Living Faith: How Faith Inspires Social Justice

This little book is an excellent introduction into a variety of lives ranging from Aung Suu Kyi to Malcolm X, and Dorothy Day to Thich Nhat Hanh. He introduces the reader to a variety of 'saints', all within their respective religious traditions, who shared one thing in common: love for others through their pursuit of justice. You can see why Islam mattered to X or Christianity to King and how this affected their pursuit of a more righteous world. I highly recommend this quick read to small groups or for one's own personal edification.

Therapist have an insatiable habit of attempting to bring the one being counseled to a point where they revisit the primary emotion behind the secondary emotion that tipped them into therapy. In this same vein Curtiss De Young points one on a path of discovering faith that inspires social justice by illuminating the deepest passion that drove three mystic-activist, in three different eras, on three different continents to be agents of reconciliation for social justice. De Young defines mystic-activist as the person who sees clearly the causes and implications of injustice and oppression, and combined with their compulsive quest for the divine, their activism makes its way into the world as a by-product of their deep faith. De Young uses the metaphor of spirit of revolution to weave the stories of Suu Kyi, Malcolm X, and Bonhoeffer together. Aung San Suu Kyi envisioned a "spirit of revolution" where human rights would be set free. Malcolm X claimed that the proper solution to world governments that abuses power by debilitating the spirit and soul of humanity is to give birth to governments guided by a "religion of the spirit." Also, Bonhoeffer, who dealt specifically with the plight of the Jew, based his "revolution" on a reconfigured view of God the Son, the second person of the trinity, saying, "An expulsion of the Jews from the west must necessarily bring with it the expulsion of Christ. For Jesus Christ was a Jew." With ample story and narrative interpretation De Young leaves the reader spellbound, awaiting the next compelling story of faith inspiring social justice. In the epilogue De Young challenges "those who seek to link the worlds of activism and contemplative faith to build more bridges of reconciliation across the chasm of religious division." Such an embodiment of reconciliation "may be our only hope for greater peace in the world." Ultimately the commonality in these three stories is the focus on the primary concern of any who seek to do social justice - human rights. May we have the resolve to be as pointed in our efforts at recognizing from the bottom up that every human being has inalienable rights, that the revolution required to unleash these rights is a revolution of the spirit, and the duty of all humanity is treating oneself as another.

Written by Christian ethicist Curtiss Paul DeYoung (Professor of Reconciliation Studies, Bethel University at St. Paul, Minnesota) Living Faith: How Faith Inspires Social Justice is a remarkable examination of how religious belief can fuel a lifelong passion dedicated to social justice, as exemplified by Mohandas Gandhi, Aung San Suu Kyi, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King Jr., among other remarkable figures. Chapters discuss worldview and perception from the margins of society, how mystic faith can push an individual to transcend conventional boundaries, the ethics of stirring people up in a call to revolution, and much more. "The spirit of prophecy shapes the ethics of the revolution. The authenticity of any new society is built on the foundations of the ethics of that revolution." A welcome examination of motivating spiritual principles and moral values that push both leaders and followers to work for social change.

This is one of the very best books I have ever read on the relationship between faith and social justice. Through the lives of Bonhoeffer, Malcom X, Aung San Suu Kyi and many others, this book shows how a spirited belief in a better world for all can be a foundation for lives of justice. It is in plain english and very readable. It has short sections in each chapter, so it can be a great source for daily reflection.