Alternatives to Economics outlines the Christian thought system and its value as an alternative to secular social science in the development of socio-economic policies. Co-authors, Clive and Cara Beed demonstrate how the Christian thought system could be applied to issues such as distribution of wealth and the growing unemployment problem. The Christian thought system provides an alternative way of describing, explaining, and formulating policies for socio-economic matters from that of secular social science. Alternatives to Economics finds the current state of economics severely flawed, with no set of value-free, objective "tools" that can be used to analyze the economy. This book seeks to present these Christian thought system "tools" to both Christians and non-Christians.

In this addition to the award-winning Church and Postmodern Culture series, respected theologian Daniel Bell compares and contrasts capitalism and Christianity, showing how Christianity provides resources for faithfully navigating the postmodern global economy.
Bell approaches capitalism and Christianity as alternative visions of humanity, God, and the good life. Considering faith and economics in terms of how desire is shaped, he casts the conflict as one between different disciplines of desire. He engages the work of two important postmodern philosophers, Deleuze and Foucault, to illuminate the nature of the postmodern world that the church currently inhabits. Bell then considers how the global economy deforms desire in a manner that distorts human relations with God and one another. In contrast, he presents Christianity and the tradition of the works of mercy as a way beyond capitalism and socialism, beyond philanthropy and welfare. Christianity heals desire, renewing human relations and enabling communion with God.

"God and Country" brings together significant writings on Christianity and patriotism for a post-September 11th world, granting special attention to the United States. This is an exceptional collection of writings for students and universities to use as a source for guiding and informing discussion about Christianity and patriotism.

This is a history of Triumph a post-Vatican II, Roman Catholic lay magazine that examines its origins and decline, paying special attention to the editors often bellicose views on a range of issues, from Church affairs to the Vietnam War, from civil rights to abortion. It was a magazine unlike any other publication in 1960s and early 1970s America. Triumph s editors formed the magazine to defend the faith against what they perceived as the imprudent and secular excesses of Vatican II reformers, but especially against what they viewed as an increasing barbarous and anti-Christian American society. Yet Triumph was not a defensive magazine; rather, it was audaciously triumphalist proclaiming the Roman Catholic faith as the solution to America s ills. Its editors formed the magazine, then, principally to conquer America for the Roman Catholic faith. They sought to convert Americans to Roman Catholicism and to construct a confessional state that subjected its power to the moral authority of the Roman Catholic Church. If the liberalizing and secularizing trajectory in American society exalted man as sovereign of himself and his world, as Triumph s editors posited, then their mission was to reinstitute Christ s Kingship, to hallow the world in His name. In a democratic and pluralist society that was increasingly secular and liberal, this was a radical mission.

Many important contemporary debates cross economics and religion, in turn raising questions about the relationship between the two fields. This book, edited by a leader in the new interdisciplinary field of economics and religion and with contributions by experts on different aspects of the relationship between economics and Christianity, maps the current state of scholarship and points to new directions for the field. It covers the history of the relationship between economics and Christianity, economic thinking in the main Christian traditions, and the role of religion in economic development, as well as new work on the economics of religious behavior and religious markets and topics of debate between economists and theologians. It is essential reading for economists concerned with the foundations of their discipline, historians, moral philosophers, theologians seeking to engage with economics, and public policy researchers and practitioners.

This book draws upon ethnographic and qualitative research in the United States to demonstrate the means through which long-haul truck drivers navigate work and family tensions in ways that resonate across categories of race, class, gender and religion. It examines how Christianity and constructions of masculinity are significant in the lives of long-haul drivers and how truckers work to construct narratives of their lives as 'good, moral' individuals in contrast to competing cultural narratives which suggest images of romantic, rule-free, renegade lives on the open road. Based upon ethnographic fieldwork, interviews, observations of long-haul truckers, and participation in a CDL school, this rich ethnography highlights how Christian trucking opportunities provide avenues through which balance is struck between work and family, masculinity and other identities. Embedded in larger social discourse about the meaning of masculinity and similar to evangelical perspectives such as those of the Promise Keepers, Christian truckers often draw upon older ideas about responsible, breadwinning fatherhood in their discourse about being good "fathers" while on the road. This discourse is in some conflict with the lived experiences of Christian truckers who simultaneously find themselves confronted by more contemporary cultural narratives of "the work-family balance" and expectations of what it means to be a good "worker" or a good "trucker." The book offers new insight in the field of work and family studies and an extremely relevant voice in the broader contemporary discourse in the United States on the meaning of fatherhood and religion in the 21st century.

