This fascinating book takes readers inside the world of faith-based
progressive community organizing, one of the largest and most
effective social justice movements in the United States. Drawing on
rich ethnographic observation and in-depth interviews, Jack
Delehanty shows how organizers use religion to build power for
change. As Delehanty convincingly demonstrates, religion is more
than beliefs, doctrines, and rituals; within activist communities,
it also fuels a process of personal reflection and relationship
building that transforms people's understandings of themselves,
those around them, and the political system.
Relational practices like one-on-one conversation and public
storytelling take on new significance in faith-based community
organizations. Delehanty reveals how progressive organizers use
such relational practices to help people see common ground across
lines of race, class, and religious sect. From this common ground,
organizers work to develop and deploy shared ideas of moral
citizenship that emphasize common dignity, equity, and prosperity
and nurture the sense that public action is the only way one can
live out religious faith.