Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Clint Schnekloth

Home
Progressive Christian
Organizing for Social Change: A Bibliography

Organizing for Social Change: A Bibliography

Last updated on: March 4, 2017 at 2:36 am by Clint Schnekloth

Organizing for Social Change: A Bibliography 2017-03-04T02:36:00-05:00 Clint Schnekloth

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

In college, I played Ultimate frisbee. It was a relatively young sport, so this meant we mostly organized ad hoc sessions on the gorgeous Luther College library lawn. At the time, Ultimate frisbee players were precisely who you imagine them to be. Long hair, bandanas, bare feet, counter-cultural, unshaven and sometimes unwashed.

Then the college organized an intramural league, and our team, made up of the regulars from the lawn, would win most games, until it came time to play the cross-country team. We’d show up Saturday morning for a match with them, and they’d arrive hung-over, their breath distillable into martinis.

But they’d still smear us, because we were loosely organized, relied primarily on our individual skills with the disc, and though we’d score more in the first half, by the second half they would have completely outrun us. Exhausted, we’d watch them score point after point as they glided, still hung-over, across a field that for them was quite tiny compared to their races.

Then, one year, we traveled for a couple of competitions. We learned about offensive stacks, and the box defense. We came back, and absolutely trounced the cross-country team, who didn’t know what had hit them. Suddenly, their marathon endurance and lanky legs weren’t sufficient. They lost, and they lost bad.

Somehow, I feel like this is analogous to our moment. Those of us who love strangers and diversity and equality and our country have found ourselves outrun by a team playing the long game. Some of them, like Bannon, look perpetually hung-over. But they still beat us, and now hold the field and the disc.

But the game is still on, and there are some box defenses and stack offenses to learn. There are some great teachers out there. And some of the new methods are working. Do not under-estimate how powerful civil resistance, organizing and protests, are in this long game. We have pros who have gone before, pros working in the present, from whom we can learn and with whom we can align.

Winning isn’t bad. It’s a good thing, if sought for the right reason. It’s even better if you win the game while also maintaining all the beauty you already valued. The open field, the green grass, the flight of that disc, the sheer pleasure of a leap and catch. These are why we play to win. In this game, it’s not that we win so that the conservatives, or this president, or this congress, will be defeated. We play to win for the planet, for women, for children, for the hungry and homeless, for the sick, for Muslims and atheists and Jews, for immigrants, for refugees, for the poor.

They’re on the field with us. We are them. We’re on the ponytail and bandana team. And not that I have anything against long-distance runners. But in this instance, given that it’s Donald Trump and dark money and Republican gerrymandering that has surprised us with the long game, I’ve got to say: We’re coming for you.

The Bibliography:

No Shortcuts: Organizing for Power in the New Gilded Age by Jane McAlevey

Beautiful Trouble: A Toolbox for Revolution by Andrew Boyd

Blueprint for Revolution: How to Use Rice Pudding, Lego Men, and Other Nonviolent Techniques to Galvanize Communities, Overthrow Dictators, or Simply Change the World by Srdja Popovic

Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict by Erica Chenoweth

The Third Reconstruction: How a Moral Movement Is Overcoming the Politics of Division and Fear by Rev. William Barber II

Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America by Michael Eric Dyson

Sleeping Giant: How the New Working Class Will Transform America by Tamara Draut

The Populist Explosion: How the Great Recession Transformed American and European Politics by John Judis

Faith-Rooted Organizing: Mobilizing the Church in Service to the World by Alexia Salvatierra

Ferguson and Faith: Sparking Leadership and Awakening Community by Leah Gunning Francis

Radical Discipleship: A Liturgical Politics of the Gospel by Jennifer McBride

Previous Post

February 17, 2017

What reading does for the back of my head

Next Post

March 11, 2017 The Theology of Empire

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category #blacklivesmatter advocacy Avengers baptisms Capitalism church growth clergy silence corporate ethics Creation Care Donald Trump elections Evangelicals Evangelism Friendship hermeneutics Immigration Intersex introverts Jesus Labor Liturgy Lutheran MLK Jr. New urbanism Pentecost philanthropy Poem political theology Post-program church Prayer private devotion Reformation Refugees sacraments Scripture Secularity Sin small church social media Sovereignty Trauma-Informed Theology travel Trump Uncategorized wealth white supremacy Workers worship Youth

Select a Month January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 January 2016 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 May 2014 March 2014 June 2013 January 2013 December 2011 December 2010 February 2005 February 2004

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

I am a runaway slave who became a brother. Paul pleaded for my master to receive me back in love. Who am I?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Onesimus Titus Philemon Timothy

Books by This Author Books by Clint Schnekloth

See All Titles »