Excellent reading. Anyone from the lower 48 who has dreams about Alaska should read this book, it will give you a small insight about the Athabaskan's. Who are a giving people once they know and trust you.

This is a wonderful book - I read it in two days because it is so engrossing, I could scarcely put it down. Written by an Athabaskan woman, raised to hate the Inupiat (eskimos), it is a very honest rendering of Athabaskan culture from the last century - honest because it tells life like it was (miscarriages, women treated as propery, intertribal hatred, harshness of life, etc.), and honest because Wallis (an Athabaskan) is also honest about her own anti-eskimo upbringing in that the main characters in this story are Athabaskan, and the "villians" of the story are eskimo. However, this story goes so far beyond any kind of mere race-based narrative. The story is, truly, about what it means to be a person with dreams and a distinct calling in a society that does not honor difference: Bird Girl is a girl who prefers to hunt and run and be active (not a sewer and cook like women are "supposed" to be), and the Man Who Followed the Sun is a boy who has an intense wanderlust and need to explore new areas and learn new thing (and not interested in taking a wife, having a family, or living by the strict community-based rules of his tribe). I am a person who has long followed my own path, and although my path does not include having to hunt carribou or face death from spear impalation, Wallis's writing, and the story, is such that anyone who is a wanderer/explorer/creative will identify with the characters, and feel refreshed and thankful that someone understands them. I feel much better after having read this - not just because I am fascinated with Athabaskan, eskimo, and Tlingit culture, and wish I could live in that fashion for a year, but I feel better having someone write about what it means to be a wanderer/explorer; to whit, that one must leave one's family, leave's one home, and basically give up a very comfortable (but to me very stagnant and unwholesome) social setting, and carve out one's own niche - but to be a wanderer/explorer means, of course, that one's life will be mostly lonely and often filled with the scorn of others who do not understand, who do not comprehend that some people are called to be more than mere worker-bees for the sake of the "stability" of a society.

You, as a reader, will also benefit from the maps, pictures, and historical background that is also included in this book, which will hopefully also help people to realize that cultures like the native Alaskans (and any other culture that doesn't have TV, flush toilets, aluminum siding, strip malls, microwavable food, press-on-nails, or other "civilized" accoutrements) are, in fact, human, and human on a scale that few people who own a housefull of mass-produced paraphernalia that they don't need.

Mostly, though, as I stated before, Wallis has a tremendous sense of prose. Her wtriting is very immediate and unadorned. Many would call it "simplistic", but it is the kind of "simplistic" that is almost impossible to do well - very much like Asimov's writing in that regard. Few authors can manage to write so tightly and without excess and still write damn well, and Wallis is absolutely one of them.

Wallis, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your book, for your sharing, for the culture that raised you, and for your honesty.

I loved this book. It gave me a whole new sense of well being. Thank you Velma Wallis.

This book will be significant for those who want to learn more about the life of Arnold and the spirit that moved him. To my knowledge this is the first biography of Arnold written by a non-Bruderhof author. I like Baum's fresh perspective.Orbis Press has also just come out with another fine book entitled Eberhard Arnold that readers of this book should look at. It is part of their Spiritual Masters series.

I really liked the preview of this book. Jim says many things we have all heard before but says it so well! I too believe we need to look beyond our backdoor or comfort zones and really open our eyes to what's going on around us. By that I mean nationally and internationally. There are many things wrong in this world and unless we as Christians are willing to take up the cross of Jesus in mission and doing for the least of them, things will remain as they are. Mr. Wallis has written a book previously entitled Who Speaks For God? It is excellent and explains the Sojourners magazine he is the editor of. I would encourage all readers to explore his work.

This is a very admirable view and Wallis is very forgiving, as we all should be. That is, after all, the Christian way. However, while we can and should forgive the Christian Right for their hypocrisy, they will not escape judgment from the son of man, as Jesus promised. Jesus said that while hypocrites prophesy and claim to do many wonderful works in the name of the Lord, they are an "abomination," and the day will come when they are told to depart from the church (unless they repent). That day has come.

As Jesus promised, the messenger for the Spirit of Truth now guides us unto all truth and shows us things to come. (John 16:13-14) And the messenger is the "bridegroom-lamb" who, as John foresaw, is our "brother who has the testimony of Jesus." (Revelation 19:10) He is not the Christ, but the prodigal son of man who fulfills Jewish and Christian prophecy. He explains the true meaning of prophecy, and he delivers truly righteous judgment.

