Social Issues
Showing 1201–1244 of 1244 resultsSorted by latest
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Beyond Charity : Reformation Initiatives For The Poor
$22.00Add to cartThe common stereotype is that the Reformers separate public and private morality and were indifferent to the ethical import of social structures and institutions. Beyond Charity calls this understanding into question by providing an analysis of the historical situation and translationof primary documents. The medieval point of view, formed by piety of achievement, idealized poverty — either as voluntary renunciation or as almsgiving. In either case the material effects on actual poverty were slight, and the religious endorsement of poverty precluded urban efforts to address this growing problem. The Reformers impelledby their theology, developed and passed new legislative structures for addressing social welfare needs. The key to their undertakings was the conviction that social ethics is the continuation of community worship. In the first half, this book sets forth the medieval context, details Luther’s critique of the profit economy of his day, and analyzes the actual social welfare programs that issued from his theology. The second half provides translations of selected legislative programs from the church orders of the Reformation.
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American Hour : A Time Of Reckoning And The Once And Future Role Of Faith
$28.95Add to cartAn internationally known writer and speaker on religion and public life brilliantly ananlyzes the causes of our current moral malaise. Guinness examines how perilously close we have come to losing the shared beliefs, traditions and ideals that have helped shape America and sets forth a compelling view of a new role for religion.
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Islam And War
$30.00Add to cartThis book explores questions regarding the justice of war and addresses the lack of comparative perspectives on the ethics of war, particularly with respect to Islam. John Kelsay begins with the war in the Persian Gulf, focusing on the role of Islamic symbols in the rhetoric of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. He provides an overview of the Islamic tradition in regards to war and peace, and then focuses on the notion of religion as a just cause for war.
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Depleted Self : Sin In A Narcissistic Age
$29.00Add to cartDon Capps challenges the church, its theologians, and its pastors to address seriously-and without moralism – the malaise that afflicts us, the mood of “wrongness” and incompleteness of self, of victimization, hunger, alienation, bitterness, the melancholic form that sin takes so prevailing in our day. This book is an effective example of the postive mirroring, more empathy, or acceptance, that Capps recommends as the means of empowering the depleted self.
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Bible And The Moral Life
$35.00Add to cartThe Bible helps to shape our understanding of Christian responsibility. However, different church bodies and individuals who claim scripture as an authority on ethics often reach different conclusions about moral life. In this book, C. Freeman Sleeper describes how the Bible can be used as a guide to moral life. He shows how various church bodies use the Bible to speak to specific contemporary ethical issues and deals directly with the question of the authority of the Bible by taking up the teaching of four basic styles of moral reflection–law, prophecy, apocalypse, and wisdom. Sleeper reviews the way that church bodies developed and used social policy and draws a distinction between the way churches speak to their own constituency and the way they speak to the world. He considers in detail the ethics of nuclear war and abortion. Practical exercises are also provided throughout the book.
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6 Billion And More
$40.00Add to cartSusan Power Bratton draws on information from demographers, economists, ecologists, and sociologists to argue that individuals should use Christian values when dealing with the regulation of human population. In this easy-to-read analysis, the author reviews a number of issues and provides case studies and discussion questions at the end of each chapter.
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Gospel Of Peace
$40.00Add to cartUlrich Mauser uses the Bible, especially the New Testament, as a guide for present-day peace efforts. He explores the meaning of peace, and throughout the book he interlaces the New Testament experience of peace with elements of the Old Testament idea of shalom, not overlooking the wars of Yahweh.
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Lines In The Sands
$34.00Add to cartBased on the debates of bishops, church councils, and scholars who reflected on policy alternatives and invoked theological and ethical perspectives on the Gulf crisis, Lines in the Sand focuses on moral issues surrounding the Persian Gulf War. Alan Geyer and Barbara Green present a penetrating case study of foreign policy, military policy, moral argument, and religious discourse, while arguing that the “just war” tradition offers only partial aid for Christian reflection in matters of war and peace.
