Faithful Politics

Faithful Politics PDF Author: Miranda Zapor Cruz
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 1514007509
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 161

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Book Description
Christians who share similar faith convictions can arrive at different political conclusions. In this nonpartisan overview, Miranda Zapor Cruz shares ten theological approaches Christians throughout history have used to navigate political participation, helping us form a vision of faithful citizenship in an increasingly polarized society.

Faithful Politics

Faithful Politics PDF Author: Miranda Zapor Cruz
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 1514007509
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 161

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Book Description
Christians who share similar faith convictions can arrive at different political conclusions. In this nonpartisan overview, Miranda Zapor Cruz shares ten theological approaches Christians throughout history have used to navigate political participation, helping us form a vision of faithful citizenship in an increasingly polarized society.

The Relevance of Religion

The Relevance of Religion PDF Author: John Danforth
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 0812997913
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
Former United States senator and ambassador to the United Nations John Danforth offers a fascinating, thoughtful, and deeply personal look at the state of American politics today—and how religion can be a bridge over our bitter partisan divide. In an era of extreme partisanship, when running for office has become a zero-sum game in which candidates play exclusively to their ideological bases, Americans on both sides of the political aisle hunger for the return of a commitment to the common good. Too often, it seems, religion has been used as a wedge to divide us in these battles. But is it also the key to restoring our civic virtue? For more than a decade, John Danforth, who is also an ordained Episcopal priest, has written extensively on the negative use of religion as a divisive force in American politics. Now he turns to the positive, constructive impact faithful religious believers have and can have on our public life. The Relevance of Religion is the product of that period of reflection. In the calm and wise voice of the pastor he once aspired to be, Senator Danforth argues that our shared religious values can lead us out of the embittered, entrenched state of politics today. A lifelong Republican, he calls his own party to task for its part in creating a political system in which the loudest opinions and the most polarizing personalities hold sway. And he suggests that such a system is not only unsustainable but unfaithful to our essential nature. We are built to care about other people, and this inherent altruism—which science says we crave because of our neurobiological wiring, and the Bible says is part of our created nature—is a crucial aspect of good government. Our willingness to serve more than our self-interest is religion’s gift to politics, John Danforth asserts. In an era when 75 percent of Americans say they cannot trust their elected leaders, The Relevance of Religion is a heartfelt plea for more compassionate government—and a rousing call to arms for those wishing to follow the better angels of our nature. Praise for The Relevance of Religion “Using well-supported arguments deriving from his ministerial as well as legal background, Danforth asserts that traditional religious values of sacrifice, selflessness and a commitment to the greater good can and should have prominent roles in America’s politics. . . . Danforth’s arguments are staunchly supported and clearly explained. . . . For anyone who is faithful as well as political, he provides much food for thought.”—St. Louis Post-Dispatch “John Danforth does his country another service after many. His book is both a serious critique of politicized religion and a strong defense of religion’s indispensable role in our common life. He talks of faith as an antidote to egotism, as a force for reconciliation, and as a source of public virtue. His case is illustrated through autobiography, in an honest, winsome, and sometimes self-critical tone. Danforth speaks for civility, collegiality, and useful compromise—and is compelling because he has demonstrated all those commitments himself over the decades.”—Michael Gerson, columnist, The Washington Post “In this wise and urgent book, John Danforth stands in the company of our great public theologians—Paul Tillich, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the brothers Niebuhr—as he envisions both religious and political practices that enable our better selves. Political participation, pursued well, cultivates generosity and patience, and is good for the soul. What better remedy for mending our broken politics?”—Charles Marsh, Commonwealth Professor of Religious Studies, University of Virginia

Faithful to Secularism

Faithful to Secularism PDF Author: David T. Buckley
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231542445
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 392

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Book Description
Religion and democracy can make tense bedfellows. Secular elites may view religious movements as conflict-prone and incapable of compromise, while religious actors may fear that anticlericalism will drive religion from public life. Yet such tensions are not inevitable: from Asia to Latin America, religious actors coexist with, and even help to preserve, democracy. In Faithful to Secularism, David T. Buckley argues that political institutions that encourage an active role for public religion are a key part in explaining this variation. He develops the concept of "benevolent secularism" to describe institutions that combine a basic division of religion and state with extensive room for participation of religious actors in public life. He traces the impact of benevolent secularism on religious and secular elites, both at critical junctures in state formation and as politics evolves over time. Buckley shows how religious and secular actors build credibility and shared norms over time, and explains how such coalitions can endure challenges from both religious revivals and periods of anticlericalism. Faithful to Secularism tests this institutional theory in Ireland, Senegal, and the Philippines, using a blend of archival, interview, and public opinion data. These case studies illustrate how even countries with an active religious majority can become and remain faithful to secularism.

The Relevance of Religion

The Relevance of Religion PDF Author: John Danforth
Publisher:
ISBN: 0812997905
Category : Christianity and politics
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
Argues for the use of religious faith and compassion to help overcome the extremely partisan nature of contemporary politics and restore civic virtue, envisioning a political process and Republican party that uses religion to unite, rather than divide.