This is all explained in the message, which is titled Real Prophecy Unveiled: Why the Christ Will Not Come Again, And Why the Religious Right Is Wrong, by Joseph J. Adamson. He says the world does not need a mortal savior to scorn and crucify, or to exalt and put on a pedestal, and no man should be tempted with such great worldly power or bear such responsibility. He says the world needs the truth, and nothing but the truth, and he repeats what Isaiah wrote, that "besides God there is no savior."

Therefore, while Wallis offers us great advice, we should not be surprised that the fulfillment of prophecy will mean that the proud and militant will be brought low in order to enable the humble and meek to inherit the earth. That's what it's all about.

Jim Wallis delivers and excellent work I was alerted to a few years ago. This book forces Christians, from both sides of the political spectrum to examine what they believe, and why they believe it. Especially pointed are the criticisms of how both sides have plans to deal with the poor, but both are off base in the extremes of what they are trying to accomplish. Jim Wallis lives to serve the less-fortunate, and it shows in his servant attitude as he wrote this book. I give Jim Wallis high marks for this book that challenges the status-quo.

Have you ever bought an interesting-looking book, tucked it away on a shelf, finally gotten around to reading it a couple of years later, and then kicked yourself for waiting so long? That's how I felt when I at last read Jim Wallis' *Soul of Politics*. If it doesn't reinspire you to work for a better society, nothing will.

Wallis calls for what he calls a "prophetic politics of personal and social transformation," one that's built on the Judaeo-Christian insight that righteousness requires both individual and social responsibility. A contemporary re-application of this insight can help the secular left and the religious right learn from and complement one another and break free of the dysfunctional impasse they've reached. The left tends to overemphasize structural evil at the expense of individual responsibility; the right tends to overemphasize individual virtue while ignoring structural evil. But the prophetic politics--the politics with soul--Wallis advocates takes both into consideration. Individual responsibility to other individuals, to the community, to the environment, a call to action that "challenges the old while announcing the new" (p. 53), a spirit-filled replacement of unjust institutions that prevent humans from attaining maximal being: this is the heart of Wallis' message.

It's easy to become cynical and opt out of the political arena to cultivate one's own garden. But if Wallis is correct, such a withdrawal--if I may use an old-fashioned word that we perhaps ought to take seriously again--is a sin. To remain silent in the face of injustice is to acquiesce to it. Wallis' book gives us a good idea of how to go about healing the fragmentation of our society. The last third of the book deals with strategic details.

Read this book. Politics is too important to be left to the professional politicians.

What a wonderful story! This book should be read by young, old and those in between - it has a great message & lesson to be learned from this book. These two women had a great deal of courage; but despite their age, they were able to overcome the challenges which they were faced & the tribe which deserted them had to come to them for help. All races and cultures can learn from this book.

I read this story about 2 years ago and recommended for it Ophra's bookclub review. It is so uplifting and shows that someone of age can still be worthwhile and make something of their life, regardless of the situation they might be in. An older person has a lot of worth left to give to themself and others. Reading the story of how these two old women survived against the odds and how they helped themselves and each other to cope was inspiring. How they were left by family and friends and still moved on to survive, it something that happens to some of the aging people today. I reread this book every now and thenwhenever I feel down. The book helps us to remember that we can do anything we want to do, if we want it bad enough. It also helps us to remember that we are never too old to be helpful. An aging person has a lot of widsom to share if they can't share anything else. Talk to an aging person about their life and learn something new and maybe interesting to you.

As you begin to read the book you are confronted with your own views of aging and survival. The two old women rediscover that they were able to do far more than they thought they could when it became a matter of survival. Do we as a society condemn our elderly to the same fate? Do we gradually take away their self-worth and dignity by trying to make them more dependant on us? Yes, there are some out there that do need special care, I do not refer to those. My grandmother sits around watching TV all day. The most she does for activity is go grocery shopping. I believe, given a challenge, she could do a lot more. Does this mean I want to leave her out in the snow to die , NO! There in lies the dilemma for us, how do we respectfully allow our elderly generation to maintain their once useful skills without putting them in a position of harm? Or is it only in such a position that humans "arise" to their inner strength?

Through flawed reasoning, Jim Wallis concludes that personal wealth is immoral, unjust, and wrong. He insists that the path to freedom consists of limiting the resources of very wealthy people.

If you follow Jim Wallis's line of thinking, no one deserves vast personal wealth. Therefore, people who have achieved it must have their wealth limited by society -- in other words, give it back. After all, society made it possible for the rich to accumulate their wealth in the first place, right?

