Mobilizing Hope: Faith-Inspired Activism for a Post-Civil Rights Generation

Martin Luther King Jr. read the words of the apostle Paul to the church in Rome--"Be transformed by the renewing of your mind"--as a call not to retreat from the world but to lead the world into the kingdom of God, where peace and justice reign. In King's day the presenting problem was entrenched racism; the movement of God was a revolution in civil rights and human dignity. Now Adam Taylor draws insights from that movement to the present, where the burden of the world is different but the need is the same. Jim Wallis writes in the foreword, Mobilizing Hope "is a story of how Adam and many of his cohorts are shaping the next strategies for faith-based social change; a theology for social justice; a spirituality for young activists; a handbook for those who want to experiment with activism and search out their own vocation in the world; and a strategy manual that draws lessons from past movements for change."See what today's transformed nonconformists are doing at home and abroad to keep in step with the God of justice and love, and find ways you can join the new nonconformists in an activism of hope.

"Adam Taylor makes a powerful case for a new chapter of activism for the common good, and he provides practical guidance for those who heed the call. Taylor treasures his heritage; he also understands the hopes and fears of a new generation about civic engagement. By candidly and perceptively addressing these matters, Taylor creates a new conversation and points toward a better day."--Melissa Rogers, director of the Center for Religion and Public Affairs, Wake Forest University Divinity School

"From now on, whenever I meet those eager and seeking young people who want their faith and their lives to make a difference in the world, I have a book to recommend. And I commend it to you. It could change your life."--Jim Wallis, from the foreword

"I'm proud to see the struggle to build God's beloved community continue through the creative maladjustment of a committed minority of transformed nonconformists highlighted in these pages."--Congressman John Lewis, from the afterword

"In recent years, there has been an evangelical resurgence in social concerns. This renewed interest has resulted in a new generation of believers seeking to live out the biblical call for social justice. Adam Taylor is an individual that has engaged on all levels of biblical social justice. This theologically reflective and historically thoughtful book is the result of an embodied life of justice. Mobilizing Hope reveals the very best of what the next evangelicalism can be. Passionate about Jesus with a deep sense of God's heart of justice for the world, Adam's work challenges all of us to live an authentic spirituality and a lived theology for the sake of the gospel and the world."--Soong-Chan Rah, Milton B. Engebretson Associate Professor of Church Growth and Evangelism, North Park Theological Seminary

"Adam Taylor is a true prophet of our time. From the halls of Harvard to the West Wing of the White House to the streets of Zimbabwe, he has been a consistent voice for justice and righteousness. His message echoes the Old Testament prophets who were unafraid to speak truth to power. But Taylor's secret is he knows movements don't start in the halls of power, they end there. In Mobilizing Hope, Taylor shares how our generation can birth a new Spirit-led movement for justice."--Aaron Graham, lead pastor, The District Church

"In Mobilizing Hope, Adam Taylor challenges Christians to embrace St. Paul's call not to conform with the ways of the world but to be people of conviction and action and hope. The book offers practical examples and ideas for putting our faith to work on behalf of the poor and oppressed."--Richard Stearns, president, World Vision, U.S., and author of The Hole in Our Gospel

"Adam Taylor's Mobilizing Hope: Faith-Inspired Activism for a Post-Civil Rights Generation will likely be one of the prompts that we've long needed to calibrate our moral compasses and the spark we've needed to refocus our attention on reconciliation and justice in the post-civil rights era. This book speaks to the new generation of leaders, as well as the vanguard, about what it takes to transition from service to activism and what each of us needs to do to find a voice that is clear and truthful in the twenty-first century."--Robert Franklin, president, Morehouse College

"With this inspiriting first work, Adam Taylor calls his own generation to meaningful action, deftly locating them in the continuum, rather than the malaise, of the post-civil rights generations. He offers the young Christian reader a practical methodology for social activism rooted in the teachings of Christ and informed by the examples of Martin Luther King Jr., Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the apostle Paul. Taylor challenges and upends the pervasive notion that narcissism and cynicism define his contemporaries, and provides a comprehensive field guide for their burgeoning hope."--Paul Farmer, M.D., Ph.D., Presley Professor, Harvard Medical School

"Adam Taylor has written a beautiful, inspiring book. The message is pure and true: faith transforms people, and transformed people can transform the world. For me, reading the book was itself a transformative experience, a necessary reminder of how my own faith inspires and commands me to change injustice into justice, callousness into compassion, conflict into cooperation."--Eboo Patel, American Muslim leader, and founder and executive director, Interfaith Youth Core

"I highly recommend Mobilizing Hope to men and women who are crazy enough to believe that our faith should lead to action, and that our action offers hope for a transformed society. Adam is a dynamic young leader with much wisdom to offer those of us engaged in the complexities of seeking justice."--Noel Castellanos, CEO, Christian Community Development Association