[Imc-chicago-audio] Zack Exley on Progressive Evangelical Revolution

[Erin Polgreen]

MEDIA ALERT March 7, 2007 | For Immediate Release
New Radicals: the Evangelicals You Need to Know

To download a PDF of the March issue, visit: http:// 
www.inthesetimes.com/pdf/InTheseTimes31-03.pdf

In the March issue of In These Times, Zack Exley uncovers a  
revolutionary evangelical movement that has nothing to do with neo- 
conservatives. In “Preaching Revolution,” Exley examines how, using a  
back-to-basics approach to the Bible and old-fashioned grassroots  
engagement, groups of Christian “revolutionaries” have mobilized more  
than 20 million Americans around a theology as “utopian as the most  
far-out sect of antiglobalization anarchists.”

Combining in-depth interviews with movement leaders (including mega- 
church pastor Gregory Boyd and Sojourners founder Jim Wallis) with on- 
the-ground reporting, Exley captures the essence of a movement that  
may have a thing or two to teach secular progressives.

“If you compare Mars Hill Bible Church to progressive community  
centers or union halls, it has no rival,” writes Exley. “It is a  
launching point for outreach into the community, involving more than  
2,000 members in hundreds of groups. … The union hall is the left’s  
nearest equivalent, but not only is it dying, it rarely attempts to  
serve anywhere near as many of the needs—spiritual and practical—as  
the churches do.” (Page 20)

And in “Counterinsurgency 101,” Kristian Williams, author of American  
Methods: Torture and the Logic of Domination, digs into FM 3-24—also  
known as the U.S. military’s counterinsurgency field manual—and its  
author, Gen. David Petraeus. “As the first new counterinsurgency  
manual to appear in 20 years, [FM 3-24] serves as a tacit admission  
that the American strategy in Iraq is simply not working,” writes  
Williams. The question now is “Can we still win?”

“The counterinsurgency field manual hints at an answer,” writes  
Williams. “It comes as the heading to an Algerian case study: ‘Lose  
Moral Legitimacy, Lose the War.” (Page 26)

Also in this issue:
Look out, PBS! In “Is Wikipedia the New Town Hall?,” Senior Editor  
Pat Aufderheide investigates how DIY media bloggers are changing the  
future of public broadcasting as we know it. With the advent of  
digital media, the audience is communicating with each other without  
the broadcaster. “Yesterday’s screens talked to you; you talk through  
today’s screens,” writes Aufderheide. “But will today’s new open  
environment actually generate public media—media that helps a public  
into being and nourishes it?” (Page 38)
In These Times is celebrating 30 years of progressive, thought- 
provoking reporting and political analysis. To interview Editor Joel  
Bleifuss or Publisher Tracy Van Slyke about this milestone, contact  
Erin Polgreen.

For interviews or more information
Contact: Erin Polgreen, Associate Publisher
Phone: 773.772.0100, x225
fax:  773.772.4180
email: erin at inthesetimes.com

To download a PDF of this issue, visit: http://www.inthesetimes.com/ 
pdf/InTheseTimes31-03.pdf

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