Protestantism, at its best, grounds both its religious and its social critique in the faith of the prophets and the life and teachings of Jesus Christ as understood and lived by the church. Its teachings and desired practice stand in start contrast to complacent religion that seems to be at ease with imperial greed, domination, and violence. Resistance and Theological Ethics collects the edited and updated essays that emerged from the meeting of the Theological Educators for Presbyterian Social Witness in Geneva, Switzerland and southern France in 1999. Inspired there by the sixteenth century forces of renewal unleashed through resistance to an imperial church and society, the writings of these educators and ethicists combine to sound a clarion call for the church to stand in resistance to social, economic and political forces that threaten while embracing those that foster social justice, peace and human welfare. Each author emphasizes a specific call to nonviolent resistance against powers grounded in particular forms of sin: religious pride, greed, violence and domination. Divided into three parts, the book details social forces to be resisted, presents historical and biblical examples of resistance, and concludes with theological analysis and advocacy for action in contemporary American society."

Moral Reflections on Foreign Policy in a Religious War argues that foreign policy thinkers and actors must take religion more seriously than they have in analysis and action. The tragedy of U.S. policy in Iraq is in part due to the dangers of ignoring religious conflicts in that country until it was too late, and then responding too lightly. Working as a philosopher of religion and politics, Stone shows how both in the United States and the Middle East unreflective religion in a dialogic relationship with politics power has proven hazardous. Stone proposes policy changes for the United States based on his analysis and calls for reform in the ways that both politics and religion are understood. Without peace between religions, there will be no peace in the Middle East. Without understanding how religion functions in international politics, the United States is doomed to repeat disastrous policies in the Middle East.

Moral Reflections on Foreign Policy in a Religious War argues that foreign policy thinkers and actors must take religion more seriously than they have in analysis and action. The tragedy of U.S. policy in Iraq is in part due to the dangers of ignoring religious conflicts in that country until it was too late, and then responding too lightly. Working as a philosopher of religion and politics, Stone shows how both in the United States and the Middle East unreflective religion in a dialogic relationship with politics power has proven hazardous. Stone proposes policy changes for the United States based on his analysis and calls for reform in the ways that both politics and religion are understood. Without peace between religions, there will be no peace in the Middle East. Without understanding how religion functions in international politics, the United States is doomed to repeat disastrous policies in the Middle East.

John Wesley s Life & Ethics offers a comprehensive analysis of John Wesley s personal and social ethical thought. Ronald Stone places Wesley in a social location and examines his ethical thought biographically. He argues that in the case of John Wesley, the Christian traditions provide a biblically informed deontological ethic of love. This ethic is grounded in the Christian community to form the individual and in social reform to transform the nation within the limits of Christian realism concerning human nature and social order.

The volume covers Wesley s complete ethical reflection and teaching and, at appropriate points, places them in comparative perspective to other 18th century ethics and social thought contributors. Ethical topics addressed include abortion, vocation, family, money, social nature of humanity, politics, economics, imperial relations, and war and peace.

This book will be a supplementary text in Ethics classes, primarily in United Methodist schools. It will also be a useful text in Methodist history classes. Methodist scholars and pastors interested in a social biography of Wesley will want to own this book."

Stone breaks new ground by providing a fresh survey of Reinhold Niebuhr as professor, demonstrating that this vocation was central to Niebuhr's lifework. This book reveals Niebuhr's passion for the development of an intellectually equipped, socially concerned Christian ministry. Stone was Niebuhr's last graduate assistant. Bibliography. Index.