James Leslie

Make Us Aware James Leslie

Publisher Marketing: For more than three decades and during some of the most turbulent times in our nation's history, Jim Leslie served as Chaplain at Ohio Wesleyan University. "I loved being a chaplain," he said. "I liked the negative part of it, too-having to defend what a chaplain does, or should do-speak truth to power and clear the roadblocks so the students can do the things they want to do for their own interests and the community's interest." In the pages of this book of occasional writings, prayers, and personal chapters, the reader can look back at a particular time in history in a particular place in mid-Ohio and hear a voice that is as relevant today as it was then. As the nation began to grapple with issues of race, class, sex, war, and the rising tide of violence in our cities, Leslie's voice and positions were clear, unadulterated, and prophetic. Not content to dwell in the ivory tower, Leslie invited and encouraged students to stand with him against intolerance, injustice, bigotry, and complacence. In words that were at once welcoming and uncompromising, Leslie brought the world's issues to the campus, and in his pioneering work with student missions, he took the students to the world. Jim Leslie changed lives, and those lives have changed other lives. His imprint and influence are indelible, not only at Ohio Wesleyan, but throughout the globe.