This book criticizes the suggestive implication of newer bioethics that we need a new ethical paradigm in order to handle with the innovations of medicine and biotechnology. It holds that these innovations have a suggestive character at all which is not relevant however in order to justify a paradigm shift in ethics. Especially the suggestions of reproduction, genetics, mercy killing and neuroscience reveal a misunderstanding about ethics. Moreover they show inevitably theological implications they actually like to avoid especially in secular ethics.

Faith and Politics in America explores the period from 1607 to the American Civil War. This book addresses the role of religion in the political process in early America, the extent to which religion influenced eighteenth century politicians and decision-makers, and how the founding fathers used religion in laying the foundations for a fair and just constitution. It also explores the meaning of the separation of church and state in the mind of many of the great political actors and thinkers in America in the early and late federal period and their views on traditional Christianity. The book traces how religion contributed to the success of subsequent political leaders, such as the founders of the Whig and Democratic parties, who claimed to be religious or to be adherents of a certain faith and who used religion as a guide to execute policies; and the role of religious faith in arguments over the institution of slavery before and during the Civil War. While exploring these topics from the time of the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries, the essays included in Faith and Politics in America afford unique assessments of the American Revolution; the thought of Thomas Jefferson; the religious philosophy of James Madison; the life and thought of John Quincy Adams; the operation of the second party system; and religious debates over the acceptability of slavery immediately prior to the Civil War.

What does it mean to be a Christian citizen of the United States today? This book challenges the argument that the United States is a Christian nation, and that the American founding and the American Constitution can be linked to a Christian understanding of the state and society. Vincent Rougeau argues that the United States has become an economic empire of consumer citizens, led by elites who seek to secure American political and economic dominance around the world. Freedom and democracy for the oppressed are the public themes put forward to justify this dominance, but the driving force behind American hegemony is the need to sustain economic growth and maintain social peace in the United States.
This state of affairs raises important questions for Christians. In recent times, religious voices in American politics have taken on a moralistic stridency. Individual issues like abortion and same-sex marriage have been used to "guilt" many Christians into voting Republican or to discourage them from voting at all. Using Catholic social teaching as a point of departure, Rougeau argues that conservative American politics is driven by views of the individual and the state that are inconsistent with mainstream Catholic social thought. Without thinking more broadly about their religious traditions and how those traditions should inform their engagement with the modern world, it is unwise for Christians to think that pressing single issues is an appropriate way to actualize their faith commitments in the public realm.
Rougeau offers concerned Christians new tools for a critical assessment of legal, political and social questions. He proceeds from the fundamental Christian premise ofthe God-given dignity of the human person, a dignity that can only be realized fully in community with others. This means that the Christian cannot simply focus on individual empowerment as 'freedom' but must also seek to nurture community participation and solidarity for all citizens. Rougeau demonstrates what happens when these ideas are applied to a variety of specific contemporary issues involving the family, economics, and race. He concludes by offering a new model of public engagement for Christians in the American Empire.

The Christian gospel compels humanity to embrace deeper ways of being human together that will overcome false divisions and exclusions in search of flourishing and graced communities. Presenting both short narratives emerging out of theological reflection on experience and analytical essays arising from engagement in scholarly conversations Theology and the Experience of Disability is a conscious attempt to develop theology by and with people with disabilities instead of theology about people with disabilities. A mixture of academic, professional, practical, and/or lived experience is brought to the topic in search of constructive multi-disciplinary proposals for church and society. The result is an interdisciplinary engagement with the constructive possibilities that emerge from a distinctly Christian understanding of disability as lived experience.

Tens of millions of Christians live in China today, many of them leading double lives or in hiding from a government that relentlessly persecutes them. Bob Fu, whom the "Wall Street Journal "called "The pastor of China's underground railroad," is fighting to protect his fellow believers from persecution, imprisonment, and even death. "God's Double Agent" is his fascinating and riveting story.
Bob Fu is indeed God's double agent. By day Fu worked as a full-time lecturer in a communist school; by night he pastored a house church and led an underground Bible school. This can't-put-it-down book chronicles Fu's conversion to Christianity, his arrest and imprisonment for starting an illegal house church, his harrowing escape, and his subsequent rise to prominence in the United States as an advocate for his brethren. "God's Double Agent "will inspire readers even as it challenges them to boldly proclaim and live out their faith in a world that is at times indifferent, and at other times murderously hostile, to those who spread the gospel.

