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Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > Christianity > Christian institutions & organizations > Christian social thought & activity
Stories about the past shape not only the way people think about history, but also the way they act in the present. Nowhere is this truer than in the area of religion, which has been and continues to be a powerful motivating force in the lives of billions around the globe. In this volume, Catholicism and Historical Narrative: A Catholic Engagement with Historical Scholarship, contributors explore the way stories are constructed and show how a focus on Catholic figures and concerns challenges common understandings of important historical episodes and eras. Editor Kevin Schmiesing has gathered a distinguished group of scholars who, in various ways, call into question conventional story lines by highlighting previously neglected Catholic ideas and individuals. Built on ample evidence and employing keen insight, each essay is the result of cutting-edge research in fields ranging from historical research on Puritan New England and the antebellum South to the history of abortion to the twentieth-century papacy. Students and scholars of religious history, Catholic historians, and anyone interested in the intersection of religion and history will all find here much to interest and maybe even surprise in the chapters' arguments concerning the deficiencies of history's dominant narratives. The volume's focus on the history of Catholics in the United States makes it essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the place of Catholicism in the American story."
"Let every student be plainly instructed . . . to consider well the main end of . . . life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life . . . and therefore to lay Christ in the bottom, as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and learning." -Harvard College Laws, 1642 There was a time when Harvard was considered a holy place and Princeton trained prophets, when students and professors could not help but pray because there were certain questions that could only be answered by an Intellect greater than our own. There was a time when student leaders galvanized campus movements, when young revolutionaries defied the status quo of their generation and engaged in sacrificial service that reshaped society and transformed culture. There was a time . . . God on Campus traces a remarkable legacy of spiritual awakening that stretches from the founding of the earliest colleges in the United States to a global movement of nonstop student prayer spreading across campuses today. "This is a book to help you remember your roots," Trent Sheppard writes, "ordinary people like you and me--bold and timid, brilliant and insecure, disillusioned and dangerous, ambitious and naive, holy and fallen, fearless and afraid--people who prayed, people who conspired together with their friends in faith and action, people who believed their lives could actually help shape the unfolding narrative of history." From the establishment of early American campuses during the Great Awakening to the rapidly spreading collegiate movements of the twenty-first century, Sheppard shows how students can integrate their passion in prayer with practical Christ-like living in culture. "The goal," he explains, "is not for us to abandon our studies in economics or education and all become preachers instead. The goal is to live like Jesus in the very soul of society." Culminating in a movement to mobilize prayer on every college and university campus in the United States throughout 2010, God on Campus is an invitation for students to find their place in the story of God today.
This book is a series of essays in the area of current culture and its defects, Christian religious belief, and other political and philosophical issues. A number of topics are considered in the book including he continued re-emergence of the church in African and Asia, the meaning of poverty and its implication for Christians in the life of Christ and the church, the status of women in the Church, the issue of abortion, the contrast between the visible and invisible church, and the interaction between Christ and culture. Other essays consider the role and nature of Satan, Jesus as revolutionary, and the existence of angels and demons. In addition, some essays include an analysis of the decline of the American Middle Class, the nature of American Culture, the "money culture", and many other topics which no doubt will be of value and interest to the reader.
Christian Book Award (R) program Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Finalist Outreach Resources of the Year Christianity Today Book Award The Gospel Coalition Book Award Emerging Public Intellectual Award Growing up in the American South, Esau McCaulley knew firsthand the ongoing struggle between despair and hope that marks the lives of some in the African American context. A key element in the fight for hope, he discovered, has long been the practice of Bible reading and interpretation that comes out of traditional Black churches. This ecclesial tradition is often disregarded or viewed with suspicion by much of the wider church and academy, but it has something vital to say. Reading While Black is a personal and scholarly testament to the power and hope of Black biblical interpretation. At a time in which some within the African American community are questioning the place of the Christian faith in the struggle for justice, New Testament scholar McCaulley argues that reading Scripture from the perspective of Black church tradition is invaluable for connecting with a rich faith history and addressing the urgent issues of our times. He advocates for a model of interpretation that involves an ongoing conversation between the collective Black experience and the Bible, in which the particular questions coming out of Black communities are given pride of place and the Bible is given space to respond by affirming, challenging, and, at times, reshaping Black concerns. McCaulley demonstrates this model with studies on how Scripture speaks to topics often overlooked by white interpreters, such as ethnicity, political protest, policing, and slavery. Ultimately McCaulley calls the church to a dynamic theological engagement with Scripture, in which Christians of diverse backgrounds dialogue with their own social location as well as the cultures of others. Reading While Black moves the conversation forward.
