Christian anarchists such as Leo Tolstoy, Jacques Ellul and Dave Andrews offer a compelling critique of the state, the church and the economy based on numerous passages from the New Testament. This study brings together these different thinkers and presents Christian anarchism to both the wider public and the wider academic community.

The outlines for this book have been chosen from some of the most respected preachers in history. Each book in the Bryant Sermon Outlines Series contains thirty or more outlines focusing on one theme. These outlines for funerals and other special services are designed to spark an idea, provide an initial structure, and/or furnish a fitting illustration.

ECPA Christian Book Award Finalist - Faith and Culture Christianity Today Book of the Year Award, Politics and Public Life Common life in our society is in decline. Our communities are disintegrating, as the loss of meaningful work and the breakdown of the family leave us anxious and alone-indeed, half of all Americans report daily feelings of loneliness. Our public discourse is polarized and hateful. Ethnic minorities face systemic injustices and the ever-present fear of violence and deportation. Economic inequalities are widening. In this book, Jake Meador diagnoses our society's decline as the failure of a particular story we've told about ourselves: the story of modern liberalism. He shows us how that story has led to our collective loss of meaning, wonder, and good work, and then recovers each of these by grounding them in a different story-a story rooted in the deep tradition of the Christian faith. Our story doesn't have to end in loneliness and despair. There are reasons for hope-reasons grounded in a different, better story. In Search of the Common Good reclaims a vision of common life for our fractured times: a vision that doesn't depend on the destinies of our economies or our political institutions, but on our citizenship in a heavenly city. Only through that vision-and that citizenship-can we truly work together for the common good.

In an era of fraud, corruption, and the relentless celebration of image over substance, the message of this perennial best-seller is more timely than ever.

Churches, Just Like People, Need to Be Set Free From Spiritual Bondage Corporate sin robs the spiritual vitality and fruitfulness of churches, keeping them from being free in Christ. In Setting Your Church Free trusted authors Neil T. Anderson and Charles Mylander offer practical and life-giving tools for dealing biblically with corporate sin in the church. Offering a balanced approach, this unique book takes into account the reality of the spiritual world as well as the need for correcting leadership and administration problems. You will discover how to * Unite around a common purpose * Deal with the power of memories that affect the present and future of the church * Defeat Satan's attacks, and * Move forward with a strong, effective action plan. Churches that put these steps into practice will be set free from bondage to walk in the freedom Christ offers.

Winner of the 2017 Alpha Sigma Nu Award The collapse of communism in eastern Europe has forced traditionally Eastern Orthodox countries to consider the relationship between Christianity and liberal democracy. Contributors examine the influence of Constantinianism in both the post-communist Orthodox world and in Western political theology. Constructive theological essays feature Catholic and Protestant theologians reflecting on the relationship between Christianity and democracy, as well as Orthodox theologians reflecting on their tradition's relationship to liberal democracy. The essays explore prospects of a distinctively Christian politics in a post-communist, post-Constantinian age.

Learn to think deeply about the relationship between church and state in a way that goes beyond mere policy debates and current campaigns. Few topics can grab headlines and stir passions quite like politics, especially when the church is involved. Considering the attention that many Christian parachurch groups, churches, and individual believers give to politics--and of the varying and sometimes divergent political ideals and aims among them--Five Views on the Church and Politics provides a helpful breakdown of the possible Christian approaches to political involvement. General Editor Amy Black brings together five top-notch political theologians in the book, each representing one of the five key political traditions within Christianity: Anabaptist (Separationist: the most limited possible Christian involvement in politics) - represented by Thomas Heilke Lutheran (Paradoxical: strong separation of church and state) - represented by Robert Benne Black Church (Prophetic: the church's mission is to be a voice for communal reform) - represented by Bruce Fields Reformed (Transformationist: emphasizes God's sovereignty over all things, including churches and governments) - represented by James K. A. Smith Catholic (Synthetic: encouragement of political participation as a means to further the common good of all people) - represented by J. Brian Benestad Each author addresses his tradition's theological distinctives, the role of government, the place of individual Christian participation in government and politics, and how churches should (or should not) address political questions. Responses by each contributor to opposing views will highlight key areas of difference and disagreement. Thorough and even-handed, Five Views on the Church and Politics will enable readers to consider the strengths and weaknesses of the most significant Christian views on political engagement and to draw their own, informed conclusions.

