In Prophetic Activism: Progressive Religious Justice Movements in Contemporary America, Helene Slessarev-Jamir chronicles the work of progressive religious groups engaged in political and community activism on behalf of the marginalized, including the urban poor, low-wage workers, and immigrants mainly in the United States but also in international settings. Describing their political activism as prophetic, Slessarev-Jamir's work offers a nice counterbalance to the “prophetic” narrative offered by conservative Christian organizations in American politics, which she argues too often employ the term to “impose their singular set of religious ethics” (2) on a religiously pluralistic society. By contrast, according to the author, progressive groups employ a form of prophetic activism that, while grounded in their own theological understandings of both the Hebrew Bible and New Testament, has the aim of broadening “American politics by incorporating people who currently have no voice within the political process” (2).
Using qualitative case study research, mainly through interviews, her comparative work seeks to find the unifying themes that tie together somewhat disparate groups of progressive activists, working in two distinct social locations: whether in the borderlands, which she describes as “spaces being created by the extensive cross-border movement of people in the era of globalization”; or among cosmopolitans, activism primarily undertaken by individuals and communities who are largely privileged and middle-class (22). While cosmopolitans work in similar areas as borderland activists, including immigrant rights, workers' rights, and community organizing, she argues that they dominate peacemaking work and global justice, largely through their development of non-governmental organizations. Even though many of these NGOs, particularly better-known international organizations such as Bread for the World, the Jubilee Campaign, and Save Darfur, have sought to distance themselves somewhat from their religious identities, what unifies their brand of political activism is their common theology, which Slessarev-Jamir argues “bear[s] a degree of Christian DNA in the basic theological understandings of their work” (35).
Slessarev-Jamir's work is at its best when it articulates clear linkages between the Hebrew Scriptures and New Testament — aka the Christian DNA — and the activism of progressive religious organizations. She identifies how such activists interpret holy passages to provide “the scaffolding needed for a prophetic call to build shalom (peace),” while justifying their need to “care and speak for the marginalized” (19). That religious progressive activists rely on scripture to inspire their political engagement is nothing new in American or international politics, as any study of the United States Civil Rights movement or the work of liberation theologians in Latin America can attest (and as Slessarev-Jamir rightfully acknowledges). But in recounting the stories from the Hebrew Bible that depict Israelites' experience of exile, for example, or in retelling Jesus' commitment to peace-building and his outreach to the blind, the lame, and the stranger (the marginalized groups of his time), Slessarev-Jamir is able to illuminate effectively the relevance of scripture to the work of present-day progressive religious activists.
The best case study of the book concerns immigrant rights activism. In Chapter 5, Slessarev-Jamir analyzes the New Sanctuary movement, with specific detail given to the work of Humane Borders in Tucson, Arizona. Working with other local groups, Humane Borders leaves water and other humanitarian aid along key migrant paths used in illegal crossings. Inspired by the story of the Good Samaritan, such groups were moved to action upon hearing that the desert claimed many migrant lives. In vivid detail, Slessarev-Jamir chronicles their activism, which has at times led to the arrest of group members. In her brief methodological discussion in Chapter 1, she shares that she spent personal time with these groups in Tucson while conducting her interviews, and the results show. She provides for the reader a wonderful, rich description of the work they do and the reasons they do it.
By comparison, her discussion of progressive activism in other chapters falls short of the fine detail that characterizes her chapter on immigrant rights. In her discussion of community organizing in Chapter 3, for example, I wanted to learn more about the specifics of the work of such organizations as opposed to what essentially became a “laundry list” of groups and their religious networks. Toward the end of the chapter, she mentions campaigns undertaken by some of the groups geared at living wage ordinances and school reforms, but the details are woefully lacking. Given that many Americans have little exposure to or understanding of the work of community organizers — whose work has been misrepresented by some political elites as not entailing any “actual responsibilities” (to paraphrase Sarah Palin at the Republican National Convention in 2008) — Slessarev-Jamir lost an opportunity to paint a more vivid picture of the contributions that such groups make.
Moreover, while her analytical work is solid in linking theology to the political motivation of progressive religious activists, there is little assessment of why their work is not more successful or even what success for these activists might entail. For example, it might have been fruitful to consider the role of public opinion in limiting the ability of these groups to affect change in progressive causes. There is plenty of good, publicly available survey research out there — work by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life and the Public Religion Research Institute come to mind — that documents public opinion by religious tradition. Incorporation of such findings, even in a limited manner, might better explain the challenges that prophetic religious groups face in building support for their causes not just among the general public, but among members of their own denominations when it comes to attitudes about immigration reform, government programs aimed at helping the poor, or labor unions. Relatedly, scholars have long recognized a clergy-laity divide over many of the pressing social issues discussed here, particularly among Mainline Protestant religious denominations, which discourages some clergy from speaking out on such issues or fully backing political activism among its members for fear of alienating congregants — a valid concern given that Americans are increasingly turning away from organized religion. But none of this literature is incorporated in the work.
These weaknesses aside, Slessarev-Jamir offers a welcome portrait of progressive religious groups whose political activism is every bit as linked to their theology as is the activism of conservative religious groups – a good reminder of the broad diversity of religious activism in American politics.
