This brief introduction surveys Christian thinking on an array of topics related to security and peace from a just war perspective. Drawing primarily on Scripture and theology, Eric Patterson explores the moral dimensions of order, justice, and peace in light of key Christian doctrines such as love of neighbor, stewardship, vocation, and sphere sovereignty. He also examines the perennial questions of civil disobedience, terrorism, revolution, and holy war (including a discussion of Israel's removal of the Canaanites and the Crusades) and interacts with theological thinkers throughout Christian history. The volume concludes with a treatment of punishment and restitution, considering how these can help move a society toward conciliation. While ideal as a textbook for courses on Christian ethics, theology and politics, and church and society, this book will also appeal to pastors and lay readers questioning the morality of war and Christians' involvement in force. Christians who serve in government, law enforcement, and the military will also find helpful guidance for thinking theologically about their vocations.

This book discusses the lack of religious understanding in US foreign policy, examining why the US chooses to avoid the religious aspects of international affairs. "Politics in a Religious World" examines why US diplomacy often misunderstands, if not ignores, the role of religion in international conflicts. After the Cold War, it became evident that religion was a key factor in many conflicts, including Bosnia, Rwanda, and Afghanistan. However, the US failed to correctly appreciate this role, for example predicting the failure of the Iranian theocrats in 1979. Today, most of the security and foreign relations challenges faced by the US are infused with religious factors, from its relations with Iran to the Iraq war and jihadist terrorists. Religion, however, can also play a transnational role when it comes to human rights, conflict resolution, and political mobilization. Written by an expert in the field, the book analyzes why the US deliberately avoids the religious dimension of international affairs and proposes a comprehensive approach to a religiously literate US foreign policy. "Politics in a Religious World" addresses a needed area and will appeal to anyone studying US foreign policy as well as the interaction of religion and international affairs.

Concise overview of a core element in the business curriculum Covers cutting edge topics such as open innovation and the dark side of digital disruption Links the impact of innovation on business and society

Concise overview of a core element in the business curriculum Covers cutting edge topics such as open innovation and the dark side of digital disruption Links the impact of innovation on business and society

The political emergence of evangelical Christians has been a signal development in America in the past quarter century. And while their voting tendencies have been closely scrutinized, their participation in the policy debates of the day has not. They continue to be caricatured as anti-intellectual Bible thumpers whose views are devoid of reason, logic, or empirical evidence. They're seen as lemmings, following the cues of Dobson and Robertson and marching in lock step with the Republican party on the "culture wars" issues of abortion, gay rights, and guns. Is The Good Book Good Enough? remedies the neglect of this highly influential group, which makes up as much as a third of the American public. It offers a carefully nuanced and comprehensive portrait of evangelical attitudes on a wide range of policies and their theological underpinnings. Each essay applies an evangelical lens to a contemporary issue - environmentalism, immigration, family and same-sex marriage, race relations, global human rights, foreign policy and national security, social welfare and poverty, and economic policy. The result thoroughly enriches our understanding of evangelicalism as a prism through which many view a wide range of policy debates.

The purpose of this study is to focus on the intersection of religion and politics. Do different religions result in different politics? More specifically, are there significant contrasts between the political attitudes and behavior of Catholics and Protestants in Latin America?

The role of military chaplains has changed over the past decade as Western militaries have deployed to highly religious environments such as East Africa, Afghanistan, and Iraq. US military chaplains, who are by definition non-combatants, have been called upon by their war-fighting commanders to take on new roles beyond providing religious services to the troops to also engage the local citizenry and provide their commanders with assessments of the religious and cultural landscape outside the base. More specifically, in the Balkans, Iraq, and Afghanistan, chaplains have occasionally been asked to provide their commanders with background on the religious and cultural environment to which they deployed (e.g. Islam and the Muslim world) and to reach out to local civilian clerics in hostile territory in pursuit of peace and understanding. Despite some internal resistance to this expansion of duties, some military chaplains have engaged local religious authorities in order to quell misunderstandings and promote peace in the former Yugoslavia, Iraq, Afghanistan, or the Horn of Africa.In this edited volume, practitioners and scholars chronicle the changes that have happened in the field in the 21st century. For example, they explain how the Multi-National Forces-Iraq command chaplain (who reported directly to General Petraeus) worked with the NGO Foundation for Reconciliation and Reconstruction in the Middle East, contributing to a significant drop in sectarian violence. In the Horn of Africa, the command chaplain, who was a Jewish rabbi, helped build relationships between Muslims and Christians. In Afghanistan, Muslim chaplains engaged with Sunni and Shia religious leaders to develop local trust and Coalition and a training program for religious leaders within the Afghan National Army. By looking at the rapidly changing role of the military chaplain, this volume raises issues critical to US foreign and national security policy and diplomacy.

