On God's Side: What Religion Forgets and Politics Hasn't Learned about Serving the Common Good - Hardcover

"My concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side."--Abraham Lincoln Lincoln led America through one of the most tumultuous times in our nation's history. Reading his words today, it is clear we still have much to learn concerning what it means to be on God's side. Bestselling author, public theologian, and leading Christian activist Jim Wallis speaks directly into our current context, revealing the spiritual compass we need to effect lasting change in our society. He explains how the good news of Jesus transforms not only our individual lives but also our public lives. Jesus's gospel of the kingdom of God helps us recover a personal and social commitment to the common good and shows us--in concrete ways--how to be both personally responsible and socially just. Working together, we can reshape our churches, society, politics, and economy. In the midst of contentious national debates on gun control, immigration, budget deficits, and more, this book moves the conversations beyond current media and political warfare to bring together a divided country. Wallis explores how Jesus's agenda can serve the common good, what it takes to sustain a lifelong commitment to social justice, and how reading the Bible as well as the culture can shape our lives for genuine transformation.

Finding Common Ground for the Common Good

"Personal/political, religion/politics, faith/power, ideology/pragmatism . . . Jim Wallis is a wrestler of values, ideas, and policies and how they interact to shape the world we live in. His deep, melodious voice is easy to listen to, but what he says takes a harder commitment to live by."
--Bono, lead singer of U2; cofounder of ONE.org

"Jim Wallis and I have a variety of differences on domestic and international policy, but there is no message more timely or urgent than his call to actively consider the common good."
--Michael Gerson, op-ed columnist, The Washington Post

"I love the work and books and existence of Jim Wallis. His is a profound and always-entertaining voice of reason, reconciliation, and passion for social justice and peace. Each of his books makes me wish I could get it into the hands of more politicians, right-wing Christians, left-wing Christians, secular humanists, economists, and regular people--everyone--so we could see how much we have in common and how much is at stake."
--Anne Lamott, author of Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers

"This is the finest of all Jim Wallis's writings. Jim's comprehension of how Scripture and political issues relate to each other is surpassed only by the number of bridges he builds so that we can all solve problems together. Reading this book will help you be more like Jesus, especially in the public square."
--Joel C. Hunter, senior pastor, Northland--A Church Distributed

"I have read all of Jim Wallis's books, books that call evangelicals to full conversion and an ecclesial faith that works. On God's Side is Jim's best book; it is personal, pastoral, and prophetic--a summons to a deeper conversion, to bridge-building commitments to the common good, and to a family life that grounds active faith in a common, caring community."
--Scot McKnight, Northern Seminary

"Thank God this is not just another book about God blessing us. It's a book about us blessing God by caring for God's people, especially the most vulnerable ones among us."--Shane Claiborne, author, activist, and recovering sinner; thesimpleway.org

"Jim Wallis is this country's major prophetic evangelical Christian voice. He has a sense of urgency and hope seldom seen in our cynical time. I hope and pray his voice resounds across this land--and that we pay heed to it."
--Cornel West, Union Theological Seminary