Mary Lee Talbot
Staff Writer
Jim Wallis, the founder of the Sojourners and former editor of Sojourners’ Magazine, credits verses from the Gospel of Matthew for his conversion “from a secular student activist into a faith activist.” He calls himself a “Matthew 25 Christian.”
In a recent edition of his newsletter, God’s Politics, Wallis wrote about a protest at the United States Senate in June after the passage of the budget bill. He said the vote in the Senate chamber would be a referendum of Matthew 25:31–46, a vote that “could grievously impact ‘the least of these.’”
Wallis will be the chaplain of the week for Week One at Chautauqua. He will preach at the morning worship service following the opening Three Taps of the Gavel at 10:45 a.m. Sunday in the Amphitheater. His sermon title is “The Least of These: Jesus’ Final Test of Discipleship.”
He will also preach at the ecumenical worship services at 9:15 a.m. Monday through Friday in the Amp. His sermon titles include: “Your Neighbor Doesn’t Live Next Door: The Good Samaritan Parable,” “Made in God’s Image — Or Not,” “Only the Truth Can Make You Free: Lies That Demand Our Loyalty,” “Our Community is Not a Tribe: The Galatians Revolution” and “Peace Be With You: Blessed are the peace lovers, peacekeepers, or peace makers?”
For over 50 years, Wallis has been a public theologian, preacher and commentator on ethics and public life, a writer, teacher and justice advocate who believes the gospel of Jesus must be emancipated from its cultural and political captivities.
The founder of Sojourners, a Christian organization dedicated to social justice, peace and faith-driven activism, he is the inaugural holder of the Chair in Faith and Justice and the founding director of the Georgetown University Center on Faith and Justice.
A New York Times bestselling author, he has published 12 books. They include America’s Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege and the Bridge to America; God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It; The Great Awakening; The Call to Conversion; and Christ in Crisis: Reclaiming Jesus in a Time of Fear, Hate, and Violence. His latest book is The False White Gospel: Rejecting Christian Nationalism, Reclaiming True Faith, and Refounding Democracy. He is the host of the popular podcast “The Soul of the Nation” and writes a newsletter, God’s Politics.
