Endorsements and publicity

Whether you do or do not agree with what Rabbi Gabriel Kanter-Webber preaches on any topic, he will always make you think. He never shies away from the important issues of the time and follows a long and distinguished tradition of rabbis and pastors speaking their truth to power from the pulpit. The Pastor as Partisan is an engaging, scholarly and stimulating exploration of what makes it worth staying alert and taking notice when your preacher speaks.

A fascinating take on a little-studied but important aspect of freedom of religion, not least for the light it sheds on freedom of the pulpit as a common issue across both Reform and Liberal Judaism and several Christian denominations – a freedom which, as the author rightly concludes, is a critical element in making ‘religion’ relevant to contemporary concerns.

Probably few rabbis today have experienced the reaction from the congregation that Rabbi Isaac M Wise did in 1851. He had publicly criticised one of the trustees of Beth El Synagogue in Albany, New York for keeping his business open on Shabbat. When the rabbi arrived on Rosh Hashanah, the president of the shul punched him in the face.

The incident is recorded in a new book by Brighton and Hove Progressive Synagogue’s Rabbi Gabriel Kanter-Webber on the concept of freedom of the pulpit. The Pastor as Partisan explores the belief that clerics should be free to speak the truth according to their conscience, without fear of upsetting some of their flock.