-emphasized. Also helpful was her distinction between borderlands (organizing social marginalized populations - immigrants, farmworkers, laborers, African-Americans) and cosmopolitan (generally white middle/upper middle class persons) activism and how religion can often bring the two together. In the chapter on Global Justice Activism, she also shows the way in which the internet and social media are changing the way social justice organizing is being done, especially among Millenials. All in all this is an excellent resource for anyone seeking to understand the spectrum of social justice organizing from a religious perspective.