Faithful Presence

Faithful Presence PDF Author: Bill Haslam
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
ISBN: 1400224438
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
Two-term governor of Tennessee Bill Haslam reveals how faith--too often divisive and contentious--can be a redemptive and unifying presence in the public square. As a former mayor and governor, Bill Haslam has long been at the center of politics and policy on local, state, and federal levels. And he has consistently been guided by his faith, which influenced his actions on issues ranging from capital punishment to pardons, health care to abortion, welfare to free college tuition. Yet the place of faith in public life has been hotly debated since our nation's founding, and the relationship of church and state remains contentious to this day--and for good reason. Too often, Bill Haslam argues, Christians end up shaping their faith to fit their politics rather than forming their politics to their faith. They seem to forget their calling is to be used by God in service of others rather than to use God to reach their own desires and ends. Faithful Presence calls for a different way. Drawing upon his years of public service, Haslam casts a remarkable vision for the redemptive role of faith in politics while examining some of the most complex issues of our time, including: partisanship in our divided era; the most essential character trait for a public servant; how we cannot escape "legislating morality"; the answer to perpetual outrage; and how to think about the separation of church and state. For Christians ready to be salt and light, as well as for those of a different faith or no faith at all, Faithful Presence argues that faith can be a redemptive, healing presence in the public square--as it must be, if our nation is to flourish.

Faithful Renderings

Faithful Renderings PDF Author: Naomi Seidman
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226745074
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 342

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Book Description
Faithful Renderings reads translation history through the lens of Jewish–Christian difference and, conversely, views Jewish–Christian difference as an effect of translation. Subjecting translation to a theological-political analysis, Seidman asks how the charged Jewish–Christian relationship—and more particularly the dependence of Christianity on the texts and translations of a rival religion—has haunted the theory and practice of translation in the West. Bringing together central issues in translation studies with episodes in Jewish–Christian history, Naomi Seidman considers a range of texts, from the Bible to Elie Wiesel’s Night, delving into such controversies as the accuracy of various Bible translations, the medieval use of converts from Judaism to Christianity as translators, the censorship of anti-Christian references in Jewish texts, and the translation of Holocaust testimony. Faithful Renderings ultimately reveals that translation is not a marginal phenomenon but rather a crucial issue for understanding the relations between Jews and Christians and indeed the development of each religious community.

Faithful Republic

Faithful Republic PDF Author: Andrew Preston
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 0812247027
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
Despite constitutional limitations, the points of contact between religion and politics have deeply affected all aspects of American political development since the founding of the United States. Within partisan politics, federal institutions, and movement activism, religion and politics have rarely ever been truly separate; rather, they are two forms of cultural expression that are continually coevolving and reconfiguring in the face of social change. Faithful Republic explores the dynamics between religion and politics in the United States from the early twentieth century to the present. Rather than focusing on the traditional question of the separation between church and state, this volume touches on many aspects of American political history, addressing divorce, civil rights, liberalism and conservatism, domestic policy, and economics. Together, the essays blend church history and lived religion to fashion an innovative kind of political history, demonstrating the pervasiveness of religion throughout American political life. Contributors: Lila Corwin Berman, Edward J. Blum, Darren Dochuk, Lily Geismer, Alison Collis Greene, Matthew S. Hedstrom, David Mislin, Andrew Preston, Bruce J. Schulman, Molly Worthen, Julian E. Zelizer.

How Can a Christian be in Politics?

How Can a Christian be in Politics? PDF Author: Roy Herron
Publisher: Tyndale House Pub
ISBN: 9780842381086
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 193

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Book Description
What does it mean to be a Christ follower in the political arena? Roy Herron, a Tennessee senator, gives us an insider's look into his personal struggles and victories in politics. This is an excellent resource to help assess our responsibility as Christians to our nation.

Religion and Politics in the Nineteenth-Century

Religion and Politics in the Nineteenth-Century PDF Author: Kimberly Cowell-Meyers
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313076464
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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Book Description
Cowell-Meyers examines the continued sectarian conflict on the island of Ireland from a comparative and historical framework. Analyzing the process through which sectarian conflict was managed on the continent, she identifies the unique evolution of the Irish situation. Whereas European Catholics, such as those in the new Germany, developed an institutional pillar to defend themselves and protect their interests in the modern plural state, Irish Catholics developed a radical nationalist movement in the same period at the end of the 19th century. As elements of the British political system pushed the Irish Catholic mobilization toward more separatist goals and means, they thwarted the process of accommodation seen in other European settings. The shape and dynamics of Catholic mobilization in the last three decades of the 19th century set Catholics and Protestants on a path toward the management of sectarian conflict in Germany and continental Europe and toward the perpetuation of conflict in Ireland. Much like conflict resolution literature, as well as liberal and pluralist theory mischaracterizes the role of exclusive voluntary associations in the amelioration of conflict, Cowell-Meyers asserts that voluntary organizations, if they are encouraged to do so as they were in continental Europe in the late 19th century, can provide the channels through which intense conflicts are managed. Although exclusive mobilizations reinforce social cleavages, careful handling may make them constructive political formations that allow for the channeling of differences. Of particular interest to scholars, students, and other researchers involved with peace and conflict resolution, religion and politics, and the history of modern Ireland and Germany.

Compassion (&) Conviction

Compassion (&) Conviction PDF Author: Justin Giboney
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 0830848118
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 165

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Book Description
Have you ever felt too progressive for conservatives, but too conservative for progressives? It's easy for faithful Christians to grow disillusioned with civic engagement or fall into tribal extremes. Representing the AND Campaign, the authors of this book lay out the biblical case for political engagement and help Christians navigate the complex world of politics with integrity.