Western society moved from a period in which Christianity was the dominant spiritual force to one of nationalism and then to making the economy the object of public devotion. Today this is challenged by those seeking the health of the Earth including all its inhabitants. The World Bank is the economistic institution most open to Earthist concerns. This book evaluates the Bank's potential for leadership in broadening public goals from narrowly economic goods to inclusive ones.

Voted one of Christianity Today's 1997 Books of the Year Christians feel increasingly useless, argues Rodney Clapp, not because we have nothing to offer a post-Christian society, but because we are trying to serve as "sponsoring chaplains" to a civilization that no longer sees Christianity as necessary to its existence. In our individualistic, technologically oriented, consumer-based culture, Christianity has become largely irrelevant. The solution is not to sentimentally capitulate to the way things are. Nor is it to retrench in an effort to regain power and influence as the sponsor of Western civilization. What is needed is for Christians to reclaim our heritage as a peculiar people, as unapologetic followers of the Way. Within the larger pluralistic world, we need to become a sanctified, subversive culture that develops Christian community as a truly alternative way of life. Christians must learn to live the story and not just to restate it. Writing inclusively with considerable verve, Clapp offers a keen analysis of the church and its ministry as we face a new millennium.

"Scant decades ago most Westerners agreed that . . . Lifelong monogamy was ideal . . . Mothers should stay home with children . . . premarital sex was to be discouraged . . . Heterosexuality was the unquestioned norm . . . popular culture should not corrupt children. Today not a single one of these expectations is uncontroversial." So writes Rodney Clapp in assessing the status of the family in postmodern Western society. In response many evangelicals have been quick to defend the so-called traditional family, assuming that it exemplifies the biblical model. Clapp challenges that assumption, arguing that the "traditional" family is a reflection more of the nineteenth-century middle-class family than of any family one can find in Scripture. At the same time, he recognizes that many modern and postmodern options are not acceptable to Christians. Returning to the biblical story afresh to see what it might say to us in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, Clapp articulates a challenge to both sides of a critical debate. A book to help us rethink the significance of the family for the next century.

David Rich examines the pervasive influence of organized religion on three vital areas of human behavior - ethics, government, and economics - and argues that the belief systems of all major religions have become a detriment to clear thinking, rational conduct, and wise public policy. Despite the fact that modern society is an outgrowth of the Enlightenment, most of our "tribe" continues to operate on the basis of assumptions and attitudes that have their origin in ancient myths. These myths, still propagated by organized religion, not only hamper efforts to apply reason to our problems, but they can even foster violent conflicts that threaten global security, as witnessed today in the former Yugoslavia, the Middle East, Northern Ireland, and many regions of Africa and Asia.
Rich begins his analysis by examining the history of our major world religions and the common mythic elements that they share. He contrasts the figurative picture of the universe presented by religion with the currently accepted scientific facts. He then discusses the link between traditional morality and religious beliefs, demonstrating how obsolete attitudes have led to futile and wasteful government policies in such critical areas of social concern as illegal drugs, abortion, crime, poverty, and environmental abuse.
Rich proposes an essentially libertarian philosophy, which argues for rational analysis of all problems in the light of objective scientific evidence, a system of ethics that allows complete individual liberty constrained only by the principle of harming no one else, taking personal responsibility for one's own welfare and actions, and the absence of government control over the pursuit of happiness. Rich maintains that religion is a private matter and as such should play no part in public policy or internatioal relations. Only by maintaining this distinction can our global community have a chance of achieving its highest rational aspirations.

In this broad philosophical examination of the relationship between religion and the family, Jay Newman delves into issues concerning Biblical religion, culture, sociology, and family values. He maintains that recent media debates about the Bible and family values have obscured the complex relationship between the family and religion.

Focusing on how the family values that the Biblical literature imparts might be relevant--or irrelevant--to family problems and other cultural problems in a modern Western democracy, this study contributes to the understanding of basic cultural relations between religion and the family. After reflecting on the effects of much Biblical teaching on the family, the book proceeds to explore the cultural and existential significance of competition and cooperation between Biblical religion and the family.

Biblical scholar Wayne Grudem offers thought-provoking analysis of what the Bible says-and doesn't say-about divorce, bringing much needed clarity to the discussion and guidance to those stuck at a crossroads.