With Justice for All: A Strategy for Community Development

This book was truly a great study and "re-thinker" when regarding the effectiveness of urban ministry.

University of Virginia theologian Charles Marsh has argued in his book The Beloved Community that this John Perkins and his CCDA are the most important extension of the civil rights movement in America today. Read With Justice for All and see why Marsh is right.

It is sad that there are still many who have never heard of Dr. John M. Perkins--a living man with the stature of Martin Luther King Jr. While he may not have the formal education of King, his experiential knowledge rivals that of King's. It is from this existential wisdom that Perkins writes his new book With Justice for All. Personally, I have found this book, as well as others written by Dr. Perkins, very helpful in my own endeavors serving in a poor Hispanic community. One of the attributes of this book I greatly appreciate is the way Dr. Perkin's sets forth transferable principles drawn from his own concrete practice. Anyone who is involved in community development is at a loss without this book!

It's too bad that the people who only gave this book one star didn't bother to read the book they were reviewing. Yes, this John Perkins was not their John Perkins (and let me say that both John Perkins are extremely important and helpful to the cause of bettering our communities) but they could have learned something of who the real Jesus is if they read this John Perkins-the one whose been a national figure since the Civil Rights Movement (long before the other John Perkins came on the scene). The reviewers who slammed this book did so with an anti-Christian bias that either lurks just beneath the surface of their words or floats proudly on top of them. All told, the bias has them come off as quite bigoted-noteworty because this John Perkins nearly lost his life to bigoted white Mississippi police in the early 70s. Now, perhaps the reviewers really have something against Jesus but my guess is that they just have something against the shallow religiosity of mainstream American Christianity and this book sounds an important message about what real faith in the real Jesus is as we try to love our neighbor as ourselves in the face of the materialism, individualism, and ethnocentrism that drives far too much of our society.

John Perkins was beaten and tortured by the sheriff and the state police during Mississippi's segregation era. His brother was murdered by a deputy marshal. Through it all, Dr. Perkins returned good for evil, love for hate, progress for prejudice and brought hope to black and white alike. Despite dropping out of school in the third grade, he has written nine books, been awarded seven honorary doctorates, and is co-founder and chairman of the Christian Community Development Association. This book is the summation of his best insights about how we can work for justice in our communities.