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Christianity And The Social Crisis
$55.00Add to cartWalter Rauschenbusch was the primary architect of the Social Gospel, a movement that responded to the changing social and industrial conditions in the United States during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He presents, in this book, his path-breaking and prophetic interpretation of Jesus and the kingdom, and his understanding of troubling conditions that call the church to faithful witness and work toward meaningful political and economic reforms.
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Abuse Of Power
$27.99Add to cartChapter Titles Are:
1. Hearing The Silenced Voices
2. Power And Abuse Of Power
3. “Karen”: Survivor Of Sexual Violence
4. Stories Of Recovering Perpetrators
5. The Schreber Case: Methods Of Analysis
6. The Search For Self
7. The Search For Community
8. The Search For God
9. Ministry Practice And Practical TheologyAdditional Info
Pastoral care instruction and observation from a therapist of survivors of sexual abuse.“The Abuse of Power is ‘must’ reading for clergy and denominational officials…. Weaving case stories with theory, Poling demonstrates that sexual abuse of children is not a private matter, but very much a matter for society and church–a question of structure and ideology, not just of individual character. He is not afraid to tackle the tough question: Does the image of God sacrificing Jesus on the cross contribute to abusive parent-child relationships?…If pastors and church officials read this book the church will change.” –Karen Lebacqz, Pacific School of Religion
“For the exploitation of women and children to stop, men must be willing to break ranks with all forms of privilege that sanction male dominance. James Poling does so by deconstructing his own sense of male entitlement, by refusing to distance himself from perpetrators, by allowing survivors of sexual and domestic violence to speak with their own voices, by giving us profound words of hope, and by articulating a powerfully healing theology wrought through the depths of his own struggle with one of the worst evils in our society. His courageous and compassionate work reveals the love and hope that is born of solidarity across the boundaries of gender, sexual orientation, race, and economics….The psychological, political, spiritual, and theological power of this book is such that all educators, ministers, therapists, and Christians must read it.” –Rita Nakashima Brock, Hamline University
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Loving Nature : Ecological Integrity And Christian Responsibility
$31.99Add to cartThe ecological crisis is a serious challenge to Christian theology and ethics because the crisis is rooted partly in flawed convictions about the rights and powers of humankind in relation to the rest of the natural world. James A. Nash argues that Christianity can draw on a rich theological and ethical tradition with which to confront this challenge.
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Witness For Peace
$45.00Add to cartIn this graphic, thought-provoking book, Ed Griffin-Nolan depicts the experiences of Witness for Peace (WFP), a group of Americans who bore witness to the war in Nicaragua–an event that resulted in the killing and wounding of many innocent Central American civilians. Griffin-Nolan explains how WFP participants spent weeks in the war zones in order to understand the impact of U.S. policy on simple people living, as one member of the group phrased it, “at the end of a gun barrel.” He describes how WFP participants labored to bring stories of war back to the United States, and how many of them lost their jobs and even their marriages in the process. He concludes by showing that the efforts of WFP saved lives and possibly prevented “another Vietnam” from developing in Central America.
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Matters Of Life And Death
$30.00Add to cartUsing a bioethical approach, John Cobb Jr. tackles some of the most controversial issues facing society and the church today–something theologians have often failed to do in the past. His four major topics are animal well-being, death with dignity, the moral status of the fetus, and sexual activity outside of marriage.
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City Of God City Of Satan
$26.99Add to cartWhy is the city a battleground of hostile principalities and powers? What is the mission of the church in the city? How can the church be supported in accomplishing that mission? These are the questions that Robert Linthicum treats in his comprehensive and probing biblical theology of the city. In the Bible the city is depicted both as a dwelling place of God and his people and as a center of power for Satan and his minions. The city is one primary stage on which the drama of salvation is played out. And that is no less the case at the end of this pivotal century as megacities become the focal point of most human activity and aspirations around the world. This is a timely theology of the city that weaves the theological images of the Bible and the social realities of the contemporary world into a revealing tapestry of truths about the urban experience. Its purpose is to define clearly the mission of the church in the midst of the urban realities and to support well the work of the church in the urban world.
