Church of the Second Chance: A Faith-Based Approach to Prison Reform - Softcover

Jens Soering

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9781590561126: Church of the Second Chance: A Faith-Based Approach to Prison Reform

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1590561120 ISBN 13: 9781590561126

Publisher: Lantern Books, 2009

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When we draw inspiration from the great cloud of witnesses to the Christian faith (Hebrews 12:1), we often forget that many of those witnesses were people we might shun and condemn if we met them today: namely, convicts and criminals. In his fourth book, Jens Soering demonstrates that, despite committing or abetting theft, murder and even terrorism, figures like Adam and Eve, Samson and Paul were raised to places of honour in what we might call the Church of the Second Chance. In fact, the stories of these biblical outlaws contain the clues to solving a social crisis that has been building for over thirty years: the problem of America s prisons. Today, criminal justice experts and legislators are struggling to fix the public health and safety disasters resulting from mass incarceration in the United States. THE CHURCH OF THE SECOND CHANCE explains how victims, offenders and society at large can heal through the careful, considered and Christian application of the same key that freed Moses, David and others to do great things after they broke the law. Each chapter begins with a fruitful Bible study, goes on to examine a crucial problem besetting our jails and penitentiaries and ends with an interview that demonstrates how people are working today, in and out of prison, to apply God s word to our own lives and times.

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About the Author:

Jens Soering is a German citizen and Centering Prayer practitioner who has been incarcerated since 1986. His case has been featured on Court TV and A&E's City Confidential. His work has been featured in Christianity Today, The Christian Century, Sojourners, America, National Catholic Reporter, and The American Conservative. His book The Convict Christ: What the Gospel Says about Criminal Justice was the first place winner of the Catholic Press Association's 2007 awards.

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