THE CORNEL WEST READER

Cornel West is an awesome and prolific writer. Unlike most professors in this day and age, he has decided to step down from the ivory tower of academia and reach out to the public. So much of what he has to say is relevant to today, here and now, and to everyday people. Beyond being a writer and a professor, he is Christian.Here is a quote I love: "Furthermore, if liberation theologies have taught us anything, it is that Christian thinkers must be organically linked with prophetic churches and progressive movements. An uncommitted and detached liberation theologian is a contradiction in terms. Without some form of ecclesiastical and political praxis, critical consciousness becomes as sounding brass and theological reflection a tinkling cymbal" (Pg 398, Cornel West Reader).Not only does he state this, but he believes in and acts upon it. "Sounding brass" and "Tinkling cymbals" are allusions to the Holy Bible, "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing." (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).Thus, what could Cornel West's political praxis be but love? And his love is self-evident, in both his words and actions.

Although I've not had the pleasure of being in his class at Princeton and Harvard, I still like to view myself as a student of Dr. West. Each time I read his work or listen to him speak, I am reminded of how fortunate we are to have him for a scholar. His knowledge is profound. In addition he has such a big heart.

An excellent insight into the mind of one of the country’s foremost scholars.

Read this during my freshman year in college, and loved it. Would highly recommend!

The 4 stars are really for me, and not for Cornel West. I tried, I really did, to plough through this book, but I could not recognize 75% of the references he made, and his thoughts were, to be honest, too deep for me. There is great wisdom here, but you need to be a true scholar to understand it.Cornel West is a fantastic speaker, I had expected his writing to be as inspiring as his spoken word. But this (wonderful) book is not for the layman. I am going to give it away to someone smarter than me.