A “REVIEW” OF THE BOOK ‘GOD HAS A DREAM’ by Desmond Tutu and Douglas Abrams
Book overview
Nobel Laureate Desmond Tutu has long been admired throughout the world for the heroism and grace he exhibited while encouraging countless South Africans in their struggle for human rights. In ‘God Has a Dream’, his most soul-searching book, he shares the spiritual message that guided him through those troubled times. Drawing on personal and historical examples, Archbishop Tutu reaches out to readers of all religious backgrounds, showing how individual and global suffering can be transformed into joy and redemption. With his characteristic humor, Tutu offers an extremely personal and liberating message. He helps us to “see with the eyes of the heart” and to cultivate the qualities of love, forgiveness, humility, generosity, and courage that we need to change ourselves and our world.
Echoing the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., he writes, “God says to you, ‘I have a dream. Please help me to realize it. It is a dream of a world whose ugliness and squalor and poverty, its war and hostility, its greed and harsh competitiveness, its alienation and disharmony are changed into their glorious counterparts. When there will be more laughter, joy, and peace, where there will be justice and goodness and compassion and love and caring and sharing. I have a dream that my children will know that they are members of one family, the human family, God’s family, my family.’”
Addressing the timeless and universal concerns all people share, God Has a Dream envisions a world transformed through hope and compassion, humility and kindness, understanding and forgiveness.
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Editorial Review – Reed Business Information (c) 2003
Reading this book is like having a long, and somewhat homiletical, afternoon tea with former Archbishop of Cape Town and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Tutu. Four years after No Future Without Forgiveness, Tutu’s reflection on his role as Chairman of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, comes this deeply personal book that Tutu calls “a cumulative expression of my life’s work.” Each chapter begins “Dear Child of God,” and goes on to reflect on vulnerability, transfiguration and the human condition with winding anecdotes from Tutu’s personal and public life, stories he delivers with his trademark humor and a deceptive simplicity. For example, when Tutu says we are all one family, what emerges is not some churchy optimism, but a highly developed theology of relationship, what Tutu has earlier called ubuntu (“a person is a person through other people”), with political as well as interpersonal implications. This book is highly readable, perhaps because, like other Tutu books, it is culled in large part from lectures and sermons delivered in Tutu’s very public life. That this book aims for more than an afternoon tea becomes clear at its close: we are God’s partners, Tutu exhorts. We are humanized or dehumanized in and through our actions toward others. Tutu grounds this appeal most concretely, endi ng with a list of Web sites from organizations that need more partners for their outreach. (Mar. 23)
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Desmond Tutu’s best-selling inspirational book for a general audience, now available in paperback ‘God Has A Dream’ is an extremely personal and liberating message of hope and light in dark times. In it, the Archbishop shows how important it is that, even as we face the harsh realities of our individual lives and global conditions, we remember the importance of hope and dreams – for it is on hope and dreams that a better future will be built, and that God’s dream for us will be fulfilled. And Tutu also demonstrates how to bring these dreams to fruition in very practical terms, for example in learning how to love, ridding ourselves of our prejudices, opposing injustice, promoting the qualities of forgiveness, humility and generosity in ourselves, taking time to be still and quiet and in being patient. Meant not only for a Christian audience, but also for those of all faiths – and none – who are drawn to a life of more inspiration and integrity, ‘God Has A Dream’ is highly readable and very relevant to the times we live in. Instead of being a political document (as was his previous book No Future Without Forgiveness) this is a major work of contemporary spirituality from a Church leader known for his charisma, robust approach and humour.
Shared by Craig Lock (“Information and Inspiration Distributor, Incorrigible Encourager and People-builder”)
“Faith is the pillar of strength that allows man to achieve the impossible, reach the unattainable and solve the unfathomable.”
“When you come to the edge of all the light you know,
and are able to step off into the darkness of the unknown, faith is knowing one of two things will happen:
There will be something solid to stand on, or you will be taught how to fly.”
- Barbara J Winter
“God creates us with different gifts. Each one of us comes into the world with a different collection of life circumstances that often severely challenge us, things that give us joy and in expressing our talents allow us to bless the people, the world around us.”
- craig
About the submitter:
Craig believes in (and loves) sharing information, insights and ‘principles’ to help and especially encourage people to make the most of their minds along life’s magical journey … and that brings him the greatest joy.
Craig’s new blog with thoughts and extracts from various writings is at
“The world’s smallest and most exclusive bookstore”
“The task ahead of you can always be overcome by the power within you…and the seemingly difficult path ahead of you is never as steep with the great spirit that lies within you.”
- craig
“When I let go of what (and who) I think I am, I become all that I can be… and am capable of being.”
- craig (as adapted and inspired from Lao Tzu)
“You can cut down the flower, but nothing can stop the coming of the spring.”
Together, one mind, one life at a time, let’s see how many people we can impact, empower, uplift, encourage … and perhaps even inspire to reach their fullest potentials.”