Just War Thinking: Morality and Pragmatism in the Struggle Against Contemporary Threats reconsiders the intersection between morality and pragmatism in foreign policy and modern warfare. Whereas recent explications of 'Just War theory' neglect how twenty-first century wars differ from the old wars that Just War doctrine was originally designed for, this book argues that a political ethic of responsibility should motivate the contemporary application of military force by states in order to protect international security and human life. Just War Thinking criticizes the quasi-pacifism of most formal Just War scholarship, reconceptualizes a minimal, realistic 'just war thinking' framework for exploring foreign and military policy options, and evaluates the usefulness of this approach by investigating contemporary cases such as the war on terrorism in Afghanistan and Iraq, the call for assassination of political leaders, and military humanitarian intervention. Finally, the book considers new challenges to pragmatic yet moral policies: the neglect of jus post bellum (justice at war's end); the challenge of public opinion, democratic processes, and supranational institutions to policies based on just war thinking; and the erosive power of postmodernism to the normative structures guiding Western decision-makers.

On Brokeback Mountain: Meditations About Masculinity, Fear, and Love in the Story and the Film provides a close, detailed, comparative discussion of the short story and the film in relation to ways of understanding masculinity and love between men in American culture. It uses analytical ideas from gay and lesbian/queer studies, American studies, social history, film history, and literary history, but avoids specialized theoretical language in order to be accessible to the many people interested in the story and the film. Original, interdisciplinary, and engaging, On Brokeback Mountain is intended to be not only useful to academic specialists but also accessible and readable for any interested, educated reader. The two versions of Brokeback Mountain are significant for taking readers and audiences inside the perspectives of men who love men, showing what physical and emotional passion, and hostility toward that passion, may be like for them. The story and the film help in understanding the many men who love men and who don't fit stereotypes of gay men or participate in the gay/queer worlds of urban/academic communities, especially men in rural areas and in working class contexts. This book examines the presentation of friendship, sex, and love between men in Brokeback Mountain, as well as the depiction of homophobia and its effects on men who love men and their families. It relates the story and the film to the literary tradition of the homoerotic pastoral, the literary/movie tradition of the Western, and the tradition of the tragic romantic love story.

On Brokeback Mountain: Meditations About Masculinity, Fear, and Love in the Story and the Film provides a close, detailed, comparative discussion of the short story and the film in relation to ways of understanding masculinity and love between men in American culture. It uses analytical ideas from gay and lesbian/queer studies, American studies, social history, film history, and literary history, but avoids specialized theoretical language in order to be accessible to the many people interested in the story and the film. Original, interdisciplinary, and engaging, On Brokeback Mountain is intended to be not only useful to academic specialists but also accessible and readable for any interested, educated reader. The two versions of Brokeback Mountain are significant for taking readers and audiences inside the perspectives of men who love men, showing what physical and emotional passion, and hostility toward that passion, may be like for them. The story and the film help in understanding the many men who love men and who don't fit stereotypes of gay men or participate in the gay/queer worlds of urban/academic communities, especially men in rural areas and in working class contexts. This book examines the presentation of friendship, sex, and love between men in Brokeback Mountain, as well as the depiction of homophobia and its effects on men who love men and their families. It relates the story and the film to the literary tradition of the homoerotic pastoral, the literary/movie tradition of the Western, and the tradition of the tragic romantic love story.

Just War Thinking: Morality and Pragmatism in the Struggle Against Contemporary Threats reconsiders the intersection between morality and pragmatism in foreign policy and modern warfare. Whereas recent explications of "Just War theory" neglect how twenty-first century wars differ from the old wars that Just War doctrine was originally designed for, this book argues that a political ethic of responsibility should motivate the contemporary application of military force by states in order to protect international security and human life. Just War Thinking criticizes the quasi-pacifism of most formal Just War scholarship, reconceptualizes a minimal, realistic "just war thinking" framework for exploring foreign and military policy options, and evaluates the usefulness of this approach by investigating contemporary cases such as the war on terrorism in Afghanistan and Iraq, the call for assassination of political leaders, and military humanitarian intervention. Finally, the book considers new challenges to pragmatic yet moral policies: the neglect of jus post bellum (justice at war's end); the challenge of public opinion, democratic processes, and supranational institutions to policies based on just war thinking; and the erosive power of postmodernism to the normative structures guiding Western decision-makers.