The Bible, the Bullet, and the Ballot provides a balanced account of the role of Christians, Christian organisations, and churches in sociopolitical transformation over the bedrock of colonial and nationalist politics in the past century in Zimbabwe. Fabulous Moyo explores the broader social and political impact of prominent African Christian clergy who were sociopolitical activists such as Ndabaningi Sithole, Abel Muzorewa, and Canaan Banana. It also highlights the role of missionaries who contributed to the African struggle for independence such as Ralph Edward Dodge, Donal Lamont, and Garfield Todd. He examines the contributions of African nationalist parties and prominent politicians with Christian roots, such as Joshua Nkomo and Robert Mugabe, in the struggle for independence, and their contribution in the postcolonial era in light of their Christian heritage and the collective pre-independence nationalist ideals on nation-building and national unity.
Earth is imperiled. Human activities are adversely affecting the land, water, air, and myriad forms of biological life that comprise the ecosystems of our planet. Indicators of global warming and holes in the ozone layer inhibit functions vital to the biosphere. Environmental damage to the planet becomes damaging to human health and well-being now and into the future -- and too often that damage affects those who are least able to protect themselves. Can religion make a positive contribution to preventing further destruction of biological diversity and ecosystems and threats to our earth? Jame Schaefer thinks that it can, and she examines the thought of Christian Church fathers and medieval theologians to reveal and retrieve insights that may speak to our current plight. By reconstructing the teachings of Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, and other classic thinkers to reflect our current scientific understanding of the world, Schaefer shows how to "green" the Catholic faith: to value the goodness of creation, to appreciate the beauty of creation, to respect creation's praise for God, to acknowledge the kinship of all creatures, to use creation with gratitude and restraint, and to live virtuously within the earth community.
Through the lens of social-scientific criticism, Christian Fasting: Biblical and Evangelical Perspectives explores the social, cultural, and religious significance of fasting in the first-century Mediterranean world. Old Testament precedents, as well as Mesopotamian, Greek, and Roman influences are examined to form the backdrop for a detailed interpretation of each fasting text in the New Testament. Contemporary evangelical fasting literature is also discussed and analyzed. Finally, H.S. Mathews proposes a solution for reconciling a biblical interpretation of fasting with contemporary evangelical practice.
In The Crisis of Religious Liberty: Reflections from Law, History, and Catholic Social Thought, contributors consider a series of significant challenges to the freedom of religious conscience and expression in the United States today. Such challenges include the mandate from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services concerning contraceptive, sterilization, and abortifacient coverage in health insurance plans; the question of health-care institutions requiring medical personnel to participate in morally objectionable procedures contrary to their religious beliefs; legal liability for individuals and businesses refusing on religious grounds to provide services for same-sex marriages; the prohibition on students from engaging in religious expression in public schools; the use of zoning laws to block Bible studies in private homes; and a variety of other issues that have surfaced in recent years with respect to religious freedom. While some argues that religious liberty extends no further than the freedom to worship, contributors suggest otherwise, noting that the exercise of religious liberty is greater than a highly restrictive definition of the notion of worship. The Crisis of Religious Liberty comprises eight chapters and an afterword that explore the nature and basis of religious freedom in terms of Catholic social thought. They cover such topics as the Catholic Church's teachings from the Vatican II's Dignatis Humanae (Declaration on Religious Liberty), the decline of a historic rapprochement among different religious perspectives in the United States in the face of an increasingly aggressive secularism, perspectives on religious liberty from the founding of America, and how the religious liberty situation in the U.S. compares with the rest of the world. The Crisis of Religious Liberty: Reflections from Law, History, and Catholic Social Thought should appeal to a variety of professionals as well as a scholars: lawyers and clergy, health care professionals and Catholic business owners, and researchers in the fields of religion, law, American politics, and sociology.