How evangelical activism in England contributes to the secularizing forces it seeks to challenge Over the past two decades, a growing number of Christians in England have gone to court to enforce their right to religious liberty. Funded by conservative lobby groups and influenced by the legal strategies of their American peers, these claimants-registrars who conscientiously object to performing the marriages of same-sex couples, say, or employees asking for exceptions to uniform policies that forbid visible crucifixes-highlight the uneasy truce between law and religion in a country that maintains an established Church but is wary of public displays of religious conviction. Representing God charts the changing place of public Christianity in England through the rise of Christian political activism and litigation. Based on two years of fieldwork split between a conservative Christian lobby group and a conservative evangelical church, Meadhbh McIvor explores the ideas and contested reception of this ostensibly American-inspired legal rhetoric. She argues that legal challenges aimed at protecting "Christian values" ultimately jeopardize those values, as moralities woven into the fabric of English national life are filtered from their quotidian context and rebranded as the niche interests of a cultural minority. By framing certain moral practices as specifically Christian, these activists present their religious convictions as something increasingly set apart from broader English culture, thereby hastening the secularization they seek to counter. Representing God offers a unique look at how Christian politico-legal activism in England simultaneously responds to and constitutes the religious life of a nation.

How can the life and teachings of Jesus impact the most critical global problems in our world today?

For the last twenty years, Brian McLaren has been unable to escape this life-shaping question. In "Everything Must Change," he unveils a fresh and provocative vision of Jesus and his teachings, and how his message of hope can ignite purpose and passion to change the economic, environmental, military, political, and social crises that have overtaken our world.

The Good News is more than a ticket to heaven. It is an invitation to personal change and a radical challenge for global transformation. Imagine what would happen:

• if we believed that God's will really could be done on earth and not just in heaven
• if the world's leading nations spent less on weapons and more on making peace, alleviating poverty, and caring for creation
• if a renewed understanding of Jesus and his message sparked a profound spiritual awakening in a global movement of faith, hope, and love

If you are hungry for a fresh vision of what it means to be a person of faith, "Everything Must Change" shows what would happen when Jesus' Good News collides with a world in need.

"America is a Christian nation." "All men are created equal." "We are the land of the free and the home of the brave." Except when we're not. These commonly held ideas break down in the light of hard realities, the study of Scripture, and faithful Christian witness. The president is not the Messiah, the Constitution is not the Bible, and the United States is not a city on a hill or the hope for the world. The proclaimed hope of America rings most hollow for Native peoples, people of color, the rural poor, and other communities pressed to the margins. Jonathan Walton exposes the cultural myths and misconceptions about America's identity. Focusing on its manipulation of Scripture and the person of Jesus, he redirects us to the true promises found in the gospel. Walton identifies how American ideology and way of life has become a false religion, and shows that orienting our lives around American nationalism is idolatry. Our cultural notions of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are at odds with the call to take up our cross and follow Jesus. Ultimately, our place in America is distinct from our place in the family of Jesus. Discover how the kingdom of God offers true freedom and justice for all.

The historical relationship between Protestantism, capitalism, and democracy remains one of the most controversial intellectual themes of out time. Max Weber's famous thesis about the link between the 'Protestant ethic' and the 'spirit of capitalism' and its dissolution in his own era has been both widely acclaimed and heatedly disputed since its publication in 1904-5. This volume, the result of an international, interdisciplinary effort, throws new light on the intellectual and cultural background of Weber's work, debates recent criticism of Weber's thesis, and confronts new historical insight on the 17th century with Weber's interpretation.

We live in an age of crisis. Financial crisis, political crisis, environmental crisis-the list goes on. We're confronted with calamity every time we read the headlines. But behind each of these lurks another kind of crisis, one we find harder to define: a moral crisis-a crisis of goodness. Behind financial crisis is unrestrained greed; behind political crisis is the lust for power. To properly address the crises that plague our world, we must be formed as people of moral goodness. We must cultivate virtue. But the cultural headwinds are strong: outrage and fragility, persecution and affluence, injustice and impurity. In this wise and practical book, Pastor Jonathan Dodson takes us back to the Beatitudes, the centerpiece of Jesus' famous Sermon on the Mount. Dodson examines each of the Beatitudes in the context of the new morality that buffets our society today, presenting a compelling portrait of the truly good life, both personal and social. Jesus' vision of the good is stunning: heaven meets earth, mercy triumphs over judgment, peace transcends outrage, grace upends self-righteousness. Here is an account, not of dos and don'ts, but of genuine moral flourishing.