Prophetic Fragments

Front Cover
Eerdmans, 1988 - Body, Mind & Spirit - 294 pages
This is a print on demand book and is therefore non- returnable.

The crisis of religion in America, says Cornel West, is profound and pervasive: profound in that it deepens as Americans turn more desperately toward religion; pervasive in that it affects every form of religion in America, from Christianity to Buddhism, from reform Judaism to Islam. The rise of the religious right, the decline of liberal Christianity, and the challenge of liberation theology are all symptoms of this crisis.

In this book Cornel West explores the landscape of this crisis in essays, articles, reviews, and even fiction. The selections outline the contours of a "principled prophetism" -- a prophetic religion that incorporates the best of modernity and secularity (tolerance, fallibilism, criticism), yet brings prophetic critique to bear upon the idols of modernity and secularity (science, technology, and wealth).

Touching on various aspects of Christian thought and action in our post-modern times, the essays in this book are informed by a revolutionary Christian vision that is so often absent from American religious life. They display the intellectual rigor that has made Cornel West a highly respected author and thinker -- one who is not only a perceptive surveyor of contemporary Christian thought, but also a gifted shaper of that thought.

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About the author (1988)

Professor, writer, and civil rights activist Cornel West was born on June 2, 1953 in Tulsa, Oklahoma and raised in Sacramento. He graduated from Harvard University in 1973 with an M.A. and later taught African-American studies there. He has also taught at Union Theological Seminary, Haverford College, and Princeton University, the latter as professor of religion and director of African-American studies. West earned his Ph.D. from Princeton in 1980. He has written more than twenty books, including Race Matters and Restoring Hope: Conversations on the Future of Black America.

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