Comments on: Book Review: “Dreams from My Father” by Barack Obama http://youngadultcatholics-blog.com/2008/06/30/book-review-dreams-from-my-father-by-barack-obama/ YoungAdultCatholics - a blog of CTA 20/30 Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:19:37 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Marc DelMonico http://youngadultcatholics-blog.com/2008/06/30/book-review-dreams-from-my-father-by-barack-obama/#comment-486 Fri, 04 Jul 2008 02:13:28 +0000 http://youngadultcatholics.wordpress.com/?p=134#comment-486 Thanks, Mike. Good review. The way the whole Rev. Wright / Fr. Pflager thing has played out in recent months has made me reflect on an issue that, until that happened, I thought of only in “inner Catholic terms,” but now I see is really ecumenical and interreligious. It is the fact that those who mount the pulpit in a public ministry have enormous power and those who preach well have an even greater power to influence others.
Even in this era of the written Word, what we hear still has a pretty big influence on us. Which is why I am attentively critical to preachers who are either so poor at their craft as to be death-dealing dullards or those who forget that not everyone in the pews necessarily agrees with their most prophetic statements. They, of course, should be prophetic when they genuinely feel that it is called for, but ministers in public always need to be aware of the way they wield the sword of the Word — for it does indeed (as Paul said) pierce bone and marrow and lay bare the thoughts of many.

Anyway, my thoughts on that point. And the book is indeed a good portrait of the type of person Obama is, as is his “Audacity of Hope.”

]]> By: Lauren Ivory http://youngadultcatholics-blog.com/2008/06/30/book-review-dreams-from-my-father-by-barack-obama/#comment-479 Mon, 30 Jun 2008 23:21:32 +0000 http://youngadultcatholics.wordpress.com/?p=134#comment-479 How interesting that Obama (and Wright) talked about the leadership of many in a parish, not just the pastor’s, way before this came out on the campaign trail. Confirms for me that this was a part of their theology for a long time, not just recently. And very common with congregational model churches.

Today in churches we are doing mostly “inreach” rather than training leaders to do “outreach”. Ministry in parishes is done by the leaders for the parishoners. Its exciting to see when a person claims their leadership role as a Christian (not meaning he or she has to go out and become a pastor as well) and is sent out from the church to live out their faith in the rest of the world.

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