Preaching in the Purple Zone is a resource for helping the church understand the challenges facing parish pastors, while encouraging and equipping preachers to address the vital justice issues of our time.This book provides practical instruction for navigating the hazards of prophetic preaching with tested strategies and prudent tactics grounded in biblical and theological foundations. Key to this endeavor is using a method of civil discourse called "deliberative dialogue" for finding common values among politically diverse parishioners. Unique to this book is instruction on using the sermon-dialogue-sermon process developed by the author that expands the pastor's level of engagement on justice issues with parishioners beyond the single sermon. Preaching in the Purple Zone equips clergy to help their congregations respectfully engage in deliberation about "hot topics," find the values that bind them together, and respond faithfully to God's Word.

2021 Book Award Winner, The Gospel Coalition (Public Theology & Current Events) Christians are often thought of as defending only their own religious interests in the public square. They are viewed as worrying exclusively about the erosion of their freedom to assemble and to follow their convictions, while not seeming as concerned about publicly defending the rights of Muslims, Hindus, Jews, and atheists to do the same. Andrew T. Walker, an emerging Southern Baptist public theologian, argues for a robust Christian ethic of religious liberty that helps the church defend religious freedom for everyone in a pluralistic society. Whether explicitly religious or not, says Walker, every person is striving to make sense of his or her life. The Christian foundations of religious freedom provide a framework for how Christians can navigate deep religious difference in a secular age. As we practice religious liberty for our neighbors, we can find civility and commonality amid disagreement, further the church's engagement in the public square, and become the strongest defenders of religious liberty for all. Foreword by noted Princeton scholar Robert P. George.

Can the Hippocratic and Judeo-Christian traditions be synthesized with contemporary thought about practical reason, virtue and community to provide real-life answers to the dilemmas of healthcare today? Bishop Anthony Fisher discusses conscience, relationships and law in relation to the modern-day controversies surrounding stem cell research, abortion, transplants, artificial feeding and euthanasia, using case studies to offer insight and illumination. What emerges is a reason-based bioethics for the twenty-first century; a bioethics that treats faith and reason with equal seriousness, that shows the relevance of ancient wisdom to the complexities of modern healthcare scenarios and that offers new suggestions for social policy and regulation. Philosophical argument is complemented by Catholic theology and analysis of social and biomedical trends, to make this an auspicious example of a new generation of Catholic bioethical writing which has relevance for people of all faiths and none.

What does it mean to be an English Christian? Many Christians are aware of the need to adapt the presentation of the gospel to different cultures ('inculturation') in their overseas mission activity, but how can the gospel best be presented to those at home? What happens when the principles of inculturation are applied to English culture? This book encourages people to think more deeply about the relationship between faith and culture, and to see how the good news can most effectively be brought to the English.

In the early 1880s, proponents of what came to be called the social gospel founded what is now known as social ethics. This ambitious and magisterial book describes the tradition of social ethics: one that began with the distinctly modern idea that Christianity has a social-ethical mission to transform the structures of society in the direction of social justice. * Charts the story of social ethics - the idea that Christianity has a social-ethical mission to transform society - from its roots in the nineteenth century through to the present day * Discusses and analyzes how different traditions of social ethics evolved in the realms of the academy, church, and general public * Looks at the wide variety of individuals who have been prominent exponents of social ethics from academics and self-styled public intellectuals through to pastors and activists * Set to become the definitive reference guide to the history and development of social ethics * Recipient of a CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title for 2009 award

HIV & AIDS together constitute one of the most serious challenges to human life in our time. The consequences are often grave for individuals, families, whole communities and nations. How can Christians respond to this worldwide problem? This book is designed to equip church leaders and their communities with the means to save, protect and prolong lives, and, above all, enable people to live positively in the face of the HIV & AIDS epidemic. The authors forcefully argue this involvement to be seen, not as an additional activity to ministry, but as a calling that enriches ministry's essential meaning and value. Byamugisha's straightforward explanation of HIV & AIDS and suggestions for Christian responses are complemented by case studies from around the globe.

Is it ethical to manufacture designer babies or experiment on human embryos? Is abortion morally justifiable as well as legally acceptable? Do terminally ill people have the right to choose when to end their lives? Sinse the birth of the first baby through in vitro fertilization just over thirty years ago, scientific advances in this field have been startling. Developments associated with cloning, human-animal hybrids and pre-implantation genetic diagnosis - so disturbing for many people - raise a crucial question about the moral status of the very early embryo. And, just as much as arguements about the right to interfere with the beginning of human life, the debate about the individual's right to choose when to die also provokes strong emotional responses.

