Worship Beyond Nationalism


Book Description

The church in the United States faces a dilemma: How is it possible for Christ's followers to worship faithfully in a nationalistic environment where religion and politics enjoy a vigorous affiliation while the separation of church and state is celebrated as the standard for the relationship between nation and faith? When nationalism propagates itself through a cross-pollination of the stories, symbols, and celebrations of the nation-state and religious groups, the stage is set for a national history bearing the character of sanctified legend. Such resulting civil religious activity is likely to create dissonance for Christ's followers between what they understand to be biblically faithful and what nationalistic practices may endorse as religiously valid. Worship Beyond Nationalism explores faithful worship as a political act by which Christians declare their allegiance to God in Christ rather than to worldly empires, enabling congregations to enact the reality of God's kingdom and embody the gospel for the glory of God and for the sake of the world.




Worship Beyond Nationalism


Book Description

The church in the United States faces a dilemma: How is it possible for Christ's followers to worship faithfully in a nationalistic environment where religion and politics enjoy a vigorous affiliation while the separation of church and state is celebrated as the standard for the relationship between nation and faith? When nationalism propagates itself through a cross-pollination of the stories, symbols, and celebrations of the nation-state and religious groups, the stage is set for a national history bearing the character of sanctified legend. Such resulting civil religious activity is likely to create dissonance for Christ's followers between what they understand to be biblically faithful and what nationalistic practices may endorse as religiously valid. Worship Beyond Nationalism explores faithful worship as a political act by which Christians declare their allegiance to God in Christ rather than to worldly empires, enabling congregations to enact the reality of God's kingdom and embody the gospel for the glory of God and for the sake of the world.




Beyond Nationalist Frames


Book Description

The political context in which historians of India find themselves today, says Sumit Sarkar, is dominated by the advance of the Hindu Right and globalized forms of capitalism, while the historian's intellectual context is dominated by the marginalization of all varieties of Marxism and an academic shift to cultural studies and postmodern critique. In Beyond Nationalist Frames, one of India's foremost contemporary historians offers his view of how the craft of history should be practiced in this complex conjuncture. In studies of colonial time-keeping, Rabindranath Tagore's fiction, and pre-Independence Bengal, Sarkar explores new approaches to the writing of history. Essays on contemporary politics consider the implications of the "Hindu Bomb," the rewriting of national history textbooks by Hindu fundamentalists, and the issue of conversion to Christianity. Scholars in all the fields touched by recent developments in South Asian historiography—anthropology, feminist theory, comparative literature, cultural studies—will find this a stimulating and provocative collection of essays, as will anyone interested in Indian politics.




Turkey Beyond Nationalism


Book Description

Nationalism was a defining characteristic of Turkey in the twentieth century and was a central driving force in Kemal Ataturk's foundation of the Republic in 1923. How did the prominence of Kemalist ways of political thinking affect its people and policies? Is Turkey making progress towards post-nationalism or post-Kemalism in the twenty-first century? To what extent has Turkey's EU candidature been a vehicle of transformation since 1999 and what would EU membership mean for modern Turkey? This book explores the historical impact of Turkish nationalism, anti- liberalism and Westernization and examines the conditions that have contributed to the country's evolution from a quasi-religious Kemalism. Tracing the development of nationalism from its founding period before the Young Turk Revolution of 1908 to Kemalism and the present AKP government- and analysing key factors such as the position of minorities in the Turkification process and the influence of religious politics-this strong and significant contribution casts a new light on a vivid international debate.




Why Do the Nations Rage?


Book Description

What if we understood nationalism as a religion instead of an ideology? What if nationalism is more spiritual than it is political? Several Christian thinkers have rightly recognized nationalism as a form of idolatry. However, in Why Do the Nations Rage?, David A. Ritchie argues that nationalism is inherently demonic as well. Through an interdisciplinary analysis of scholarship on nationalism and the biblical theology behind Paul’s doctrine of “powers,” Ritchie uncovers how the impulse behind nationalism is as ancient as the tower of Babel and as demonic as the worship of Baal. Moreover, when compared to Christianity, Ritchie shows that nationalism is best understood as a rival religion that bears its own distinctive (and demonically inspired) false gospel, which seeks to both imitate and distort the Christian gospel.




