Calvins Political Theology And The Public Engagement Of The Church

Author : Matthew J. Tuininga
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1107171431
Total Pages : 401 pages
Book Rating : 4.35/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Calvin's Political Theology and the Public Engagement of the Church written by Matthew J. Tuininga and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2017-04-06 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: John Calvin's two kingdoms political thought offers a fresh paradigm for constructive Christian engagement in pluralistic liberal societies.

Author : James K. A. Smith
Publisher : Baker Academic
ISBN 13 : 1493406604
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.09/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Awaiting the King (Cultural Liturgies Book #3) written by James K. A. Smith and published by Baker Academic. This book was released on 2017-11-07 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this culmination of his widely read and highly acclaimed Cultural Liturgies project, James K. A. Smith examines politics through the lens of liturgy. What if, he asks, citizens are not only thinkers or believers but also lovers? Smith explores how our analysis of political institutions would look different if we viewed them as incubators of love-shaping practices--not merely governing us but forming what we love. How would our political engagement change if we weren't simply looking for permission to express our "views" in the political sphere but actually hoped to shape the ethos of a nation, a state, or a municipality to foster a way of life that bends toward shalom? This book offers a well-rounded public theology as an alternative to contemporary debates about politics. Smith explores the religious nature of politics and the political nature of Christian worship, sketching how the worship of the church propels us to be invested in forging the common good. This book creatively merges theological and philosophical reflection with illustrations from film, novels, and music and includes helpful exposition and contemporary commentary on key figures in political theology.

Author : Abraham Kuyper
Publisher : Lexham Press
ISBN 13 : 1683595963
Total Pages : 300 pages
Book Rating : 4.60/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book On Charity and Justice written by Abraham Kuyper and published by Lexham Press. This book was released on 2022-02-09 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Kuyper on a Theological Approach to Justice The practical outworking of Kuyper's doctrine of common grace demanded a commitment to seeking Christ's glory in every sphere of human life. Christians are called to witness to the lordship of Christ through sacrificial service, not domination, and such service calls us to seek charity and justice for all people. In this anthology of articles and reflections, Kuyper articulates a Christian vision for engaging with society. Though his analysis was intended for his late-nineteenth-century Dutch context, his thoughts remain strikingly relevant for Christians living in the modern world. For Kuyper, God's law preserved civil justice, making humane life possible. However, the law itself could not save society—only the gospel can transform the heart. But the gospel is for all of life. Kuyper elaborated a social Christian approach to politics, resulting in a distinct perspective on property, human dignity, democracy, and justice.

Author : David VanDrunen
Publisher : Zondervan Academic
ISBN 13 : 0310108853
Total Pages : 401 pages
Book Rating : 4.56/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Politics after Christendom written by David VanDrunen and published by Zondervan Academic. This book was released on 2020-04-21 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For more than a millennium, beginning in the early Middle Ages, most Western Christians lived in societies that sought to be comprehensively Christian--ecclesiastically, economically, legally, and politically. That is to say, most Western Christians lived in Christendom. But in a gradual process beginning a few hundred years ago, Christendom weakened and finally crumbled. Today, most Christians in the world live in pluralistic political communities. And Christians themselves have very different opinions about what to make of the demise of Christendom and how to understand their status and responsibilities in a post-Christendom world. Politics After Christendom argues that Scripture leaves Christians well-equipped for living in a world such as this. Scripture gives no indication that Christians should strive to establish some version of Christendom. Instead, it prepares them to live in societies that are indifferent or hostile to Christianity, societies in which believers must live faithful lives as sojourners and exiles. Politics After Christendom explains what Scripture teaches about political community and about Christians' responsibilities within their own communities. As it pursues this task, Politics After Christendom makes use of several important theological ideas that Christian thinkers have developed over the centuries. These ideas include Augustine's Two-Cities concept, the Reformation Two-Kingdoms category, natural law, and a theology of the biblical covenants. Politics After Christendom brings these ideas together in a distinctive way to present a model for Christian political engagement. In doing so, it interacts with many important thinkers, including older theologians (e.g., Augustine, Aquinas, and Calvin), recent secular political theorists (e.g., Rawls, Hayek, and Dworkin), contemporary political-theologians (e.g., Hauerwas, O'Donovan, and Wolterstorff), and contemporary Christian cultural commentators (e.g., MacIntyre, Hunter, and Dreher). Part 1 presents a political theology through a careful study of the biblical story, giving special attention to the covenants God has established with his creation and how these covenants inform a proper view of political community. Part 1 argues that civil governments are legitimate but penultimate, and common but not neutral. It concludes that Christians should understand themselves as sojourners and exiles in their political communities. They ought to pursue justice, peace, and excellence in these communities, but remember that these communities are temporary and thus not confuse them with the everlasting kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christians' ultimate citizenship is in this new-creation kingdom. Part 2 reflects on how the political theology developed in Part 1 provides Christians with a framework for thinking about perennial issues of political and legal theory. Part 2 does not set out a detailed public policy or promote a particular political ideology. Rather, it suggests how Christians might think about important social issues in a wise and theologically sound way, so that they might be better equipped to respond well to the specific controversies they face today. These issues include race, religious liberty, family, economics, justice, rights, authority, and civil resistance. After considering these matters, Part 2 concludes by reflecting on the classical liberal and conservative traditions, as well as recent challenges to them by nationalist and progressivist movements.

