The Mission of God's People


Book Description

Author Chris Wright offers a sweeping biblical survey of the holistic mission of the church, providing practical insight for today's church leaders. Wright gives special emphasis to theological trajectories of the Old Testament that not only illuminate God's mission but also suggest priorities for Christians engaged in God's world-changing work.




Who Is Truth: Reframing Our Questions for a Richer Faith


Book Description

Nearly two thousand years ago, Christ's followers asked, "How can we know the way?" Christ's reply was simple and profound: "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6). What happens when we think of truth as a living, breathing person instead of as a set of abstract ideas? We wrote this book for Latter-day Saints who wish to re-examine their faith in a way that strengthens their faith in the Restoration of the Gospel. Many of our questions may not have answers because they start with the wrong premises. When we reframe our questions with God as our ultimate goal, rather than a set of abstract doctrines or ideas, they are easier to answer using the scriptures and more likely to strengthen our faith in Jesus Christ.




The Bible and the Public Square


Book Description

For too long Africa has presented a conundrum as its profound reception of the Bible is juxtaposed with a public life that often seems devoid of biblical values. In this highly original analysis Mzee Hermann Mvula boldly seeks to bridge this ugly chasm by showing what biblical teaching can mean for many different aspects of social and political life. —Kenneth R. Ross,Professor of Theology and Dean of Postgraduate Studies, Zomba Theological University




The Contested Public Square


Book Description

Christian thinking about involvement in human government was not born (or born again!) with the latest elections or with the founding of the Moral Majority in 1979. The history of Christian political thinking goes back to the first decades of the church's existence under persecution. Building on biblical foundations, that thinking has developed over time. This book introduces the history of Christian political thought traced out in Western culture--a culture experiencing the dissolution of a long-fought-for consensus around natural law theory. Understanding our current crisis, where there is little agreement and often opposing views about how to maintain both religious freedom and liberal democracy, requires exploring how we got where we are. Greg Forster tells that backstory with deft discernment and clear insight. He offers this retrospective not only to inform but also to point the way beyond the current impasse in the contested public square. Illuminated by sidebars on key moments in history, major figures and questions for further consideration, this book will significantly inform Christian scholars' and students' reading and interpretation of history.




The Meaning of Religious Freedom in the Public Square


Book Description

This book offers a new perspective on religious freedom. Its central theme is to elucidate the meaning of religion and freedom in discussions related to religious freedom and the place of religion in the public square. One often hears that either religion must be tamed by restricting its access to public power, or that in the name of neutrality and equality no religious reasoning may be used in the political sphere, as it may be coercive to other worldviews. There is also the idea that “religion” is a feature of human life essentially distinct from “secular” features such as politics and economics, and which has a peculiarly dangerous inclination to promote violence. Thus, the meaning of religious freedom in the twenty-first century seems uncertain. For that reason, it is necessary to clarify the meaning of religious freedom, especially in relation to the public sphere, in order to offer an answer that will guide us in discerning issues of religious freedom.




Christians in the Public Square


Book Description

Christians in the Public Square is a collection of essays from the 2nd SAIACS Consultation that took place during November 2011 at SAIACS, Bangalore. The articles are about Christian engagement in the arena where politics and religion, environment and ethics, leadership and education, all collide. The authors of these essays come as scholars and practitioners and they address various issues related to the South Asian context from a Christian point of view. The 11 articles featured here include a wide range of topics such as Business as Mission, Christians in Government, Justice and Law, Public Religion, Education, and Environment.




When Faith Storms the Public Square


Book Description

To some, the notion of mixing religious groups and community organizing may seem a pleasing prospect, an idea long overdue. To others, it may be anathema. Like it or not, however, this blending is a reality that has been forged in streets and meeting halls day by day, from the very beginnings of our country to the present-day touchstones of President Barack Obama.




The Naked Public Square


Book Description

Underlying the many crises in American life, writes Richard John Neuhaus, is a crisis of faith. It is not enough that more people should believe or that those who believe should believe more strongly. Rather, the faith of persons and communities must be more compellingly related to the public arena. "The naked public square"--which results from the exclusion of popular values from the public forum--will almost certainly result in the death of democracy. The great challenge, says Neuhaus, is the reconstruction of a public philosophy that can undergird American life and America's ambiguous place in the world. To be truly democratic and to endure, such a public philosophy must be grounded in values that are based on Judeo-Christian religion. The remedy begins with recognizing that democratic theory and practice, which have in the past often been indifferent or hostile to religion, must now be legitimated in terms compatible with biblical faith. Neuhaus explores the strengths and weaknesses of various sectors of American religion in pursuing this task of critical legitimation. Arguing that America is now engaged in an historic moment of testing, he draws upon Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish thinkers who have in other moments of testing seen that the stakes are very high--for America, for the promise of democratic freedom elsewhere, and possibly for God's purpose in the world. An honest analysis of the situation, says Neuhaus, shatters false polarizations between left and right, liberal and conservative. In a democratic culture, the believer's respect for nonbelievers is not a compromise but a requirement of the believer's faith. Similarly, the democratic rights of those outside the communities of religious faith can be assured only by the inclusion of religiously-grounded values in the common life. The Naked Public Square does not offer yet another partisan program for political of social change. Rather, it offers a deeply disturbing, but finally hopeful, examination of Abraham Lincoln's century-old question--whether this nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure.




The Mission of God's People


Book Description

Chris Wright’s pioneering 2006 book, The Mission of God, revealed that the typical Christian understanding of “missions” encompasses only a small part of God’s overarching mission for the world. God is relentlessly reclaiming the entire world for himself. In The Mission of God’s People, Wright shows how God’s big-picture plan directs the purpose of God’s people, the church. Wright emphasizes what the Old Testament teaches Christians about being the people of God. He addresses questions of both ecclesiology and missiology with topics like “called to care for creation,” “called to bless the nations,” “sending and being sent,” and “rejecting false gods.” As part of the Biblical Theology for Life Series, this book provides pastors, teachers, and lay learners with first-rate biblical study while at the same time addressing the practical concerns of contemporary ministry. The Mission of God’s People promises to enliven and refocus the study, teaching, and ministry of those truly committed to joining God’s work in the world.




Religion in the Public Square


Book Description

Ven. Fulton J. Sheen, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Rev. Jerry Falwell—religious leaders who popularized theology through media campaigns designed to persuade the public In Religion in the Public Square, James M. Patterson considers religious leaders who popularized theology through media campaigns designed to persuade the public. Ven. Fulton J. Sheen, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Rev. Jerry Falwell differed profoundly on issues of theology and politics, but they shared an approach to public ministry that aimed directly at changing how Americans understood the nature and purpose of their country. From the 1930s through the 1950s, Sheen was an early adopter of paperbacks, radio, and television to condemn totalitarian ideologies and to defend American Catholicism against Protestant accusations of divided loyalty. During the 1950s and 1960s, King staged demonstrations and boycotts that drew the mass media to him. The attention provided him the platform to preach Christian love as a political foundation in direct opposition to white supremacy. Falwell started his own church, which he developed into a mass media empire. He then leveraged it during the late 1970s through the 1980s to influence the Republican Party by exhorting his audience to not only ally with religious conservatives around issues of abortion and the traditional family but also to vote accordingly. Sheen, King, and Falwell were so successful in popularizing their theological ideas that they won prestigious awards, had access to presidents, and witnessed the results of their labors. However, Patterson argues that Falwell's efforts broke with the longstanding refusal of religious public figures to participate directly in partisan affairs and thereby catalyzed the process of politicizing religion that undermined the Judeo-Christian consensus that formed the foundation of American politics.