Imagine one day you went to a cash-machine and found your money was gone. You rushed to your branch, where a teller said that overnight people had stopped believing in money, and it all vanished. Seem incredible? It happened, and it could happen again. Twilight of the Money Gods is the story of economics, told not as the science it strove to be, but as the religion it became. Over two centuries, it searched for the hidden codes which would reveal the path to a promised land of material abundance. While its prophets, from Adam Smith to John Maynard Keynes and Milton Friedman, concerned themselves with the human condition, its priesthood gradually grew remote from its followers, until it lost sight of their tribulations. Today, amid a crisis of faith in their expertise, we must re-imagine an economics for a new era - one filled with both danger and opportunity.
Many democratic citizens, including many Christians, think that separation of religion from the state means the exclusion of religious beliefs from the political process. That view is mistaken. Both democracy and Christian faith, this 2004 book shows, call all Christians to make their beliefs effective in politics. But the discussion here differs from others. Most have trouble relating religion to democratic discussion and debate because they assume that religious differences cannot be publicly debated. Against this majority view, this book argues that Christian faith belongs in politics because it shares with democracy a full commitment to rational pursuit of the truth. The book then develops ideals of justice and the common good Christians should advocate within the democratic process and shows the difference they make for contemporary politics in the United States, focusing specifically on issues of abortion, affirmative action, and economic distribution.
In these stormy times, voices from all fronts call for change. But what kind of revolution brings true freedom to both society and the human soul? Cultural observer Os Guinness explores the nature of revolutionary faith, contrasting between secular revolutions such as the French Revolution and the faith-led revolution of ancient Israel. He argues that the story of Exodus is the highest, richest, and deepest vision for freedom in human history. It serves as the master story of human freedom and provides the greatest sustained critique of the abuse of power. His contrast between "Paris" and "Sinai" offers a framework for discerning between two kinds of revolution and their different views of human nature, equality, and liberty. Drawing on the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures, Guinness develops Exodus as the Magna Carta of humanity, with a constructive vision of a morally responsible society of independent free people who are covenanted to each other and to justice, peace, stability, and the common good of the community. This is the model from the past that charts our path to the future. "There are two revolutionary faiths bidding to take the world forward," Guinness writes. "There is no choice facing America and the West that is more urgent and consequential than the choice between Sinai and Paris. Will the coming generation return to faith in God and to humility, or continue to trust in the all sufficiency of Enlightenment reason, punditry, and technocracy? Will its politics be led by principles or by power?" While Guinness cannot predict our ultimate fate, he warns that we must recognize the crisis of our time and debate the issues openly. As individuals and as a people, we must choose between the revolutions, between faith in God and faith in Reason alone, between freedom and despotism, and between life and death.
Between Heaven and Earth grew out one of Thielicke's visits to the United States in 1963, during which he travelled across the country preaching and lecturing. The conversations recorded here are the fruit of his more informal discussions with small groups of clergy, students and lay people. "You have disturbed our peace and upset our doubts," said one pastor. "You have freed the fettered and bound the wandering spirits," said another. The questions that American Christians asked of Thielicke are direct and wide-ranging, concerned not only with the fundamental problems of faith but with its bearing on issues of social and political morality. Thielicke's answers, though equally direct, are neither simplistic nor dogmatic. His approach is refreshingly open and his conclusions emerge from a reasoned consideration of the evidence and alternative possibilities. Above all, Thielicke's answers reveal the warmth and deep concern for humanity's spiritual welfare that is at the root of his teaching and writing.
From the Preface: "Get real" was a slang term that became popular in the 1960's when Michael Hickey was growing up in East Boston. It implied that someone wasn't in touch with reality and had to change their way of thinking or living. If you put on the television today, all you might find is one of the hundreds of so-called reality TV shows. More often than not, these reality shows are illusions of reality because the "real persons" utilized as actors/performers are seemingly coached to act in certain ways by the directors, judges, or producers who really control the reality. Nonetheless, reality TV is a modern phenomenon; people watch it constantly, and that does indicate a high degree of the public's interest in some concept of reality. As for "mystery," it seems we are approaching an age where there will be the death of mystery, and we will have only reality. Hickey believes this is because the vast majority of the populace doesn't view reality in the context of mystery. They imagine mystery to be something which is just obscure or ambiguous, which given enough time, will be solved by reason and logic and become reality. Hickey's goal is that Get Real will give the reader a fresh understanding of both reality and mystery as seen from a theological and philosophical viewpoint. Ultimately, he intends the reader to move beyond the perceived duality in order to establish that mystery is truly the home of all reality.