Author : Roland Boer
Publisher : Westminster John Knox Press
ISBN 13 : 0664233937
Total Pages : 178 pages
Book Rating : 4.38/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Political Grace written by Roland Boer and published by Westminster John Knox Press. This book was released on 2009-01-01 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this exploration of Calvin's political thought, Roland Boer treats Calvin as a biblical scholar and political philosopher, showing us elusive aspects of Calvin's Institutes. Boer investigates Calvin's careful thinking in the Institutes as well as in his biblical commentaries, pursuing Calvin's understanding of political freedom. Calvin argued for a greater freedom for the faith than theologians had imagined, Boer claims, but then stepped back from the most radical implications of this call. Boer also explores Calvin's views on grace with the eye of a careful interpreter and suggests what we might find in Calvin's political thought if we took the Bible, grace, and freedom as seriously as he did. Clearly these are relevant points to consider for Christian political living today.

Author : J. Todd Billings
Publisher : OUP Oxford
ISBN 13 : 0191526371
Total Pages : 232 pages
Book Rating : 4.74/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Calvin, Participation, and the Gift written by J. Todd Billings and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2007-11-15 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Is the God of Calvin a fountain of blessing, or a forceful tyrant? Is Calvin's view of God coercive, leaving no place for the human qua human in redemption? These are perennial questions about Calvin's theology which have been given new life by Gift theologians such as John Milbank, Graham Ward, and Stephen Webb. J. Todd Billings addresses these questions by exploring Calvin's theology of `participation in Christ'. He argues that Calvin's theology of `participation' gives a positive place to the human, such that grace fulfils rather than destroys nature, affirming a differentiated union of God and humanity in creation and redemption. Calvin's trinitarian theology of participation extends to his view of prayer, sacraments, the law, and the ecclesial and civil orders. In light of Calvin's doctrine of participation, Billings reframes the critiques of Calvin in the Gift discussion and opens up new possibilities for contemporary theology, ecumenical theology, and Calvin scholarship as well.

Author : Harro Höpfl
Publisher : CUP Archive
ISBN 13 : 9780521316385
Total Pages : 326 pages
Book Rating : 4.83/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book The Christian Polity of John Calvin written by Harro Höpfl and published by CUP Archive. This book was released on 1985-07-18 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the relationship between Calvin's thought about civil and ecclesiastical order and his own circumstances and activities. The early chapters argue that in his pre-Genevan writings, including the first edition of the Institution, Calvin's political thinking was entirely conventional; his subsequent thought and conduct were not an implementation of previously formulated ideas. Later chapters examine whether and to what extent Calvin developed a distinctive vision of the Christian polity as part of an overall conception of the Christian life.

Author : P. C. Kemeny
Publisher : InterVarsity Press
ISBN 13 : 0830874747
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.43/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Church, State and Public Justice written by P. C. Kemeny and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2009-09-20 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Abortion. Physician-assisted suicide. Same-sex marriages. Embryonic stem-cell research. Poverty. Crime. What is a faithful Christian response? The God of the Bible is unquestionably a God of justice. Yet Christians have had their differences as to how human government and the church should bring about a just social order. Although Christians share many deep and significant theological convictions, differences that threaten to divide them have often surrounded the matter of how the church collectively and Christians individually ought to engage the public square. What is the mission of the church? What is the purpose of human government? How ought they to be related to each other? How should social injustice be redressed? The five noted contributors to this volume answer these questions from within their distinctive Christian theological traditions, as well as responding to the other four positions. Through the presentations and ensuing dialogue we come to see more clearly what the differences are, where their positions overlap and why they diverge. The contributors and the positions taken include Clarke E. Cochran: A Catholic Perspective Derek H. Davis: A Classical Separation Perspective Ronald J. Sider: An Anabaptist Perspective Corwin F. Smidt: A Principled Pluralist Perspective J. Philip Wogaman: A Social Justice Perspective This book will be instructive for anyone seeking to grasp the major Christian alternatives and desiring to pursue a faithful corporate and individual response to the social issues that face us.

Author : James W. Skillen
Publisher : Baker Academic
ISBN 13 : 1441244999
Total Pages : 366 pages
Book Rating : 4.94/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book The Good of Politics (Engaging Culture) written by James W. Skillen and published by Baker Academic. This book was released on 2014-03-18 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this addition to the acclaimed Engaging Culture series, a highly respected author and Christian thinker offers a principled, biblical perspective on engaging political culture as part of one's calling. James Skillen believes that constructive Christian engagement depends on the belief that those made in the image of God are created not only for family life, agriculture, education, science, industry, and the arts but also for building political communities, justly ordered for the common good. He argues that God made us to be royal stewards of public governance from the outset and that the biblical story of God's creation, judgment, and redemption of all things in Jesus Christ has everything to do with politics and government. In this irenic, nonpartisan treatment of an oft-debated topic, Skillen critically assesses current political realities and helps readers view responsibility in the political arena as a crucial dimension of the Christian faith.

Author : Miroslav Volf
Publisher : Brazos Press
ISBN 13 : 1493404660
Total Pages : 176 pages
Book Rating : 4.67/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Public Faith in Action written by Miroslav Volf and published by Brazos Press. This book was released on 2016-06-21 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Celebrated Theologian Offers Wisdom for Civic Engagement Christian citizens have a responsibility to make political and ethical judgments in light of their faith and to participate in the public lives of their communities--from their local neighborhoods to the national scene. But it can be difficult to discern who to vote for, which policies to support, and how to respond to the social and cultural trends of our time. This nonpartisan handbook offers Christians practical guidance for thinking through complicated public issues and faithfully following Jesus as citizens of their countries. The book focuses on enduring Christian commitments that should guide readers in their judgments and encourages legitimate debate among Christians over how to live out core values. The book also includes lists of resources for further reflection in each chapter and "room for debate" questions to consider.