“God says to you, ‘I have a dream. Please help me to realize it.’” In these few words, Archbishop Desmond Tutu invites the reader of his 2004 book to take up the “deceptively simple challenges,” as enotes.com puts it, “based on the the notion that all people have a role to play in the realization of God’s ‘dream’.” And what that is, in the words of the book’s publisher, is “a world transformed through hope and compassion, humility and kindness, understanding and forgiveness.”
“Tutu contends that God depends on us to be carriers of justice, healing, and wholeness,” Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat write for spiritualityandpractice.com, “in a world twisted and torn by hatred, divisiveness, and violence.” Which puts the goal out of reach…were it voiced by a lesser figure. Tutu, after all, was deeply involved in the South African struggle against apartheid—for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize—then chaired his nation’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
In God Has a Dream, Tutu “sums up the ideas and beliefs that have served as a foundation” for his extraordinary efforts and achievements, the Brussats explain. He himself calls the book “a cumulative expression of my life’s work.”
God Has a Dream: A Vision of Hope for Our Time
By Desmond Tutu
Penguin Random House, 2004
The previous Featured Book, Eighteen Takes on God: A Short Guide for Those Who are Still Perplexed, by Leslie Stevenson, is now available in the Library.
