Engaging Voices

In a deeply polarized political climate, Gottlieb’s book offers fresh insights of how we can save the planet and live together into the future with our moral and political differences. Timely and urgently needed, this compelling book challenges us to rethink political activism, spirituality, and community in new ways. I highly recommend it.

~Kwok Pui-lan, President of the American Academy of Religion and William F. Cole Professor of Christian Theology and Spirituality, Episcopal Divinity School

A highly imaginative, if also down to earth, appeal for better listening to each other, hopeful, fearful, ambivalent in the midst of our differences, and how such listening can bring us to better caring for our common Earth.

~Holmes Rolston, III, University Distinguished Professor and Professor of Philosophy, Colorado State University

In these captivating stories Roger Gottlieb shows that fiction can still be a powerful way to engage with our most complex and pressing dilemmas. You will learn more philosophy by reading this one enjoyable and illuminating journey through contemporary morality, politics, and spirituality than you would by taking any ten philosophy courses at most universities. This book is certain to both move and provoke you-challenging old ways of thinking and preparing us all for the challenges of the coming decades of the 21st century.

~Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor of Tikkun Magazine, chair of the interfaith Network of Spiritual Progressives, and author of The Left Hand of God: Taking Back Our Country from the Religious Right

In this heart-opening and beautifully-written book, Roger Gottlieb shares moving stories of profound difference that reflect the urgent challenge of creating a moral community. Engaging Voices invites us to experience how opening ourselves to what others have to say--especially those we fundamentally disagree with--tests our moral courage in ways that accelerate inner growth, and provide pathways for improving our collective lives.

~Paul Wapner, Associate Professor and Director of the Global Environmental Politics Program, American University, and author of Living through the End of Nature: The Future of American Environmentalism

Engaging Voices would stand as a useful text even without the current climate of political stubbornness. For students, it provides an accessible introduction to a broad range of issues and ideas in the field of environmental ethics... for those already more familiar with these ideas, it provides a reminder that gaining wisdom does not imply deducing the ''right'' answers to sticky questions, but rather approaching those questions with humility and openness.

~Richard Plate, Capitalism Nature Socialism

Gottlieb (A Greener Faith) carefully crafts morality tales that champion disparate yet constructive voices while still giving a platform to the myopic dissenters. While the characters' sole purpose is to facilitate these kinds of dialogues, the author's curious approach is a refreshing way to 'engage' in these debates.

~Publishers Weekly, Current Fiction Reviews