One of the assignments for my course in Christian Ethics in America was to present an ethicist not covered by the class material. While perhaps outside the bounds of what the academy might consider an ethicist, I can think of no one who is currently having a more profound impact on the ethics within Christian pop-culture than Jim Wallis.
Known best for his book, God’s Politics, Wallis has also appeared on The Daily Show and The New York Times bestseller list, and also teaches a course at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.
While I don’t necessarily agree with everything he has to say, there are two areas in particular where I am really impressed with Wallis’s work.
- Ecumenism: His gift in being able to create dialog and remove barriers between the right and the left.
- Witness: Protest is insufficient. What is needed is a response that offers something better.
My paper for the course explores the framework from which Wallis builds his ethic in an effort to answer the question, "Is Jim Wallis an Evangelical?"
Paper: "Jim Wallis, An Evangelical Ethic of Social Justice."
* Also helpful for my paper was a debate between Jim Wallis and Greg Boyd at Bethel University:
"Faith and Politics: Should They Mix?"