This book offers a thorough and accessible analysis of Catholic teaching on war and warmaking from its earliest stages to the present. Moral theologians Thomas Massaro and Thomas A. Shannon begin with a survey of the teachings on war in various religions and denominations and then trace the development of Just War theory and application, review the perspective of several Catholic bishops, comment on the bishops' pastoral letter The Challenge of Peace, address contemporary developments in light of 9-11 and the United States war with Iraq, and conclude with theological reflections. Complete with recommended readings, Catholic Perspectives on Peace and War offers an informative and thoughtful moral analysis that helps readers navigate the rapidly changing terrain of war, warmaking, and peace initiatives.

In Like Leaven in the Dough: Protestant Social Thought in Latin America, 1920-1950, Carlos Mondragon offers an introduction to the ideas of notable Protestant writers in Latin America during the first half of the twentieth century. Despite their national and denominational differences, Mondragon argues that Protestant intellectuals developed a coherent set of ideas about freedom of religion and thought, economic justice, militarism, and national identity. This was a period when Protestants comprised a very small proportion of Latin America's total population; their very marginality compelled them to think creatively about their identity and place in Latin American society. Accused of embracing a foreign faith, these Protestants struggled to define national identities that had room for religious diversity and liberty of conscience. Marginalized and persecuted themselves, Latin America's Protestants articulated a liberating message decades before the appearance of Catholic Liberation Theology.

Writing in response to our current "constitutional crisis," New York Times bestselling author and Christian activist Jim Wallis urges America to return to the tenets of Jesus once again as the means to save us from the polarizing bitterness and anger of our tribal nation. In Christ in Crisis Jim Wallis provides a path of spiritual healing and solidarity to help us heal the divide separating Americans today. Building on "Reclaiming Jesus"--the declaration he and other church leaders wrote in May 2018 to address America's current crisis--Wallis argues that Christians have become disconnected from Jesus and need to revisit their spiritual foundations. By pointing to eight questions Jesus asked or is asked, Wallis provides a means to measure whether we are truly aligned with the moral and spiritual foundations of our Christian faith. "Christians have often remembered, re-discovered, and returned to their obedient discipleship of Jesus Christ--both personal and public--in times of trouble. It's called coming home," Wallis reminds us. While he addresses the dividing lines and dangers facing our nation, the religious and cultural commentator's focus isn't politics; it's faith. As he has done throughout his career, Wallis offers comfort, empathy, and a practical roadmap. Christ in Crisis is a constructive field guide for all those involved in resistance and renewal initiatives in faith communities in the post-2016 political context.

The study of man today is divided in three ways that it should not be: between the humanities and the social sciences, between natural and metaphysical philosophy, and between faith and reason. This book bridges these three divides to build toward an integrated understanding of human being that begins with the revealed truths of Christian faith. Because its humanism draws upon diverse fields of art, anthropology, psychology, philosophy, and theology, the book should be of interest to scholars and students of all kinds. And because its humanism is all about us, the book should interest be of interest to anyone who happens to be human.

Dissent or Conform examines how churches reacted to, and were affected by, the two world wars. Its underlying theme, however, is how the Church can be a creatively dissenting community, focusing on how easily the church can turn into a conforming community that only encourages the occurrence of uncreative dissenters, the ones who criticize the power without offering solutions and leading to a real change. Wilkinson opposes this trait of the church, especially given the impact that it has on society as a messenger of the gospel. To this end, the author depicts religious groups during three periods of time: English Nonconformity among the free churches before WWI, pacifists and pacifiers between the two wars and Christianity during WWII, focusing on how church history interacts with the developments in history and society. This book is of particular interest to social and church historians of the 20th century, and to all interested in the history and ethics of war and pacifism. It will also appeal to those attracted by the interaction between church and society.

Hate isn't a thing from history.

The Jewish people and Israel have been described as "a dominant and moving force behind the present and coming evils of our day"; "a monstrous system of evil...[that] will destroy us and our children" if not resisted; and a group that seeks "the annihilation of almost every Gentile man, woman, and child and the establishment of a satanic Jewish-led global dictatorship." What's worse is that these comments were all made by professing Christians.

In Christian Antisemitism, respected Messianic Bible scholar Michael L. Brown, PhD, documents shocking examples of modern "Christian" antisemitism and exposes the lies that support them. Carefully researched, this book shows that church-based antisemitism is no longer a thing of the past. Rather, a dangerous, shocking tide of "Christian" antisemitism has begun to rise. In Christian Antisemitism, Dr. Brown shows you how to stem this tide now and overcome the evil of "Christian" antisemitism with the powerful love of the cross!

This book will show you how to confront everyday antisemitism in all areas of your life and become a champion for the people of Israel.