Rendering to God and Caesar

Rendering to God and Caesar PDF Author: Mark Caleb Smith
Publisher: Sheffield Publishing
ISBN: 1879215918
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 464

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Book Description
You are holding in your hands a piece of the counterculture. The recent tendency in the academic world has been away from primary sources and toward textbooks. Being a fairly traditional lot, we find that unacceptable. We focus on the “big ideas” that have shaped American government. There are many ways to gain exposure to these ideas, but in our opinion, none are better than actually reading the primary sources that first articulated them. That is why you will see many founding documents, Supreme Court cases, and momentous speeches within these pages. This collection will whet your appetite for exploring our rich American governmental heritage. Our hope is that this may be the beginning of a lifelong interest in the basis of our American government—how we got where we are today, and how we are to proceed from here!

Rendering to God and Caesar

Rendering to God and Caesar PDF Author: Mark Caleb Smith
Publisher: Sheffield Publishing
ISBN: 1879215918
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 464

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Book Description
You are holding in your hands a piece of the counterculture. The recent tendency in the academic world has been away from primary sources and toward textbooks. Being a fairly traditional lot, we find that unacceptable. We focus on the “big ideas” that have shaped American government. There are many ways to gain exposure to these ideas, but in our opinion, none are better than actually reading the primary sources that first articulated them. That is why you will see many founding documents, Supreme Court cases, and momentous speeches within these pages. This collection will whet your appetite for exploring our rich American governmental heritage. Our hope is that this may be the beginning of a lifelong interest in the basis of our American government—how we got where we are today, and how we are to proceed from here!

God and Caesar in America

God and Caesar in America PDF Author: Gary Hart
Publisher: Fulcrum Publishing
ISBN: 9781555915773
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 104

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Book Description
An informed discussion of the relationship of faith and politics by former U.S. Senator Gary Hart.

American Grace

American Grace PDF Author: Robert D. Putnam
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1416566732
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 720

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Book Description
Based on two new studies, "American Grace" examines the impact of religion on American life and explores how that impact has changed in the last half-century.

Render Unto Caesar

Render Unto Caesar PDF Author: Charles J. Chaput
Publisher: Image
ISBN: 0385522290
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
“People who take God seriously will not remain silent about their faith. They will often disagree about doctrine or policy, but they won’t be quiet. They can’t be. They’ll act on what they believe, sometimes at the cost of their reputations and careers. Obviously the common good demands a respect for other people with different beliefs and a willingness to compromise whenever possible. But for Catholics, the common good can never mean muting themselves in public debate on foundational issues of human dignity. Christian faith is always personal but never private. This is why any notion of tolerance that tries to reduce faith to private idiosyncrasy, or a set of opinions that we can indulge at home but need to be quiet about in public, will always fail.” —From the Introduction Few topics in recent years have ignited as much public debate as the balance between religion and politics. Does religious thought have any place in political discourse? Do religious believers have the right to turn their values into political action? What does it truly mean to have a separation of church and state? The very heart of these important questions is here addressed by one of the leading voices on the topic, Charles J. Chaput, Archbishop of Philadelphia. While American society has ample room for believers and nonbelievers alike, Chaput argues, our public life must be considered within the context of its Christian roots. American democracy does not ask its citizens to put aside their deeply held moral and religious beliefs for the sake of public policy. In fact, it requires exactly the opposite. As the nation’s founders knew very well, people are fallible. The majority of voters, as history has shown again and again, can be uninformed, misinformed, biased, or simply wrong. Thus, to survive, American democracy depends on an engaged citizenry —people of character, including religious believers, fighting for their beliefs in the public square—respectfully but vigorously, and without apology. Anything less is bad citizenship and a form of theft from the nation’s health. Or as the author suggests: Good manners are not an excuse for political cowardice. American Catholics and other persons of goodwill are part of a struggle for our nation’s future, says Charles J. Chaput. Our choices, including our political choices, matter. Catholics need to take an active, vocal, and morally consistent role in public debate. We can’t claim to personally believe in the sanctity of the human person, and then act in our public policies as if we don’t. We can’t separate our private convictions from our public actions without diminishing both. In the words of the author, “How we act works backward on our convictions, making them stronger or smothering them under a snowfall of alibis.” Vivid, provocative, clear, and compelling, Render unto Caesar is a call to American Catholics to serve the highest ideals of their nation by first living their Catholic faith deeply, authentically.

God and Caesar in China

God and Caesar in China PDF Author: Jason Kindopp
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 9780815796466
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 220

