The Weyerhaeuser Center for Christian Faith and Learning at Whitworth University invites you to participate in our next pastors' reading group, which will begin in October. The purpose of this group is to help pastors and interested laypersons explore vocation and ministry through the reading and discussing of books related to these themes. Our hope is that this reading group will provide intellectual stimulation, personal enrichment and warm fellowship as we engage in a significant conversation regarding the nature and purpose of the church in the 21st century.


This fall we will be reading The Great Awakening: Reviving Faith and Politics in a Post-Religious Right America, by Jim Wallis. Below is a review of the book:

From Publishers Weekly
First, the good news: According to Wallis, founder of Sojourners and author of the bestseller God's Politics, the era of the religious right is over, and a new crop of under-30 progressives may well be taking American religion — and American politics — by storm. The bad news: people of faith need to get to work to further this grassroots support for social justice. Wallis draws on lively stories from his speaking engagements and world travels to discuss how the silent majority of religious Americans who don't feel represented by the religious right's agenda can first take comfort in their sheer numbers and then take action in their communities to fight poverty, cleanup the environment and eradicate disease. The book is as passionate, engaging and emotionally moving as readers have come to expect from Wallis, who comes across as a Rauschenbuschian teddy bear, alternately stumping for justice and proclaiming God's love. As a cohesive book, however, this has a rough and clunky sensibility, with considerable repetition of ideas, examples and even phrasing. It has the feel of discrete essays and speeches that have been knocked together and too lightly edited. Still, fans of God's Politics who are eager to learn of the next step will find compelling ideas and stories. (Jan. 22)
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Our first meeting is Tuesday, Oct. 7, from 7-8:30 a.m. in the HUB Conference Room B at Whitworth University. A copy of the book and a light breakfast will be provided at a cost of $10. We will discuss the book on these dates:

• October 7 (7-8:30 a.m.), HUB Conference Room B

• November 4 (7-8:30 a.m.), HUB Conference Room B

• December 2 (7-8:30 a.m.), HUB Conference Room

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