There has been a tradition in the Christian church that has discerned in the scriptures an imperative toward radical political action. Beginning with the Fathers and their writings on the community of goods, it can be traced through the mystics of the Middle Ages and radical reformers and Puritans of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, to Christian socialists, liberation theologians, and social activists of more recent times. Though remarkable for their incisiveness, originality, and distinctive theological perspective, these writings have often failed to reach a wide readership. Bradstock and Rowland have now brought together more than sixty extracts in this one volume, including some that have been newly translated and many that have long been unavailable. This has resulted in a unique and immensely valuable resource, which includes letters, sermons, poems, liturgies, and other writings from the third to the twenty-first century.
