Although Jim Wallis' The Great Awakening had many a controversial topic and compelling prescription, the two questions I am left with after finishing are as follows:
A personal question:
Chapter 11 starts with this story-
"One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, 'My son, the battle is between two 'wolves' inside us all. One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority,lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.' The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: 'Which wolf wins' The old Cherokee simply replied, 'The one you feed."
After teaching Aristotle's Nicomachean ethics for almost four years, you would think I would have a deeper understanding of how much our practice of virtue or vice leads to our becoming the kind of individuals we are. Although I can affirm the truth of this message, I don't often notice which wolf I'm feeding. I throw food at whichever growls the loudest.
The public question:
Chapter 8 opens with the story of a woman at whose daughter was graduating from Harvard who came up to Wallis and told him that she never would have had her daughter if she hadn't gotten food stamps and health care at the time she was pregnant. She then asked him to share the message that preventing abortions begins with helping support "low-income women like me" This story, along with the statistic cited later in the chapter of more abortions occurring under the Bush administration than the Clinton administration has really challenged my thinking on abortion. Of course my idealistic Republican self would like to think that it is not the government's role to take care of low-income mothers, rather it is the church's mission is to care for the broken. If this is not happening though, I question whether a sell out to think that government programs can help accomplish the goal of less abortions.
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