Religious Freedom

Religious Freedom PDF Author: John A. Ragosta
Publisher: University of Virginia Press
ISBN: 0813933714
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 394

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Book Description
For over one hundred years, Thomas Jefferson and his Statute for Establishing Religious Freedom have stood at the center of our understanding of religious liberty and the First Amendment. Jefferson’s expansive vision—including his insistence that political freedom and free thought would be at risk if we did not keep government out of the church and church out of government—enjoyed a near consensus of support at the Supreme Court and among historians, until Justice William Rehnquist called reliance on Jefferson "demonstrably incorrect." Since then, Rehnquist’s call has been taken up by a bevy of jurists and academics anxious to encourage renewed government involvement with religion. In Religious Freedom: Jefferson’s Legacy, America’s Creed, the historian and lawyer John Ragosta offers a vigorous defense of Jefferson’s advocacy for a strict separation of church and state. Beginning with a close look at Jefferson’s own religious evolution, Ragosta shows that deep religious beliefs were at the heart of Jefferson’s views on religious freedom. Basing his analysis on that Jeffersonian vision, Ragosta redefines our understanding of how and why the First Amendment was adopted. He shows how the amendment’s focus on maintaining the authority of states to regulate religious freedom demonstrates that a very strict restriction on federal action was intended. Ultimately revealing that the great sage demanded a firm separation of church and state but never sought a wholly secular public square, Ragosta provides a new perspective on Jefferson, the First Amendment, and religious liberty within the United States.

Religious Freedom

Religious Freedom PDF Author: John A. Ragosta
Publisher: University of Virginia Press
ISBN: 0813933714
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 394

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Book Description
For over one hundred years, Thomas Jefferson and his Statute for Establishing Religious Freedom have stood at the center of our understanding of religious liberty and the First Amendment. Jefferson’s expansive vision—including his insistence that political freedom and free thought would be at risk if we did not keep government out of the church and church out of government—enjoyed a near consensus of support at the Supreme Court and among historians, until Justice William Rehnquist called reliance on Jefferson "demonstrably incorrect." Since then, Rehnquist’s call has been taken up by a bevy of jurists and academics anxious to encourage renewed government involvement with religion. In Religious Freedom: Jefferson’s Legacy, America’s Creed, the historian and lawyer John Ragosta offers a vigorous defense of Jefferson’s advocacy for a strict separation of church and state. Beginning with a close look at Jefferson’s own religious evolution, Ragosta shows that deep religious beliefs were at the heart of Jefferson’s views on religious freedom. Basing his analysis on that Jeffersonian vision, Ragosta redefines our understanding of how and why the First Amendment was adopted. He shows how the amendment’s focus on maintaining the authority of states to regulate religious freedom demonstrates that a very strict restriction on federal action was intended. Ultimately revealing that the great sage demanded a firm separation of church and state but never sought a wholly secular public square, Ragosta provides a new perspective on Jefferson, the First Amendment, and religious liberty within the United States.

The Faith of a Quaker (Classic Reprint)

The Faith of a Quaker (Classic Reprint) PDF Author: John William Graham
Publisher: CUP Archive
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 468

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Book Description
Excerpt from The Faith of a Quaker There arise also the insistent questions which beset all mystics, and which in Quakerism demanded a corporate, instead of an individual, answer. Was the light infallible? Was the claim to it an assumption of spiritual exaltation. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

The Divine Authority of the Old and New Testament Asserted (Classic Reprint)

The Divine Authority of the Old and New Testament Asserted (Classic Reprint) PDF Author: John Leland
Publisher: Forgotten Books
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 392

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Book Description
Excerpt from The Divine Authority of the Old and New Testament Asserted Pretenfion to this Charaéter. I would be one Of the lafl to charge any Man with a Want of Honefiy and Sincerity: but there are ma ny Things in his Book that look like a wilful Perverfion and Mifreprefentation of Faéts, as well as Arguments and fometimes fo circum fianced, that it is fcarce pofiible for the molt extenfive Charity to fuppofe that it'was owing to mere Ignorance. Perhaps the Author him felf would not be willing to accept of this A pology. I cannot help looking upon it as an Honour to Chrifiianity, that its Adveifaries find themfelves obliged to take fuch Methods as thefe, in order to carry on their Defigns a gainft it. Does not this argue a fecret Con fcioufnefs that they can never prevail by a fair Attack upon the Scriptures For furely he muf't be either very wicked or very foolilh, that would have recourfe to fuch bafe Arts as thefe to ferve his Caufe, if he thought his End could be anfwered without it, and that fair and juft Reafoning, and an equal candid Ma nagement would do as well. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