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Conflict At Rome
$22.00Add to cartUtilizing archeological evidence and an analysis of two early Christian texts related to the church at Rome, James S. Jeffers offers a penetrating glimpse into the economic, social, and theological tensions of early Roman Christianity. Clement and the Shepherd of Hermas are shown to represent two decidedly conflicting conceptions of Christianity and hierarchy: Clement represents the social elite and a more structured approach to church organization, and Hermas displays a tendency toward sectarianism. Photographs and line drawings illustrate archeological evidence.
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Social Ministry (Revised)
$45.00Add to cartThis work challenges pastors, seminarians, and active members of the laity to rethink the social character of their ministry. Dieter Hessel calls on parish communities to “meet human need with good Samaritan love while acting for justice with prophetic boldness.” In this updated edition, Hessel assesses major new developments that have occurred in both church and society since the first publication of Social Ministry. He gives special attention to the uncertainty that churches face today in regard to their public role.
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Good News To The Poor
$27.99Add to cartThis provocative volume illuminates a dimension of John Wesley’s theology that has received insufficient attention: his deep and abiding commitment to the poor. By focusing on the radical nature of Wesley’s “evangelical economics,” Theodore W. Jennings, Jr., provides an important corrective to the view that Wesley was concerned with the salvation of souls only, and not also with the social conditions of human beings.
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Church With Aids
$40.00Add to cartThis book looks at the experiences of people with AIDS as a means of examining the way Christianity views the problem and deals with it on both personal and community levels. This book begins by sharing the experience and ministry of those living with AIDS. Also presented is a series of theological reflections on what living with AIDS means for the renewal of the church. Russell also asks how the traditional church might be seen differently by those struggling with AIDS. The final section, is designed as a tool for study and discussion groups.
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Social Ethics : An Examination Of American Moral Traditions
$39.00Add to cartRodger Betsworth introduces ethics by focusing on the cultural narratives that shape American images of self and world: the biblical story American gospel of success, the idea of well-being, and the global mission of America.
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Keep It Simple
$18.95Add to cartThese daily meditations are for people in recovery who are either beginning a Twelve Step program or looking for renewal in the basic principles of recovery. Keep It Simple shows how prayer, meditation, and action can bring sobriety and peace to one’s life. Suggested daily activities help readers integrate these concepts into their daily lives. Keep It Simple presents the basics of recovery in terms that allow any reader the chance to enjoy the gifts of sobriety and serenity.
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Uncommon Calling : A Gay Christians Struggle To Serve The Church
$35.00Add to cartAdvisory: Some of the views put forth in this book challenge the traditionally accepted teachings on the issue of homosexuality and the Christian faith. Chris Glaser describes his personal journey of coming out to his family, friends, church-and to himself. He tells the story of how the shurch reacted to his disclosure reconciliation between the lesbian, gay, and bisexual community and the church.
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Justice In The Unjust World
$29.00Add to cartHave we heard the cry for justice that rises from humanity suffering from varieties of injustice: economic, sexual, political, cultural, verbal? Or, what is more, have Christians on occasion, knowingly or unknowingly, acquiesced in – or even contributed to – injustice?
By means of powerful and dramatic use of biblical images and models, Dr. Lebacqz sets before us the justice of God and God’s call for us to heed the cry of the suffering and to work for justice in an unjust world.
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Theology For A Nuclear Age
$30.00Add to cartThe possibility of a nuclear holocaust has brought humankind into a radically new, unprecedented, and unanticipated religious situation. Gordon D. Kaufman offers a cogent and original analysis of this predicament, outlining specific proposals for reconceiving the central concerns and symbols of Christian faith. He begins with an account of a visit to Peace Park in the rebuilt city of Hiroshima. Reflecting upon this experience, Kaufman foresees that further use of nuclear weapons will result not in rebuilding but in annihilation of the human enterprise.
