Gospel in the Global Village: Seeking God's Dream of Shalom

by Katharine Jefferts Schori

Book Overview

In this second book by Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori, she explores issues and challenges of deep concern to the Episcopal Church, the wider Body of Christ, and the world at large. Arranged thematically, her essays reflect on the travel, issues, people, and passions that have driven the first three years of her primacy. She places particular emphasis on the Millennium Development Goals, plus the turmoil within the Anglican Communion and the...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0819223433
• ISBN13: 9780819223432
• Release Date: October 2009
• Publisher: Morehouse Publishing
• Length: 184 Pages
• Weight: 0.61 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.1" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

A Call to Action

Gospel in the Global Village is a tender yet forceful call to action by Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori of the Episcopal Church. The book is comprised of sermons and speeches that she presented in numerous locations and on various occasions. However, there are some overriding themes that unite the book. Jefferts Schori calls us to be prophets - to be God's voice in proclaiming justice, inclusion, equality and wholeness with the goal of making God's realm manifest here on earth. She strongly supports the Millennium Development Goals as a vehicle for making this goal possible. Her sermons/speeches are filled with joy and hope, and yet they challenge us to not be too comfortable but to do the hard, dirty work necessary to make this world a place where all can live with dignity. This is a short book, and each sermon/speech is easily digestible. I highly recommend this book to those who strive to take their faith seriously.

Living the dream, and ditching the divisive dogma that often drags it down

The Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church has once again released a clarion call to all people to engage the downtrodden, oppressed and marginalized, and do it in a way that overlooks our differences and faiths while recognizing the spirit of God within us all. Her non-dogmatic approach views all people as God's children, and all are worthy of our attention and prayers, no matter where they may live or what God they worship, if they worship one at all. She does this through a series of speeches and homilies that address, in part, the Millennium Development Goals, and the Anglican communion's commitment to them. She begins with a speech entitled "City on a Hill," and although she usually focuses on issues by stressing the positive, she uses this first piece to issue a rare warning...and it's a perfectly aimed arrow. "Beware of religious leaders who are unwilling to serve the greater good, who insist that God loves only some, or who say that a portion of humanity is not worthy of respect or dignity." In one fell swoop, she identifies an entire type of ministry so common today, a field of ministry that actively campaigns against certain types of people, instead of working to uphold of ideals of Christ, who calls us to engage everyone lovingly, unconditionally and without judgment. In addition to addressing the needs of the marginalized people of the world, she also instructs us to focus on what's become known as "creation care." Our responsibility to our fellow humans is grounded in how we treat God's creation, a creation which will ultimately play a role in how well we can help meet the needs of others. Addressing such diverse topics as human sexuality, scientific discovery, the Genesis covenant and the resolution of conflict, poverty and oppression in far-flung corners of the world, she speaks to the hearts of all in a reasoned, rational but impassioned voice that is rarely heard these days, particularly within the United States, where a religion that was once associated with helping the poor and oppressed, peacemaking, compassion and engaging the world in a non-judgmental way has, for many, slowly drifted into a simple civil obligation that requires little more than a claim of faith. In other words, a portion of American Christianity is becoming mired in what Dietrich Bonhoeffer referred to as "cheap grace." But what's so beautiful about Jeffert-Schori's approach is that she's capable of addressing our religious stumblings with such tenderness and grace, and that is precisely what makes her such a powerful voice for this generation. In a nation where you can flip on your television to a Christian station and watch programming from a minister with a fake PhD who calls scientists "idiots," and another who preaches about the "transfer of wealth" in the Last Days (and then tries to sell you expensive kits to help you handle your sudden influx of cash), it's refreshing to hear a voice that sounds just like the one you'd expect to hear from so