Introduction

(William Sloane Coffin has long fought for social justice and argued that faith must be at the heart of political and intellectual life. Now Coffin offers this record of his inspiring public words on issues ranging from charity and justice, politics, economic issues, the environment, nuclear disarmament, and mortality to the meaning of faith, the church, and a pastor's responsibility. These brief quotations and excerpts demonstrate the wit, fire, and passion he brought to the task of preaching and the moral commitment he has made to change the world.

This collection of inspiring credos by William Sloane Coffin melds Christian spirit with social justice. Coffin's credentials are impressive--he served as chaplain of Yale University and Williams College, and he is the inspiration for the character Rev. Sloan in the Doonesbury comic strip. He is also a lifelong social crusader and peace activist. In James Carroll's exquisite introduction he recalls a night in 1972 when he and Coffin and numerous other ministers were thrown in jail for trespassing at the U.S. Capitol (while protesting the war in Vietnam). It was Coffin's baritone voice that broke the jailhouse silence, singing out Handel's "Messiah" and comforting the frightened men of the cloth. In fact, Coffin, author of The Heart is a Little to the Left has never been afraid to speak or sing out his beliefs. "I like to believe that I am an American patriot who loves his country enough to address her flaws," he states in the preface. "Today these are many, and all preachers worth their salt need fearlessly to insist that 'God 'n' Country' is not one word."

Editor Stephanie Egnotovich reviewed a lifetime of Coffin's sermons and unpublished speeches and then excerpted and organized them into categories. His words and her editing created a book that is full of quotables. For example:

On Social Justice and Economic Rights: "In the United States grim poverty is a tragedy that great wealth makes a sin."

On Social Justice and Civil Liberties: "Prejudice disfigures the observer, not the person observed. If only the latter could remember it."

On Patriotism: "All nations make decisions based on self-interest and then defend them in the name of morality."

On War and Peace: "We are beginning to resemble extinct dinosaurs who suffered from too much armor and too little brain."

For the leftist leaning Christian, this is the book you'll want to take on your next spiritual retreat, political protest, or any situation where left-leaning Christians gather to create social change. And when it's not being carted around in a satchel, it deserves a permanent residence on your lifelong spiritual contemplations bookshelf. --Gail Hudson

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