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New Testament And Homosexuality
$24.00Add to cartAdvisory: Some of the views put forth in this book challenge the traditionally accepted teachings on the issue of homosexuality and the Christian faith. In this book, Scroggs argues that, based on the nature of homosexual relationships in New Testament times, the New Testament has nothing to say about modern homosexuality. The thesis is that, because the majority of homosexual relations took place in a degrading, adult-child situation in ancient times, the authors of Scipture had that practice in mind, not the mutual, adult-adult relationships of today.
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New Testament Social Ethics For Today A Print On Demand Title
$18.99Add to cartTo answer the question of what role the New Testament should play in the formation and expression of Christian social morality today, Richard Longenecker here proposes a developmental hermeneutic, which distinguishes between “declared principles” and “described practices” in the New Testament writings.
With this distinction in mind, he focuses on the three couplets of Galatians 3:28 – “neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female” – showing how these matters were treated in early Christian thought and explaining their meaning for us today. In so doing, Longenecker lays a hermeneutical foundation for the much larger discussion of Christian social ethics.
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Whatever Happened To The Human Race
$21.99Add to cart“If a mother can kill her own children, then what can be next?” Mother Teresa once asked.
What indeed?
Once the value of human life has been depreciated, as in Roe v. Wade and the Baby Doe Case, no one is safe. Once “quality of life” is substituted for the absolute value of human life itself, we all are endangered. Already respected scientists are calling for a time period following birth (a week or so) to decide if newborns have “sufficient quality of life” to be allowed to live. Already committees of “medical professionals” would like to decide whether the “quality of life” of the elderly or anyone seriously ill is high enough to allow them to go on living.
In this moving book, the renowned pediatric surgeon and Surgeon General of the United States, C. Everett Koop, M.D., joins with one of the leading Christian thinkers of our day, Francis A. Schaeffer, to analyze the widespread implications and frightening loss of human rights brought on by today’s practices of abortion, infanticide, and euthanasia. They see the present as a crucial turning point. Choices are being made that undermine human rights at their most basic level. Practices once labeled “unthinkable” are now considered acceptable. The destruction of human life, young and old, is being sanctioned on an ever-increasing scale by the medical profession, by the courts, by parents, and by silent citizens.
“But what can I do?” you ask. “I’m just one person.” You can start by reading this book. Yes, it will shock you. And it will make you weep. But it will also help you see how you can actually make a difference.
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Toward A Christian Political Ethics
$16.00Add to cartThe author builds into his Christian political ethic the cross of Jesus Christ, the centrality of effective Christian community life, the need to free the oppressors, the reality of suffering and death, and the dynamic of Christian love…. One is impressed throughout the book by the author’s own patience and love in the face of continued oppression, frustration, and the killing of friends.
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Making Peace In The Global Village
$25.00Add to cartWell-known author Robert McAfee Brown’s compelling, hard-hitting book activates the Christian conscience in support of peacemaking. An excellent group study resource, Making Peace in the Global Village is for everyone serious about peacemaking in the world today.
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After Suicide
$22.00Add to cartThis constructive guide offers much-needed information and clinically tested advice for those struggling to cope in the aftermath of a suicide. Written in clear, everyday language, it presents the facts and demonstrates how to deal with feelings of guilt, anger, bewilderment, and shame. It shows how to live as survivors of a suicide, how to explain the event to children, and how to reconcile the death with religious beliefs. Also included is an Anniversary Memorial Service that enables family members to recommit themselves to life. After Suicide presents positive steps that can help family and friends find strength together as they readjust and return to healthy, productive living.
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Theological Ethics Volume 1
$32.00Add to cartThis first volume of Helmut Thielicke’s important and influential ethics, presents the classical problems of Theological Ethics: the relationship of autonomous and Christian ethics, of secularism and faith, of dogmatics and ethics; ethical principles in the light of the Christian doctrines of creation and the fall; justification and sanctification; and ethical norms and the problem of natural law. As Paul Tillich accurately predicted in his review of Thielicke’s work, it has become “a standard in ethical theology” and, as Paul Althaus observed, it is both profound and fully engaged in the concrete practice of Christian life.
