Glory to God in the Lowest

Glory to God in the Lowesticon

by Donald E. Wagner

Publisher
Interlink Books
Publication
Oct 04, 2022
Format
Paperback/Softback
Illustrated
No
Price
20
Dimensions
6 x 9
ISBN
9781623718268
Pages
288
Age
Adult 18+
Category
Biographies & Memoirs

Rights Sold

🌍 World Wide Rights Available

Description

After serving for five years as a pastor in a remarkable Black church, Donald Wagner comes to fully understand the original sin of racism. As his journey continues, he encounters another marginalized people—the Palestinians—and witnesses their struggle for justice and equality. Touched by their resilience and fight against injustice, he leaves the pastorate to assume full time work as an advocate for Palestinian political and human rights. The memoir begins in mid-September 1982, with a gut-wrenching day interviewing survivors of the Sabra-Shatila massacre in Lebanon, as they wept and waited for the bodies of family members to be pulled from the rubble. Donald Wagner’s conversation with the local Imam ended with a challenge: “You must return home and tell what you have seen. This is all we ask. Go back and tell the truth.” Glory to God in the Lowest is a metaphor for his counter intuitive journey with the victims of the “chosen people” in the “unholy land,” also called historic Palestine or Israel. The irony of the journey reminds us that God is everywhere especially with the disinherited, the victims of the powerful, including the victims of Israeli oppression. The memoir touches on history and includes political analysis and theological reflection. In it, Donald Wagner describes Israel’s continued colonization and destruction of Palestinian lives and chronicles his involvement in a grassroots movement of resistance that demands justice based on full equality, an end to the Israeli military occupation and settler colonization project, the right of return for Palestinian refugees, and full political rights for the Palestinian people. Filled with stories—some humorous and some shocking—as well as encounters with people of every race, gender, and religious affiliation working below the radar, this book will inspire, challenge, and offer a narrative that envisions a transformed “unholy land,” where justice, liberation, and equality for all is the reality for every citizen.

Awards & Endorsements

Review
“Glory to God in the Lowest provides a rare view of the spiritual turmoil which led Don Wagner, an untypical Christian Evangelical, to a painful life journey of unpredictable commitment to helping ‘the Lowest,’ or the Palestinian, and discovering along the way what is unholy about American foreign policy and its totem pole of values.” Ghada Hashem Talhami, D. K. Pearson’s Professor of Politics, emeriti, Lake Forest College

“If you have never read a single book about the struggle for justice and peace in Israel and Palestine, this is the one I hope you'll read. If you've read a lot, and are about to give up hope, this is also the book I hope you'll read. Glory to God in the Lowest not only helps you understand the situation in the so-called Holy Land; it also helps you feel the pain, the longing, the courage, and the love of good people working, praying, and giving their lives to bend the arc of history toward justice. Don Wagner educates and inspires me, and this book will educate and inspire you too.” Brian D. McLaren, author of Faith after Doubt

“Like many memoirs, this is the story of a journey: the author’s four-decade-long quest to try to tell the truth about what he calls the injustices inflicted on the Palestinian people over the previous one hundred years … Throughout, Wagner's antagonists are Christian Zionists and political Jewish Zionists, whom he confronts even though his plans are often thwarted and he is called an anti-Semite. Bound to provoke controversy as well as thought, Wagner's work will hopefully invite reasoned discussion, too.”

Author(s)

Donald E. Wagner

Donald E. Wagner received a Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary and a Doctor of Ministry degree from McCormick Theological Seminary. He was Director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Chicago’s North Park University. He served as National Director of the Palestine Human Rights Campaign (1980-89), was Director of Middle East Programs for Mercy Corps International (1990-94), and was co-founder of Evangelicals for Middle East Understanding. He is the author of five previous books on Palestinian rights.

Related Titles

Mother Tongue
Mother Tongueicon
Linda Petrucelli
Wear You Are Now
Wear You Are Nowicon
Natalie Mazzarella
The 24/7 CEO
The 24/7 CEOicon
David J. Moore
Dual Identities
Dual Identitiesicon
Arthur Myron Horwitz
Don't Let This Get Out in Pinckard
Don't Let This Get Out in...icon
Celeste King Conner
La Magie du Normal
La Magie du Normalicon
Maky Zanganeh
Running with Lions
Running with Lionsicon
Pius K. Kamau, MD