The Discovery of Freedom

The Discovery of Freedom PDF Author: Rose Wilder Lane
Publisher: Laissez Faire Books
ISBN: 1621290115
Category : Authority
Languages : en
Pages : 254

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Book Description


On the Freedom of a Christian

On the Freedom of a Christian PDF Author: Martin Luther
Publisher: Hackett Publishing
ISBN: 1624660916
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 162

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Book Description
Perhaps the clearest and most influential statement of the principles driving the early Protestant reformers, Martin Luther's On the Freedom of a Christian (1520) challenged the teachings and authority of the old Church while simultaneously laying out the blueprint for a new one.

The Rise and Decline of American Religious Freedom

The Rise and Decline of American Religious Freedom PDF Author: Steven D. Smith
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674730135
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description
Familiar accounts of religious freedom in the United States often tell a story of visionary founders who broke from centuries-old patterns of Christendom to establish a political arrangement committed to secular and religiously neutral government. These novel commitments were supposedly embodied in the religion clauses of the First Amendment. But this story is largely a fairytale, Steven Smith says in this incisive examination of a much-mythologized subject. The American achievement was not a rejection of Christian commitments but a retrieval of classic Christian ideals of freedom of the church and of conscience. Smith maintains that the First Amendment was intended merely to preserve the political status quo in matters of religion. America's distinctive contribution was, rather, a commitment to open contestation between secularist and providentialist understandings of the nation which evolved over the nineteenth century. In the twentieth century, far from vindicating constitutional principles, as conventional wisdom suggests, the Supreme Court imposed secular neutrality, which effectively repudiated this commitment to open contestation. Instead of upholding what was distinctively American and constitutional, these decisions subverted it. The negative consequences are visible today in the incoherence of religion clause jurisprudence and the intense culture wars in American politics.

Authority and Freedom

Authority and Freedom PDF Author: Jed Perl
Publisher: Knopf
ISBN: 0593320050
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 177

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Book Description
From one of our most widely admired art critics comes a bold and timely manifesto reaffirming the independence of all the arts—musical, literary, and visual—and their unique and unparalleled power to excite, disturb, and inspire us. As people look to the arts to promote a particular ideology, whether radical, liberal, or conservative, Jed Perl argues that the arts have their own laws and logic, which transcend the controversies of any one moment. “Art’s relevance,” he writes, “has everything to do with what many regard as its irrelevance.” Authority and Freedom will find readers from college classrooms to foundation board meetings—wherever the arts are confronting social, political, and economic ferment and heated debates about political correctness and cancel culture. Perl embraces the work of creative spirits as varied as Mozart, Michelangelo, Jane Austen, Henry James, Picasso, and Aretha Franklin. He contends that the essence of the arts is their ability to free us from fixed definitions and categories. Art is inherently uncategorizable—that’s the key to its importance. Taking his stand with artists and thinkers ranging from W. H. Auden to Hannah Arendt, Perl defends works of art as adventuresome dialogues, simultaneously dispassionate and impassioned. He describes the fundamental sense of vocation—the engagement with the tools and traditions of a medium—that gives artists their purpose and focus. Whether we’re experiencing a poem, a painting, or an opera, it’s the interplay between authority and freedom—what Perl calls “the lifeblood of the arts”—that fuels the imaginative experience. This book will be essential reading for everybody who cares about the future of the arts in a democratic society.

