In his Autobiography; Gandhi wrote; “What I want to achieve―what I have been striving and pining to achieve these thirty years―is self-realization; to see God face to face. . . . All that I do by way of speaking and writing; and all my ventures in the political field; are directed to this same end.†While hundreds of biographies and histories have been written about Gandhi (1869–1948); nearly all of them have focused on the national; political; social; economic; educational; ecological; or familial dimensions of his life. Very few; in recounting how Gandhi led his country to political freedom; have viewed his struggle primarily as a search for spiritual liberation. Shifting the focus to the understudied subject of Gandhi’s spiritual life; Arvind Sharma retells the story of Gandhi’s life through this lens. Illuminating unsuspected dimensions of Gandhi’s inner world and uncovering their surprising connections with his outward actions; Sharma explores the eclectic religious atmosphere in which Gandhi was raised; his belief in karma and rebirth; his conviction that morality and religion are synonymous; his attitudes toward tyranny and freedom; and; perhaps most important; the mysterious source of his power to establish new norms of human conduct. This book enlarges our understanding of one of history’s most profoundly influential figures; a man whose trust in the power of the spirit helped liberate millions.
#42786 in Books Willie James Jennings 2011-05-17Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.90 x .96 x 5.80l; 1.12 #File Name: 0300171366384 pagesThe Christian Imagination Theology and the Origins of Race
Review
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful. UnparralleledBy Nathan HuntIts rare for an academic book to propelled you to your knees in raw; supplicative prayer. Thanks to Jennings; that's what happened to me when I finished reading The Christian Imagination.An intellectual tour de force; his beautifully crafted text narrates a journey of earth shattering revelations. Jennings provides an unexpected answer to one of our faith’s most troubling questions. Why has Christianity--a religion whose trajectory would seem bent toward boundary crossing intimacy and the formation of just social worlds--presided over; indeed led; so much of the oppression of the past several centuries; particularly toward people of color and blacks most dramatically? He locates the heart of his answer in supercessionism. The segregationist spirit that found its fullest treatment in America was first cultivated in Christians by our hegemonic colonial stance toward the world. This stance swapped Israel out for European imperial identities; and created a novel source of identity that exchanged land for bodies; continually evaluated against the totalizing glare of whiteness.That Christian performance has (on the whole) been remarkably abusive is fairly obvious to any casual reader of history. The agony of discovery in *Imagination* issues from its exposure of just how deeply Western theology is infected; and how subtle warps in our faith provided generous space for domination. Rehearsing the complex historical analysis Jennings offers is impossible here. What I want to lift up are the two primary theological motifs he offers as both the sources of trouble and the sites of hope.First; Jennings takes great pains to reassert Christian identity as Gentile identity. We are those who did not belong at the table; but like the Canaanite woman gratefully grasped for the crumbs that fell from it. The story that makes sense of the world is not our story; it is Israel's. Most importantly; Jesus is not a white male. He is Jewish; and scandal of his particularity provides the context through which humanity can be guided into communion. Desire for Christ and the experience his hospitable embrace enfolding our life into himself allows us to likewise turn toward neighbor with a new desire to intake their concerns and dreams as our own. This; Jennings explains; is the kind of border-line erotic intimacy Christian theology should cultivate.Second; *Imagination* uncovers a forgotten reality: before there were races; nationalities or even ethnicity; there was the land and one’s place within it. Identity constitution was dramatically reworked in the colonial moment when Europeans showed up on inhabited shores and claimed it as their own. As they left their lands behind; they carried their body with them as the central determinant of self and culture. In lieu of place; whiteness took on geographic proportions; becoming “determinative of the true (intelligence); the good (morality); and the beautiful (aesthetics)†(277). We lost our way theologically in anthropology; creation; and in all aspects of the missio Dei (for starters). All else was obscured as we became the God-men recreating the world in our image.I am immensely grateful to be introduced to this text at this moment in my life. It wove together many of the themes I have been tugging at over the past few years; bringing them together in much sharper relief. Jennings precisely expresses what draws me so magnetically toward this faithful following of Jesus; “There is within Christianity a breathtakingly powerful way to imagine and enact the social; to imagine and enact connection and belonging†(4). And yet time and again we seem to fall short. My prayer today is that his insights will bore into our collective unconscious; into our hearts; and seed there to inform our personal; communal and vocational lives that they may come to bear the fruit of genuinely generative love; a new social performance of our faith that breeds justice.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. This is an extremely important book that will help white ...By Josh de KeijzerThis is an extremely important book that will help white Christians understand what is wrong with the white Christian imagination; with white privilege; with white Christianity.2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Everyone should readBy Michael ArnoldChallenges traditional societal thought and brings to light the reality of human condition. Great book written by an amazing man