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Book Description
In the late 1970s when Mao's Cultural Revolution ushered in China's reform era, religion played a small role in the changes the country was undergoing. There were few symbols of religious observance, and the practice of religion seemed a forgotten art. Yet by the new millennium, China's government reported that more than 200 million religious believers worshiped in 85,000 authorized venues, and estimates by outside observers continue to rise. The numbers tell the story: Buddhists, as in the past, are most numerous, with more than 100 million adherents. Muslims number 18 million with the majority concentrated in the northwest region of Xinjiang. By 2000 China's Catholic population had swelled from 3 million in 1949 to more than 12 million, surpassing the number of Catholics in Ireland. Protestantism in China has grown at an even faster pace during the same period, multiplying from 1 million to at least 30 million followers. China now has the world's second-largest evangelical Christian population—behind only the United States. In addition, a host of religious and quasi-spiritual groups and sects has also sprouted up in virtually every corner of Chinese society. Religion's dramatic revival in post-Mao China has generated tensions between the ruling Communist Party state and China's increasingly diverse population of religious adherents. Such tensions are rooted in centuries-old governing practices and reflect the pressures of rapid modernization. The state's response has been a mixture of accommodation and repression, with the aim of preserving monopoly control over religious organization. Its inability to do so effectively has led to cycles of persecution of religious groups that resist the party's efforts. American concern over official acts of religious persecution has become a leading issue in U.S. policy toward China. The passage of the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act, which institutionalized concern over religious freedom abroad in U.S. foreign policy, cemented this issue as an item on the agenda of U.S.-China relations. God and Caesar in China examines China's religion policy, the history and growth of Catholic and Protestant churches in China, and the implications of church-state friction for relations between the United States and China, concluding with recommendations for U.S. policy. Contributors include Jason Kindopp (George Washington University), Daniel H. Bays (Calvin College), Mickey Spiegel (Human Rights Watch), Chan Kim-kwong (Hong Kong Christian Council), Jean-Paul Wiest (Chinese University of Hong Kong), Richard Madsen (University of California, San Diego), Xu Yihua (Fudan University), Liu Peng (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences), and Carol Lee Hamrin (George Mason University).

Jesus Is Lord, Caesar Is Not

Jesus Is Lord, Caesar Is Not PDF Author: Scot McKnight
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 0830839917
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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Book Description
This volume brings together respected biblical scholars to evaluate the turn toward "empire criticism" in recent New Testament scholarship. While praising the movement for its deconstruction of Roman statecraft and ideology, the contributors also provide a salient critique of the anti-imperialist rhetoric pervading much of the current literature.

Christian America and the Kingdom of God

Christian America and the Kingdom of God PDF Author: Richard T. Hughes
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
ISBN: 025209154X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 234

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Book Description
The idea of the United States as a Christian nation is a powerful, seductive, and potentially destructive theme in American life, culture, and politics. And yet, as Richard T. Hughes reveals in this powerful book, the biblical vision of the "kingdom of God" stands at odds with the values and actions of an American empire that sanctions war instead of peace, promotes dominance and oppression instead of reconciliation, and exalts wealth and power instead of justice for the poor and needy. With extensive analysis of both Christian scripture and American history from the founding of the republic to the present day, Christian America and the Kingdom of God illuminates the devastating irony of a "Christian America" that so often behaves in unchristian ways.

God and Caesar

God and Caesar PDF Author: John Eidsmoe
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1579100953
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 253

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Book Description
Jesus said, Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's, thereby approving (at least for this age) the idea of human government. The hard part is deciding what actually belongs to Caesar and what should be reserved exclusively for God. How Christians are to understand and apply Jesus' words has been a point of controversy since the days of the apostles. Many difficult issues that continue to trouble Christians are dealt with in this book: -Is there a biblical pattern for human government? -What should we as Christians expect from government? -Should Christians participate in government? -What does the Bible have to say about issues related to government such as wealth and poverty, left and right, crime and punishment, the family, education, censorship and pornography, civil disobedience, liberation theology, military service? -Do some systems of government follow biblical teaching more closely than others? What about American democracy - how does it measure up? Would a socialist or redistributive economic and governmental system be more biblical? John Eidsmoe brings a wealth of biblical insight, theological reflection, and practical experience to bear on the crucial issue of how biblical Christianity and politics relate. Here at last is a book that simply and clearly shows how we really can give both God and Caesar their due.

A Clash of Kingdoms Discovery Guide

A Clash of Kingdoms Discovery Guide PDF Author: Ray Vander Laan
Publisher: HarperChristian Resources
ISBN: 0310085748
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 267

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Book Description
How do we as Christians proclaim God's name in all the earth in the midst of false gospels? Learn from the Apostle Paul as he communicated the Good News of Christ to Philippi, a Roman colony that worshipped false gods. In this fifteenth volume of the That The World May Know series, take a tour through the land of the Bible and discover how to live in your present-day Philippi or Delphi—a dechristianized Western world—in a way that keeps your citizenship in God's Kingdom. This discovery guide includes passages of Scripture explored in the DVD (sold separately); questions for discussion and personal reflection; personal Bible studies to help you deepen your learning experience between sessions; as well as sidebars, maps, photos, and other study tools. The Gospel of Caesar The Believers The Powers of Darkness The Philippian Jailer Confronting the Empire Designed for use with A Clash of Kingdoms Video Study (sold separately). _______________ THAT THE WORLD MAY KNOW Join renowned teacher and historian Ray Vander Laan as he guides you through the land of the Bible. In each lesson, Vander Laan illuminates the historical, geographical, and cultural context of the sacred Scriptures. Filmed on location in the Middle East and elsewhere, the That the World May Know film series will transform your understanding of God and challenge you to be a true follower of Jesus.

American Exceptionalism and Civil Religion

American Exceptionalism and Civil Religion PDF Author: John D. Wilsey
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 0830899294
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 267

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Book Description
The idea of America's special place in history has been a guiding light for centuries. With thoughtful insight, John D. Wilsey traces the concept of exceptionalism, including its theological meaning and implications for civil religion. This careful history considers not only the abuses of the idea but how it can also point to constructive civil engagement and human flourishing.