Southern Baptists, Evangelicals, and the Future of Denominationalism

Southern Baptists, Evangelicals, and the Future of Denominationalism PDF Author: David S. Dockery
Publisher: B&H Publishing Group
ISBN: 1433673428
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
Are church denominations necessary; do they even have a future? Such questions are explored in Southern Baptists, Evangelicals, and the Future of Denominationalism, based on a conference of the same name held at Union University where Evangelical and Southern Baptist scholars addressed challenging issues of theology, polity, and practice. Contributors include: Ed Stetzer ("Denominationalism: Is There a Future?") James Patterson ("Reflections on 400 Years of the Baptist Movement") Harry L. Poe ("The Gospel and Its Meaning") Timothy George ("Baptists and Their Relations with Other Christians") Duane Liftin ("The Future of American Evangelicalism") Ray Van Neste ("Pastoral Ministry in Southern Baptist and Evangelical Life") Mark DeVine ("Emergent or Emerging") Daniel Akin ("The Future of the Southern Baptist Convention") Michael Lindsay ("The Changing Religious Landscape in North America") Jerry Tidwell ("Missions and Evangelism") David S. Dockery ("So Many Denominations") Nathan Finn ("Passing on the Faith to the Next Generation") R. Albert Mohler Jr. (title essay)

An Historical Account of the Rise and Development of Presbyterianism in Scotland (Classic Reprint)

An Historical Account of the Rise and Development of Presbyterianism in Scotland (Classic Reprint) PDF Author: Alexander Hugh Bruce
Publisher: CUP Archive
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 188

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Book Description
Excerpt from An Historical Account of the Rise and Development of Presbyterianism in Scotland Throughout the whole history of the Reformed Church in Scotland one of the most outstanding features will be found to be the overwhelming desire to maintain the independence of the Church from all secular control, and the most characteristic feature of the disputes which went on during the reigns of the Stewart Kings (especially James VI and I, and Charles I), was the failure of those Monarchs to appreciate the Scottish sentiments Of Patriotism, Protestantism and Freedom. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

The Promise of Pragmatism

The Promise of Pragmatism PDF Author: John Patrick Diggins
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 9780226148793
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 534

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Book Description
For much of our century, pragmatism has enjoyed a charmed life, holding the dominant point of view in American politics, law, education, and social thought in general. After suffering a brief eclipse in the post-World War II period, pragmatism has enjoyed a revival, especially in literary theory and such areas as poststructuralism and deconstruction. In this sweeping critique of pragmatism and neopragmatism, one of our leading intellectual historians traces the attempts of thinkers from William James to Richard Rorty to find a response to the crisis of modernism. John Patrick Diggins analyzes the limitations of pragmatism from a historical perspective and dares to ask whether America's one original contribution to the world of philosophy has actually fulfilled its promise. In the late nineteenth century, intellectuals felt themselves in the grips of a spiritual crisis. This confrontation with the "acids of modernity" eroded older faiths and led to a sense that life would continue in the awareness, of absences: knowledge without truth, power without authority, society without spirit, self without identity, politics without virtue, existence without purpose, history without meaning. In Europe, Friedrich Nietzsche and Max Weber faced a world in which God was "dead" and society was succumbing to structures of power and domination. In America, Henry Adams resigned from Harvard when he realized there were no truths to be taught and when he could only conclude: "Experience ceases to educate." To the American philosophers of pragmatism, it was experience that provided the basis on which new methods of knowing could replace older ideas of truth. Diggins examines how, in different ways, William James, Charles Peirce, John Dewey, George H. Mead, and Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., demonstrated that modernism posed no obstacle in fields such as science, education, religion, law, politics, and diplomacy. Diggins also examines the work of the neopragmatists Jurgen Habermas and Richard Rorty and their attempt to resolve the crisis of postmodernism. Using one author to interrogate another, Diggins brilliantly allows the ideas to speak to our conditions as well as theirs. Did the older philosophers succeed in fulfilling the promises of pragmatism? Can the neopragmatists write their way out of what they have thought themselves into? And does America need philosophers to tell us that we do not need foundational truths when the Founders already told us that the Constitution would be a "machine" that would depend more upon the "counterpoise" of power than on the claims of knowledge? Diggins addresses these and other essential questions in this magisterial account of twentieth-century intellectual life. It should be read by everyone concerned about the roots of postmodernism (and its links to pragmatism) and about the forms of thought and action available for confronting a world after postmodernism.