One hundred years after the Azusa Street Revival stunned Los Angeles and changed Western Christianity, Pentecostalism has become the fastest growing religious movement in the world. However, many Pentecostal denominations in the United States are in a slow decline. Will Pentecostalism survive in North America in the twenty-first century? If so, what forms will it take? The Future of Pentecostalism in the United States brings together leading scholars of charismatic and Pentecostal Christianity to discuss and forecast these issues. The book looks at American Pentecostalism from a variety of disciplinary perspectives including sociology, theology, history, and the arts. The book also considers various traditions and sub-movements within U.S. Pentecostalism, such as African American Pentecostal and charismatic Latino churches, urban postmodern charismatic congregations, and the role of Pentecostal institutions of higher education.

In the past generation, Protestants have grown from 2% to as much as 25% of the population of some Latin American countries. In Europe and North America, Catholicism has traditionally been associated with authoritarian politics, whereas Protestantism is associated with democracy and capitalism.
This book uses survey data to study the nexus of religion and politics in Brazil, Chile and Mexico. More specifically, Protestants and Catholics are compared in terms of political participation, democratic attitudes, and political engagement. They study finds that religious variables do impact political behavior and attitudes in the region.
This book is unique in that very few studies of religion and politics in Latin America use cross-national, quantitative data. Most existing studies observe an individual group, church, or denomination; this work looks at what is happening across Brazilian, Chilean, and Mexican societies. Thus, it provides background and information on voting patterns, interest in politics, and religious based political parties.

The Christian Realists investigates the contributions to practical and theoretical politics by a variety of mid-twentieth century thinkers such as Reinhold Niebuhr, John Foster Dulles, and Herbert Butterfield. In a period of international conflict and uncertainty caused by the rise of Nazism and Communism and the advent of nuclear weapons, these individuals argued for a "Christian" and a "realistic" approach to social and political problems. It is significant that for about a quarter century these men were listened to on Capitol Hill, in Westminster, on university campuses, in newspapers, as well as throughout the Western religious establishment. This volume provides chapters devoted to the thought of specific Christian realists: Niebuhr, Dulles, Martin Wight, John C. Bennett, and others. The book also includes a chapter on Niebuhr's influence on his secular disciples such as Hans Morgenthau and Arthur Schlesinger Jr. and a chapter on the Catholic social thinker John Courtney Murray.

The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have focused new attention on a perennial problem: how to end wars well. What ethical considerations should guide war's settlement and its aftermath? In cases of protracted conflicts, recurring war, failed or failing states, or genocide and war crimes, is there a framework for establishing an enduring peace that is pragmatic and moral? "Ethics Beyond War's End" provides answers to these questions from the just war tradition. Just war thinking engages the difficult decisions of going to war and how war is fought. But from this point forward just war theory must also take into account what happens after war ends, and the critical issues that follow: establishing an enduring order, employing political forms of justice, and cultivating collective forms of conciliation. Top thinkers in the field - including Michael Walzer, Jean Bethke Elshtain, James Turner Johnson, and Brian Orend - offer powerful contributions to our understanding of the vital issues associated with late- and post conflict in tough, real-world scenarios that range from the US Civil War to contemporary quagmires in Afghanistan, the Middle East, and the Congo.

This book examines the moral choices faced by U.S. political and military leaders in deciding when and how to employ force, from the American Revolution to the present day. Specifically, the book looks at discrete ethical dilemmas in various American conflicts from a just war perspective. For example, was the casus belli of the American Revolution just, and more specifically, was the Continental Congress a "legitimate" political authority? Was it just for Truman to drop the atomic bomb on Japan? How much of a role did the egos of Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon play in prolonging the Vietnam War? Often there are trade-offs that civilian and military leaders must take into account, such as General Scott's 1847 decision to bombard the city of Veracruz in order to quickly move his troops off the malarial Mexican coast. The book also considers the moral significance and policy practicalities of different motives and courses of action. The case studies provided highlight the nuances and even limits of just war principles, such as just cause, right intention, legitimate authority, last resort, likelihood of success, discrimination, and proportionality, and principles for ending war such as order, justice, and conciliation. This book will be of interest for students of just war theory, ethics, philosophy, American history and military history more generally.

This book examines the moral choices faced by U.S. political and military leaders in deciding when and how to employ force, from the American Revolution to the present day. Specifically, the book looks at discrete ethical dilemmas in various American conflicts from a just war perspective. For example, was the casus belli of the American Revolution just, and more specifically, was the Continental Congress a "legitimate" political authority? Was it just for Truman to drop the atomic bomb on Japan? How much of a role did the egos of Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon play in prolonging the Vietnam War? Often there are trade-offs that civilian and military leaders must take into account, such as General Scott's 1847 decision to bombard the city of Veracruz in order to quickly move his troops off the malarial Mexican coast. The book also considers the moral significance and policy practicalities of different motives and courses of action. The case studies provided highlight the nuances and even limits of just war principles, such as just cause, right intention, legitimate authority, last resort, likelihood of success, discrimination, and proportionality, and principles for ending war such as order, justice, and conciliation. This book will be of interest for students of just war theory, ethics, philosophy, American history and military history more generally.

