Sojourners, 2401 15th Street NW, Washington DC 20009, Tel: 202-328-8842.
This independent magazine occupies a unique niche in publishing and
politics. Since 1974 a communal group of 25-35 activists have combined left-
liberal, pacifist political activity with a strong dose of evangelical
Christianity. In addition to publishing "Sojourners," they were also behind
the "Witness for Peace" program in Nicaragua. "Sojourners" began as the
People's Christian Coalition in Chicago (1971-1973), which published
"Post-American" before moving to Washington. They described themselves as
a "chief-less" tribe of "university strike leaders, seminarians, whites,
blacks, college students, professors and artists." It was a cross between
the Jesus Movement and the New Left, with the Bible preferred over Marx.
Principals then and now include Jim Wallis and Joe Roos. While their
commitment is sincere, their religion has apparently stunted their political
analysis. By 1986 they boasted a slick 56-page monthly with a circulation of
nearly 60,000. The content included some political news with an anti-imperial
slant, but most of the articles betrayed a preoccupation with Christian
identity and what this means in contemporary America. We don't follow the
magazine apart from the occasional stray article. Similarly, Jim Wallis and
Sojourners, whose names are by now household words in Christian circles,
have shown no interest in secular, anti-Establishment research tools like
NameBase, and almost no interest in investigative journalism.
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