Taking America Back for God


Book Description

Why do white Protestants in America embrace a president who seems to violate their basic standards of morality? The answer, Andrew Whitehead and Samuel Perry argue, is "Christian nationalism," the belief that the United States is -- and should be -- a Christian nation. Knowing someone's stance on Christian nationalism, this book shows, tells us more about his or her political beliefs than race, religion, or political party. Drawing on national survey data and interviews with Americans across the political spectrum, Taking America Back for God illustrates the tremendous influence of Christian nationalism on debates about the most contentious issues dominating American public life.




Theological Foundations of Worship (Worship Foundations)


Book Description

This volume brings together an ecumenical team of scholars to present key theological concepts related to worship to help readers articulate their own theology of worship. Contributors explore the history of theology's impact on worship practices across the Christian tradition, highlighting themes such as creation, pneumatology, sanctification, and mission. The book includes introductions by N. T. Wright and Nicholas Wolterstorff. A forthcoming volume will address the historical foundations of worship.




Nationalism


Book Description

This classic volume tells the story of nationalism, the fusion of patriotism with ethnic consciousness. It documents the emergence of nationalism in the modern world and the way that nationalism has become a substitute for religion over the past two centuries. Nationalism, for Hayes, draws its power from cultural and social factors, primarily language. Second to language are historical forces that stem from an accumulation of a people’s remembered or imagined experiences. Hayes bases his observations on historic European examples. He sees nationalism as a religion, reacting against historic Christianity and the values of the Western tradition. This combination of powerful forces stresses neither charity nor the brotherhood of man. Historically it has rationalized selfishness, intolerance, and violence. The growth of nationalism, Hayes observed, brings not peace but war. As a testament to its timeless insight, Nationalism remains an informative guide despite the failure of globalization, the Internet, and international communications and connectivity to move us beyond the bonds of nationalism. Hayes’s linking of the potent forces of nationalism and religion still rings true: the insurgency in Ukraine, the unrest in the Middle East, and tribal conflicts in Africa are all undergirded by nationalist sentiments.




Notes on Nationalism


Book Description

Uncertainty about what is truly going on makes it simpler to hold to irrational views.' From the man who wrote more about his country than anybody, razor-sharp thoughts on patriotism, bigotry, and power. Penguin Modern is a collection of fifty new books that celebrate the legendary Penguin Modern Classics series' pioneering spirit, with each giving a concentrated dosage of the series' contemporary, worldwide flavour. From Kathy Acker to James Baldwin, Truman Capote to Stanislaw Lem, and George Orwell to Shirley Jackson, here are essays that are both radical and inspiring, poems that are both moving and disturbing, and stories that are both surreal and fantastic, taking us from the deep South to modern Japan, New York's underground scene to the farthest reaches of space.




Reparations


Book Description

"Kwon and Thompson's eloquent reasoning will help Christians broaden their understanding of the contemporary conversation over reparations."--Publishers Weekly "A thoughtful approach to a vital topic."--Library Journal Christians are awakening to the legacy of racism in America like never before. While public conversations regarding the realities of racial division and inequalities have surged in recent years, so has the public outcry to work toward the long-awaited healing of these wounds. But American Christianity, with its tendency to view the ministry of reconciliation as its sole response to racial injustice, and its isolation from those who labor most diligently to address these things, is underequipped to offer solutions. Because of this, the church needs a new perspective on its responsibility for the deep racial brokenness at the heart of American culture and on what it can do to repair that brokenness. This book makes a compelling historical and theological case for the church's obligation to provide reparations for the oppression of African Americans. Duke Kwon and Gregory Thompson articulate the church's responsibility for its promotion and preservation of white supremacy throughout history, investigate the Bible's call to repair our racial brokenness, and offer a vision for the work of reparation at the local level. They lead readers toward a moral imagination that views reparations as a long-overdue and necessary step in our collective journey toward healing and wholeness.