The seven sermons and speeches in this book on matters of public concern were given by the Rev. William Sloane Coffin after his retirement from New York's Riverside Church. They serve as a clarion call for liberals and progressives within universities and Christian churches to rise up to the challenge of social justice.
In "The Spiritual and the Secular: Can They Meet?" the preacher salutes wonder, anger, and love as spiritual benefits that enable us to "live an ordinary life extraordinarily well." In "The Politics of Compassion" Coffin makes a good case for working toward the public good by incarnating the love that lies on the far side of justice." In "Homophobia: The Last 'Respectable' Prejudice," he states that this issue must be assessed in light of Jesus' commandment of love. In "The Authority of the Bible," Coffin examines the theories on the infallibility of this sacred text. "The Dangers of Self-Righteousness" is a stirring speech about the dangers of setting up evil enemies and judging them as the scourge of the planet. Coffin quotes St. Augustine: "Never fight evil as if it were something that arose totally outside of yourself." "The Warhorse" is a critique of the omnipresence of nuclear warheads after the end of the Cold War. And "Civility, Democracy and Multiculturalism" affirms the need for both diversity and communion in the United States.
Coffin is one of the best known and admired representatives of the prophetic tradition in Protestant Christianity. This collection illustrates why.