The complex and constantly evolving world of bioethics poses important questions for today's Christians. Since issues such as assisted dying and stem-cell research continue to hit headlines, it is important for Christians to be able to apply their values to the moral dilemmas emerging from modern science. Yet it can be difficult for Christians to know where they stand, as there are no easy answers. New Challenges for Christians will help readers to keep abreast of recent developments in medical and scientific research, and challenge them to think about and develop their own views. Part of the material was originally written for the Church Times, and this book has been fully updated. It will equip readers to navigate highly disputed territory and form opinions responsibly and with clarity and conviction.

This book provides an essential resource for studies in religion and politics. It is divided into three parts, beginning with an introduction outlining the contemporary relevance of reviewing the relationship between the two subject areas; a brief history of the interactions between religion and politics that have pertained both in East and the West, and the key concepts that relate these two fields. The second section comprises a selection of classic readings. This title is ideal for students of both religion and politics and general readers who are interested in the topics.

Every politician needs inspiration and ideals in this cynical age. Frank Field's Anglican faith provides his inspiration, and a foundation for a set of ideals known as English Idealism, put forward by T. H. Green. These ideals built on Christianity to form a widely shared public ideology. As a leading politician and churchman, Frank Field illustrates his understanding of English Idealism through the life and work of five people who have inspired his political career. He looks at two Archbishops of Canterbury - the Temples, father and son - who helped to build up this public theology; George Bell who, as Bishop of Chichester during World War II, had the courage to be a lone voice campaigning against the policy of obliteration bombing of German cities; William Beveridge - this country's key reformer of welfare; Eleanor Rathbone, one of the greatest MPs, who campaigned to build an inclusive citizenship.

There are a great many Christians involved in politics today, both in and around parliament and at a local level. This book offers some serious resources to help them understand what the role of government should be.

This book studies Korean American girls between thirteen and nineteen and their formation with regard to self, gender, and God in the context of Korean American protestant congregational life. It develops a hybrid methodology of de-colonial aims and indigenous research methods, aiming to facilitate transformative life in faith communities.

Sociology and Catholic Social Teaching: Contemporary Theory and Research contains essays by key scholars in the territory where Catholic social thought and secular sociology meet, and offers a much needed alternative to the relativism and individualism that so often characterize social scientific analysis today. Contributors to this volume argue that Catholic social teaching, as articulated so powerfully today in recent papal encyclicals and major summations such as the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, offers a powerful moral framework for addressing today s pressing social problems. This is especially true since many of its tenets find solid support in social scientific research on the nature of the person and the workings of culture and social institutions. Sponsored by the Society of Catholic Social Scientists, and including work by sociologists from both the Society and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, this volume is offered in the spirit of Pope John Paul II s exhortation to draw from contemporary social science whatever can help the Church better understand contemporary social issues and trends and thus better serve humanity. Specific articles address such topics as the Church as a virtual nation in the international arena; changing cultural norms regarding deviance; the historical and contemporary relationship between Catholicism and mainstream academic sociology; empirical support for a natural law perspective on family relations; the social psychology of happiness and moral behavior among emerging adults; the sociology of knowledge from a distinctively Catholic perspective; and how the principles of subsidiarity and solidarity can be used to analyze and evaluate the functioning of institutions like the family, education and the state. Each author also offers some autobiographical reflections on how they relate sociology and their life of Faith. This anthology will interest scholars in both sociology and Catholic social thought, as well as advanced undergraduate and graduate students in these areas."

For the past sixty years, the Pentecostal and Charismatic movement has played a major role in Zambia. In this book, Naar Mfundisi-Holloway explains the history of this development and its impact on civic engagement. She opens a discussion on church-state relations and explains how the church presented a channel of hope in the wake of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, despite having a history that eschewed civic engagement. In fact, the pandemic propelled the church to work alongside the state in the fight against the disease. Using interviews and historical analysis, this book provides valuable insight into how Pentecostal and Charismatic churches have effectively engaged matters of civic concern in Zambia dating from colonial times.

A team of leading Christian thinkers looks at how the teaching of Jesus remains crucial to harmonious human relationships today