This much-needed anthology contains historically informed insights and analysis about Christian just war thinking and its application to contemporary conflicts. Recent Christian reflection on war has largely ignored questions of whether and how war can be just. The contributors to Just War and Christian Traditions provide a clear overview of the history and parameters of just war thinking and a much-needed and original evaluation of how Christian traditions and denominations may employ this thinking today. The introduction examines the historical development of Christian just war thinking, differences between just war thinking and the alternatives of pacifism and holy war, distinctions among Christian thinkers on issues such as the role of the state and “lesser evil� politics, and shared Christian theological commitments with public policy ramifications (for example, the priority of peace). The chapters that follow outline—from Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran, Reformed, Anglican, Methodist, Baptist, and Anabaptist denominational perspectives—the positions of major church traditions on the ethics of warfare. The contributors include philosophers, military strategists, political scientists, and historians who seek to engage various and distinctive denominational approaches to the issues of church and state, war, peace, diplomacy, statecraft, and security over two thousand years of Christian history. Just War and Christian Traditions presents an essential resource for understanding the Judeo-Christian roots and denominational frameworks undergirding the moral structure for statesmanship and policy referred to as just war thinking. This practical guide will interest students, pastors, and lay people interested in issues of peace and security, military history, and military ethics. Contributors: John Ashcroft, Eric Patterson, J. Daryl Charles, Joseph E. Capizzi, Darrell Cole, H. David Baer, Keith J. Pavlischek, Daniel Strand, Nigel Biggar, Mark Tooley, and Timothy J. Demy.

This much-needed anthology contains historically informed insights and analysis about Christian just war thinking and its application to contemporary conflicts. Recent Christian reflection on war has largely ignored questions of whether and how war can be just. The contributors to Just War and Christian Traditions provide a clear overview of the history and parameters of just war thinking and a much-needed and original evaluation of how Christian traditions and denominations may employ this thinking today. The introduction examines the historical development of Christian just war thinking, differences between just war thinking and the alternatives of pacifism and holy war, distinctions among Christian thinkers on issues such as the role of the state and “lesser evil� politics, and shared Christian theological commitments with public policy ramifications (for example, the priority of peace). The chapters that follow outline—from Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran, Reformed, Anglican, Methodist, Baptist, and Anabaptist denominational perspectives—the positions of major church traditions on the ethics of warfare. The contributors include philosophers, military strategists, political scientists, and historians who seek to engage various and distinctive denominational approaches to the issues of church and state, war, peace, diplomacy, statecraft, and security over two thousand years of Christian history. Just War and Christian Traditions presents an essential resource for understanding the Judeo-Christian roots and denominational frameworks undergirding the moral structure for statesmanship and policy referred to as just war thinking. This practical guide will interest students, pastors, and lay people interested in issues of peace and security, military history, and military ethics. Contributors: John Ashcroft, Eric Patterson, J. Daryl Charles, Joseph E. Capizzi, Darrell Cole, H. David Baer, Keith J. Pavlischek, Daniel Strand, Nigel Biggar, Mark Tooley, and Timothy J. Demy.

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE ORGINS Sweetheart you are a Blurr. We are the balance between good and evil. We are the middle ground of heaven and earth. Imagine if you will that heaven is a magnet of power and energy of good. Hell is a magnet of power and negative dark energy. Then there is life in between the two. If at any time one of those energies over powers the other, the magnet closes. We are the balance holders of the universe. We have powers that operate outside of morale, time, and consciousness. We were created in his light and honor. Our powers began in our eldest descendant. Juliana De La Rosa. You may not remember this India. When you were a child I gave you a pair of Acanthite Crystal Earrings. They dispel evil and provide safety and preservation of self. It also brings wisdom and foresight. Juliana De La Rosa made them for you to place my mind at ease.

Imagine a world where animals can talk to each other, an obnoxious mouse full of wit, a mischievous cat that can't be trusted, and an endearing puppy with a heart full of goodness and hope. In this world the mice rest all of their hopes and dreams on one innocent, naive puppy. Can he bring peace to the feuding cats, mice, and dogs? The puppy, Fluffy, is willing to risk his life that says he can, even if it means betraying his master, whom he loves more than anything. Will Fluffy ever accomplish his goal of achieving peace? Or is Fluffy's actual purpose something more, something he cannot comprehend?