The world is not as God intends it to be. God's heart is to make things right, and for the world to be just. But complex problems warrant more sustained attention than quick posts on social media. How can we actually make a difference? Activist Mae Elise Cannon takes us beyond the hashtags to serious engagement with real issues. God calls the church to respond substantively to the needs of the poor, the realities of racial inequity, and the mistreatment of women and the marginalized. We can accomplish change through a range of strategic avenues-spiritually, socially, legally, politically, and economically. And addressing the domestic and international injustices of our day takes us on a journey of spiritual transformation that brings us closer to God and those around us. Channel your passion to care effectively for your neighbor and the world. This book will help you understand and put into action what it means for the church to be a place of peace, justice, and hope.
Christians are increasingly interested in justice issues. Relief and development work are important, but beyond that is a need for advocacy. This book shows how transforming systems and structures results in lasting change, providing theological rationale and strategies of action for evangelicals passionate about justice. Each of the authors contributes both academic expertise and extensive practical experience to help readers debate, discuss, and discern more fully the call to evangelical advocacy. They also guide readers into prayerful, faithful, and wise processes of advocacy, especially in relation to addressing poverty.
Taking a fresh and imaginative approach to the topic, Enlightenment Reformation investigates how and why Hutchinsonianism came into being, evolved and eventually ended. In surveying the history of this intellectual movement, it explores the controversies in and around religion that sat at the very centre of the Enlightenment period in Britain. During the eighteenth century, many opponents of Isaac Newton's cosmology and natural religion gravitated to the writings of John Hutchinson (1674-1737). United by a strong belief in the Christian Trinity and a particular approach to the reading of Hebrew Biblical texts, the essential tenets of Hutchinsonianism remained for over a century the main source of opposition to Enlightenment scientific theories. Integrating the various aspects of Hutchinsonianism that together help to define the movement, this book first critiques the existing historiography on the subject and second provides an overview of the movement's thought, growth and downfall. This volume offers a fascinating perspective on the role of religion, science and ecclesiastical history in eighteenth-century thought and will be valuable reading for scholars working in intellectual and cultural history, in particular the history of philosophy, legal history, education and the relationship between church and state in the early modern period.
BEING UNOFFENDABLE IS A CHOICE It's a provocative idea: We are not entitled to get offended or stay angry at other people. The idea of our own "righteous anger" is a myth. Instead, the Bible calls every follower of Christ to do something radical and countercultural: Let go of our anger and forgive. As it turns out, giving up our right to be offended is one of the most freeing, healthy, relaxing, refreshing, stress-relieving, and encouraging things we can do. It allows us to recognize that people are broken and stop being scandalized by their actions. It enables us to accept people and stop judging them. It creates a way for us to not just love others but to actually like them. In this six-session Bible study, based on the bestselling book of the same name, Brant Hansen shares practical ways to live life with less stress and more care by becoming unoffendable. In his highly entertaining style, he seeks to lift the religious burdens from our backs and allow us to experience the joy of gratitude every day of our lives-flourishing the way God intended. This study guide includes: Individual access to six streaming video sessions A "how to use this guide" section Video notes and a comprehensive structure for group discussion time Personal study for deeper reflection between sessions Sessions and video run times: The Myth of Righteous Anger (18:00) What Humans Are Like (18:00) The Physiological Effects of Anger (18:00) What About Injustice? (18:00) How to Actually Do This (17:30) The Difference It Makes (18:00) This study guide has everything you need for a full Bible study experience, including: The study guide itself-with discussion and reflection questions, video notes, and a leader's guide. An individual access code to stream all video sessions online. (You don't need to buy a DVD!) Streaming video access code included. Access code subject to expiration after 12/31/2027. Code may be redeemed only by the recipient of this package. Code may not be transferred or sold separately from this package. Internet connection required. Void where prohibited, taxed, or restricted by law. Additional offer details inside.
