Souled Out: Reclaiming Faith and Politics after the Religious Right - Hardcover

Críticas

"Souled Out, by the respected political journalist and progressive Catholic E.J. Dionne Jr., is a deeply personal and searchingly intelligent reflection on the noble history, recent travails, and likely prospects of American liberalism."--R. Scott Appleby, New York Times Book Review

"[Souled Out] is a highly worthy alternative to polarizing arguments regarding religion, whether pro or con. . . . Rousing and wry, Dionne's sensible voice makes a powerful case for broadening religious vision and visibility in the public square."--Publishers Weekly

"Souled Out gives facts, analysis and inside details on religious leaders' views. Dionne is well-equipped for the task. . . . Many of Dionne's chapters are must-reads for progressive activists."--Kim Bobo, In These Times

"Recognizing that 'it's much easier to scream across barricades,' he provides a political primer for politicians who want to reclaim the center...[H]is book provides new ways of talking about religion and public policy--just in time for liberals laboring to be 'born again.'"--Glenn C. Altschuler, New York Observer

"Liberal commentator Dionne foresees different relations between faith and politics now that the religious Right is declining. . . . He turns to recent developments in Catholicism since Vatican II and among liberal Catholics as a springboard to his concluding injunction that Christians continue to participate in politics, out of Christian hope rather than self-righteousness."--Booklist

"E.J. Dionne writes well, and his latest effort, Souled Out, is no exception. Souled Out offers a critical and at times discomforting account of the rise and role of the Christian right in politics. A liberal Catholic, Dionne also gives an insider's account of the battles going on within Catholicism."--World Magazine

"Is this really the year liberal Christians are going to take back politics? Not likely, but it is also not likely the year that the 'religious right' will dominate the political scene. Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne, a Catholic with extensive background in religion, writes in Souled Out that 'we do not need and should not want, to end religion's public role. We do need a more capacious understanding of what that role is.'"--William R. Wineke, Wisconsin State Journal

"Souled Out tells the recent history of religion's role in American politics and the outlook for the future. Dionne . . . points to a general trend of increasing moderation of religious people in America. Christians who support abortion rights are acknowledging the horror of the practice, he writes, and Christians who used to vote exclusively on abortion are looking at other issues, too, including poverty and the AIDS crisis in Africa."--Daniel Heim, Roll Call

"Souled Out by E.J. Dionne Jr. is an attempt to chart the rocky ride our ship of state has endured the last few years. Given that this popular syndicated newspaper columnist is often the standard-bearer for rational progressive politics, this book is well researched, much sourced, and eminently readable."--Susan Campbell, The Hartford Courant

"In his new book Souled Out, E.J. Dionne zeroes in on how spiritual restlessness is affecting American politics. Since the Reagan years, a seemingly monolithic religious right has focused on a narrow moral agenda and voted accordingly. But Dionne sees signs that this agenda (stopping gay marriage, abortion, and stem-cell research) may at last be broadening to encompass concerns with the poor and the environment."--M.J. Andersen, Providence Journal

Reseña del editor

The religious and political winds are changing. Tens of millions of religious Americans are reclaiming faith from those who would abuse it for narrow, partisan, and ideological purposes. And more and more secular Americans are discovering common ground with believers on the great issues of social justice, peace, and the environment. In Souled Out, award-winning journalist and commentator E. J. Dionne explains why the era of the Religious Right--and the crude exploitation of faith for political advantage--is over.

Based on years of research and writing, Souled Out shows that the end of the Religious Right doesn't signal the decline of evangelical Christianity but rather its disentanglement from a political machine that sold it out to a narrow electoral agenda of such causes as opposition to gay marriage and abortion. With insightful portraits of leading contemporary religious figures from Rick Warren and Richard Cizik to John Paul II and Benedict XVI, Dionne shows that our great religions have always preached a broad message of hope for more just human arrangements and refused to be mere props for the powers that be. Dionne also argues that the new atheist writers should be seen as a gift to believers, a demand that they live up to their proclaimed values and embrace scientific and philosophical inquiry in a spirit of "intellectual solidarity."

Written in the tradition of Reinhold and H. Richard Niebuhr, Souled Out will help change how we think and talk about religion and politics in the post-Bush era.