Gottlieb's anthology is a treasure chest of reflections and position statements on social justice issues authored some of history's finest thinkers, primarily from the past century. Gottlieb ties them together, chronologically or thematically, in eight sections, and precedes most of the eight with an introduction. For Gottlieb, a “liberating faith” is one that is both rooted in its own ethical teachings, and “ready to recognize the principles of democracy and human rights” (p. xix). It is a faith that must necessarily be willing to change, to develop, to transform itself. The “process” of liberation takes place in six essential ways, as he outlines in his introduction to the work. And for faith truly to be liberating, commitment to religious ethics must take precedence over particular religious institutions and doctrines.

The first section of Liberating Faith is composed of foundational writings from nine religious traditions; they are presented as “examples of what we must preserve and interpret”: preserve, because they are essential texts; interpret, because too often we have lost sight of what they teach us about our responsibilities in the world.

In his second section, Gottlieb presents selections from writers prior to World War II who he feels “bridge the gap between traditional religious morality” (p. xxiii) and 20th century activism. In the introduction to Part II, he describes the inspiration, the “shaping” of this section's authors as coming partially from their religious backgrounds, and partially from their encounters with social history (e.g., the movement to abolish slavery). An exciting third, and more recent, source, however, is that which results from different religious traditions “coming together to realize that passionate adherence to one's own religion can coexist with respect for the different beliefs of others.” Such a journey is “absolutely necessary,” he maintains (p. 34).

The relatively short (18 pages) Section III is devoted to Mohandas Gandhi; the section includes a handful of Gandhi's essays, and one by Ronald Terchek, on “Gandhi for the 21st Century.” For Gottlieb, Gandhi is a key figure in the movement to liberate faith, for the combination of 1) the magnitude of the movement he led, and 2) his ecumenical attitude toward other religions. Gandhi's writings here are short, and in most cases deal with those issues for which he is best known: satyagraha, ahimsa, nonviolence: they are all easily accessible by thinking secondary school students, as is the case with texts in this work in general.

Section IV deals with religion's entry into the public realm. The central themes that emerge here are 1) the need for a rereading of tradition, 2) that religious concerns should not be separated from the realm of politics, 3) that, in a sense, the moral values at the heart of a tradition cannot be totally exercised without some kind of involvement in the life of the “polis, “ and 4) that religion certainly has distinctive contributions to make, especially when personal freedom, consumerism, and material consumption start to define the goals of social life. Indeed, as he says, “full-fledged religious identity requires involvement in social change” (p. xxiii). The primary goal of his selection of essays for this section is to describe “why and how a liberating faith is both possible and indispensable” (p. 103).

In his particular essay in this section (“The Justice of Transcendence and the Transcendence of Justice”) Gottlieb discusses the danger of mysticism-especially if the practitioner tends to become “self-absorbed”-and deep ecology, in that it, too, “can slide too easily into the attempt to escape society.” His concerns with either deep spirituality or deep ecology are only, or at least primarily, when they separate us from certain aspects of concern for our environment. When things go as they should, “the wisdom of a mystical Deep Ecology can augment the powers and promises of the secular drive for just social transformation” (p. 127).

Gottlieb's fifth section, the longest in this 650-page tome, is titled “Justice, Justice Ye Shall Pursue.” It begins with King's Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” and continues with selections from an all-star list of social justice writers addressing issues from a variety of religious traditions. This section, and the three that follow, are arranged thematically. Section VI is thus devoted to gender issues, section VII to peace and nonviolence, and section VIII to the environment. The title of this section, “This Sacred Earth," is also the title of Gottlieb's important survey of writings exploring the critical connections among religion, nature, and the environment (also reviewed on this site).

The last section of Gottlieb's book comprises “rituals, prayers, celebrations,” presented as those components of religion that touch us in our hearts, and, as such, have the capability both to motivate us to act, and to provide “spiritual social activists with a bit of emotional nurturing” (p. 612).

This book can be of tremendous value to secondary school teachers dealing with issues of social justice, and it includes readings that would greatly serve students in a variety of ethics courses. It certainly is not a text that is going to be read on one sitting, nor was it composed for that purpose. The book is, as mentioned above, full of treasures, some timeless, some quite recent, most of which deserve the kind of slow savoring that allow the fullness of their thoughts to take hold. There is much to be done, and Roger Gottlieb does us a service to offer both tools and encouragament.

review 2004 by David Streight and RSiSS

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