An extraordinary testimony of lives changed through kindness, courage, prayer, and grace. Lesley's heart was broken at just twenty-two, by the hopelessness she saw in the faces of little children struggling to survive extreme poverty in the Philippines. She had volunteered from England as a nurse for six months, but stayed on to care for the street people. Now, with her husband Peter (a Filipino pastor), she has devoted her life to serving the poor, venturing into dire situations to rescue child prostitutes, criminals, addicts, and the homeless. This book tells their stories, and through them the story of God's amazing ways as Lesley established Life And More Abundant Ministries, a charity for the relief of poverty, and LAMA House, a residential home for abandoned, neglected, or abused boys. The book is filled with graphic accounts: a violent gangster made tender; a suicidal addict snatched from the brink; a teenage daughter sold into prostitution; tragedy on a colossal scale in the great earthquake that hit Luzon. There are many horror stories, but again and again they are turned around for good.
This book examines the key 2008 publication of the Russian Orthodox Church on human dignity, freedom, and rights. It considers how the document was formed, charting the development over time of the Russian Orthodox Church's views on human rights. It analyzes the detail of the document, and assesses the practical and political impact inside the Church, at the national level and in the international arena. Overall, it shows how the attitude of the Russian Orthodox Church has shifted from outright hostility towards individual human rights to the advocacy of "traditional values."
Popular calls to transform our current welfare system and supplant it with effective and inexpensive faith-based providers are gaining political support and engendering heated debate about the separation of church and state. Yet we lack concrete information from which to anticipate how such initiatives might actually work if adopted. Despite the assumption that congregations can help many needy people in our society, it remains to be seen how extensive they wish their involvement to be, or if they have the necessary tools to become significant providers in the social service arena. Moreover, how will such practices, which will move faith-based organizations towards professionalization, ultimately affect the spirit of volunteerism now prevalent in America's religious institutions? We lack sufficient knowledge about congregational life and its ability to play a key role in social service provision. The Invisible Caring Hand attempts to fill that void. Based on in-depth interviews with clergy and lay leaders in 251 congregations nationwide, it reveals the many ways in which congregations are already working, beneath the radar, to care for people in need. This ground-breaking volume will provide much-sought empirical data to social scientists, religious studies scholars, and those involved in the debates over the role of faith-based organizations in faith-based services, as well as to clergy and congregation members themselves.
The title comes from one of the closing responses of the morning service in Iona Abbey: Go in peace to love and to serve; We will seek peace and pursue it. Contributors include: Lesley Orr, Iain Whyte, Paul Nicolson, Helen Steven, Alastair McIntosh, Kathy Galloway, Molly Harvey, Rosemary Power, Ruth Harvey, Jan Sutch Pickard, John Philip Newell, Mel Duncan, Jonathan Inkpin, Alison Swinfen, Peter Millar, Chris Polhill, Sally Foster-Fulton, Bonnie Thurston, Murphy Davis and others. While several of the contributors are from various grassroots organisations and communities, many are members, associates or friends of the Iona Community, which, from its beginning, has been engaged in work for peace and reconciliation.
A simple path to a more deeply connected life You want more. You want to belong to a community that looks out for each other. You believe in your bones we don't have to live detached, distracted, and divided. The question is, How? Shannan Martin invites you into deeper connection through simple resets, such as * Open Door > Perfect Decor. We invite others in, seeking to connect, not impress. * Familiar > Fussy. We serve tacos and pizza like the feasts they are, because fancy is overrated. * Tender > Tough. We greet the world with our hearts exposed and our guards down. Packed with street-level practices and real-talk storytelling, Start with Hello is your field guide for a life of security, camaraderie, and joy. There is no step too small. "As it turns out, there is no them but only us, and this is the book we both want and need to help us find our way back to each other."--Emily P. Freeman, Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Next Right Thing "Start with Hello is a love letter to community and a call to action toward radical, realistic hospitality."--Osheta Moore, pastor, speaker, and author of Dear White Peacemakers "This book will change you in a way you've been craving to change. It makes being a neighbor, not to mention a person, just so beautifully . . . doable."--Kendra Adachi, New York Times bestselling author of The Lazy Genius Way "This book is lovely, warm, honest. It brims with possibility."--Jen Hatmaker, New York Times bestselling author of Fierce, Free, and Full of Fire |
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