This, the second in the Fortress Press series of short works from the Religious Consultation on Population, Reproductive Health and Ethics, looks to ten, largely patriarchal, world religious traditions to help redress gender injustices. Built on extensive work by a task force of ten progressive religious scholars (to be published in a larger volume by Suny Press), the book summarizes their findings for intellectual enrichment and advocacy.

As we unveil the patriarchal bias that so often embeds itself in the sacred, we seek to appropriate from that heritage more positive resources. Each of the religious traditions has a strong theory of social justice, and these resources can be harnessed to contemporary issues of gender. We ask how our scriptures, our founding prophets, our ancestors can be used today to further justice in relations between the genders.

Applied Christian Ethics addresses selected themes in Christian social ethics. The book is divided in three parts. In the first section, "Foundation," several contributors reveal their Christian realist roots and discuss the prophetic origins and multifarious agenda of social ethics. Thus, the names of Reinhold Niebuhr and Paul Tillich come up frequently. In the second section, "Economics and Justice," the focus turns to the different levels at which economics has significance for social justice. These chapters discuss fair housing at the local level, the dialogue between Christians and Native Americans over property rights at the regional and national levels, and trade and international organization. In the third and final section, "Politics, War, and Peacemaking," the content ranges from the existential experience of a soldier to that of a veteran of civil rights activism, from theorizing about peacemaking to commenting on the use of drones.