Prophetic Wisdom

Charles R. Strain is Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies at DePaul University. His previous books include Global Migration: What's Happening, Why, and a Just Response (coauthored with Elizabeth W. Collier) and The Prophet and the Bodhisattva: Daniel Berrigan, Thich Nhat Hanh, and the Ethics of Peace and Justice, which won the Society for Buddhist Christian Studies Frederick J. Streng Book of the Year Award in 2014.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroductionPart I: The Prophetic Wisdom of Elders 1. Like a Fire in the Bones: The Prophetic VoiceBuddhist Reflections in a Prophetic Key #1: Cries of the Crows: A Buddhist Take on the Prophetic Voice2. Crossing Boundaries: Rita Gross and the Transformation of Patriarchal BuddhismBuddhist Reflections in a Prophetic Key #2: Reading a Buddhist Classic of Mother's Grief against the Grain3. Thich Nhat Hanh: A Buddhist Monk in the Conflagration of WarBuddhist Reflections in a Prophetic Key #3: Sea Pirates, Nazis, and the Need for Moral Judgment4. Joanna Macy and the Work That ReconnectsBuddhist Reflections in a Prophetic Key # 4: Bearing Witness to the Suffering of Our Time5. B. R. Ambedkar: The Annihilation of Caste and the Liberation of the DalitsBuddhist Reflections in a Prophetic Key # 5: Gautama's Leave-TakingPart II: Liberation in the American Context 6. The American Jeremiad: Creating the City upon a Hill7. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr: America's JeremiahBuddhist Reflections in a Prophetic Key #6: Reinventing Buddhism in a Hostile SocietyPart III: From Prophecy to Praxis: Strategic Action and Social Liberation 8. Nonviolent Action: The Dynamics of Love, Power, and Justice9. From Prophecy to Praxis: Thinking Strategically about Action10. Facing Up to Evil, Abolishing Our Racial Caste SystemConclusionNotesWorks CitedIndex

"Well-written and evocative, Strain's book makes the case for a new form of prophetically inspired and socially engaged Buddhism. With immense suffering being generated today by systemic structures of oppression, the collaborative partnership of contemplative traditions (such as Buddhism) and socially conscious sensibilities (such as those of the Hebrew prophets) is both timely and potentially transformative." — Will W. Adams, author of A Wild and Sacred Call: Nature–Psyche–Spirit"This is a comprehensive assessment of the Engaged Buddhist movement from one of its veteran practitioners. It marries the strengths of the movement with prophetic strains, producing a mutually empowering and illuminating synthesis." — Jason M. Wirth, author of Mountains, Rivers, and the Great Earth: Reading Gary Snyder and Dōgen in an Age of Ecological Crisis