Amy Gopp

Gopp, Amy, Christian Piatt, and Brandon Gilvin, eds. Split Ticket: Independent Faith in a Time of Partisan Politics. St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2010.

Split Ticket is a book of essays regarding the intersection of faith and politics. The essays discuss a variety of issues from the decision to vote to various social issues. The writing style is conversational and informal. The book's audience is people in their 20's and 30's, which is the age of the authors of the essays. However, any person with an interest in this subject can find the book profitable.

The author's positions are those that are represented within the mainline tradition of Protestant churches. In some ways, this aspect of the book was a bit surprising, in that the cover and title suggested that it would represent a variety of views. Perhaps the idea of the book was to represent a Christian reflection on social issues that are not reported by the mainstream media.

The essays, as a whole, were of high quality. The authors had an opinion and used the various sources for Christian theology in explaining their point. However, it should be said that the Scripture/Experience part took precedence over the reason/tradition part. While I found the essays to be engaging and well thought out, in an edited work there always seems to be that essay that is the exception to the rule. The essay by Garrison was rather sophomoric. For a satirist it was not good satire, not even funny. So my recommendation is to read the book, I think you would get something out of it, but skip the Garrison essay.… (plus d'informations)

When I requested this book I was intrigued by the idea of how those who considered themselves as having an independent faith responded to partisan political situations. I was hoping to read of persons who straddle the line between the extremes of faith in very partisan political situations. This series of essays was not that, but it did give a perspective different from the very conservative faith which is what I usually hear expressed.

The essays are written by those who would be considered progressive or liberal, which is more my own bent. They are presented in a group study-friendly format and are targeted to an age group younger than my own. Yet, I did find the personal expressions of faith and the actions taken in response to their faith interesting and would encourage those who are tired of hearing the same old conservative talking points and arguments to consider reading it.… (plus d'informations)

Split Ticket is a collection of essays on various topics ... each written by a different author on a different subject ... but all expressing a Christian viewpoint. The authors tended to express fairly liberal, progressive Christian ideas. Even though I belong to a liberal denomination myself (United Church of Christ), I found some of the viewpoints quite radical. Still, it was interesting to see how the authors' faith inspired them and affected their actions.

I wasn't thrilled with the format of the book. It struck me as kind of juvenile, but then I'm not exactly in the target audience age range! I thought some of the essays could have used some editing ... they tended to drag on a bit.… (plus d'informations)

This book is a series of essays, each written by a different minister or Christian writer. The authors are all young evangelicals, and all seem to be very progressive, which is great. All of the essays, in one way or another, talk about the relationship of faith and politics, except that they don't really talk about that. Most of the essays are pretty dull somewhat rambling, and despite the title and the elephant and donkey on the cover they only talk about politics in the most indirect ways. I was really looking forward to reading this, but found it dull and very disappointing.

It's clearly aimed at younger people, with pre-printed notes in the margins and their lame WTF (Where's the Faith - get it?) theme throughout. For a younger Christian, brought up in the Evangelical tradition and trying to reconcile their faith with more liberal politics, this book could be helpful.… (plus d'informations)