Wrong answer. Wealth is a product of personal financial responsibility and determined work. We live in the greatest country in the world, simply because it is possible in America for people to overcome poverty and ascend to personal financial freedom in a single generation. In other words, we have the ability, through our own talents and ingenuity, to create wealth. To make money, if you will.

What would be the incentive to do so, if once we achieve personal financial freedom, we are compelled to support others who are unable or unwilling to do what we have done. Charity should be a personal choice, not a social demand. Certainly not a legislated requirement. If income is capped, there will be no incentive to achieve. People will not continue to perform if the result of their accomplishment is social outrage, programmed guilt, and deliberate taxation to restore them to some median level of income.

And if those who are currently the investors, the entrepreneurs, the small business owners, and the corporate visionaries are disincentivized for performing, chances are good they will CEASE TO PERFORM. In other words, if you place a limit, a legal limit, for whatever moral reason you think matters, on the amount of money people are allowed to earn, they will stop trying to earn more than that amount.

An entrepreneur or a high-powered executive invests all he or she can into reaching their goals. At stake may be their money, their time, their reputation, their commitment, possibly their relationships. They would not be willing to take those risks without the chance for the reward.

The bad news is that if their willingness to take risks and outperform other people dies, then the "magic" fortune that they could accumulate, the one Jim Wallis wants to tap to fund his social spending programs, will vanish. It will cease to exist. It is an economic fact.

Entrepreneurs, visionary executives, and high earners will no longer be there to run big businesses, to make big investments, to build big successes. And without them, the companies will not succeed. No one will be employed.

These are the economic realities that Jim Wallis has overlooked. As good as his vision sounds, unless he can personally fund these ideas, he can not advocate them. To do so is the equivalent of giving the pay check of every American to the federal government, and allowing the government to redistribute it according to need.

Sound good? Communism failed.

I would personally like to thank each of my employers for creating their businesses and offering me a chance to work with them. I hope that my contributions helped to make you successful. The wages you paid me were fair, and I earned them honestly. The value I got was equivalent to the value I gave.

How great our country would be if more people were willing to give credit where credit is due: to the successful business men and women who employ us.

Please ignore the media's obsession with portraying all people of faith as right wing Republicans.

Wallis understands that being a Christian is not about intolerance to minorities, or unbridled capitalism. Wallis understands Jesus' ministry to the poor and warnings to those in power and with great wealth of the responsibilities they have to "the least among us."

While the mass media continues to consult the likes of Ralph Reed, Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, etc for the "Christian" view, pastors like Wallis are reminding us the faith in God is not about power grabs and ostracizing others.

Wallis may be the most balanced voice in our culture today. In The Soul of Politics, he first tears away at silly conservative notions of "me first" and "us against them". He especially dresses down the radical religious right for misappropriating the sacred name of Jesus for the sake of obtaining raw political power. But just as you begin to think Wallis is a left-wing liberal, he rips into "feelgood" liberal approaches to society that have been proven failures. Instead, Wallis suggests a new polemic, really rooted in the prophets of old, that teaches both personal, moral responsibility and genuine, Christian compassion. He rejects false choices of left versus right and invites all people of faith, especially Christians, to create a new politics of community, compassion and civility. Wallis is a noted Evangelical. He's currently a fellow at Harvard but also heads the Christ-centered "Sojourners" magazine and urban ministry in the nation's capitol. Please...read The Soul of Politics. You will be challenged and encouraged!

The book, "Who talks for God" I started reading
assuming it was a book for Christians to come together
on some of the issues... and it didn't seem to be that
book.

Since a very good friend had recommended it - I figured
the problem must be my expectation of what the book was
about.

- So I tried to read it again assuming it was to liberal
Christians to reconcile some of the politics of the left
with their faith and that didn't work either.

Then I thought maybe it's addressed to agnostics/atheists
on the far left to explain how Christians could be on the
same side on social issues. (Wallis doesn't appear to even
know any conservatives). Then I tried searching for what
other people had found in it on the web - thinking that
could bring some clarity to the what it is, what it means.

I found that a lot of other people thought highly of it -
It's won some awards! But except for the promo blurbs,
there doesn't seem to be anything written about it - If
someone has found any gold here, please write a reply!

This book was very interesting to me, as it was a nice break from the media representation of all religion as being part of the conservative moment. Wallis takes the Religious Right to task for their lack of religion, especially their non-concern for the poor. His ending segment from the Call for Renewal about how "religion as a political cheerleader is inevitably false as a religion" sums up the whole book - we must remain true to our religious ideals and not become ideologues. Unfortunately, the Christian Coalition is strictly political and not religious and true voices for religious politics, like those of Wallis and most other religious folks, get lost in the media stereotype of religion.