

File Size: 1211 KB
Print Length: 237 pages
Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0310517923
Simultaneous Device Usage: Up to 5 simultaneous devices, per publisher limits
Publisher: Zondervan (December 15, 2015)
Publication Date: December 15, 2015
Sold by: HarperCollins Publishing
Language: English
ASIN: B00UF7W42A
Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray: Not Enabled
Word Wise: Enabled
Lending: Not Enabled
Enhanced Typesetting: Not Enabled
Best Sellers Rank: #123,223 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store) #64 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Religion & Spirituality > Religious Studies & Reference > Church & State #92 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Religion & Spirituality > Christian Books & Bibles > Christian Living > Social Issues #213 in Books > History > World > Religious > Religion, Politics & State

Recent trends in the United States seem to point to a constantly lowering importance of religion in public life. Yet religion persists as an important factor in elections and in policy making. Grappling with the question of the interactions of faith and politics does not compare in importance to larger, eternal mission of the church, but political life is unquestionably an element of the temporal mission of the church.In Five Views on the Church and Politics, Amy Black brings together five scholars who describe and discuss their own traditions' views. Each of these contributes a chapter, to which the other four offer brief responses: Thomas Heilke (Anabaptist), Robert Benne (Lutheran), Bruce Fields (the Black church), James K.A. Smith (Reformed), and J. Brian Benestad (Roman Catholic).As you might expect from this type of book, each chapter feels just a bit brief. Each contributor covers the high points of his tradition, while providing extensive sources for those who want to dig in. The responses highlight the differences among the traditions. I was left with an impression of varied traditions that have distinctive ways of saying the same things. Of course, there are differences among these five traditions, but there are many more similarities.Five Views is a very useful volume for readers looking for a brief synopsis of these five traditions. Black couches each in categories drawn from Neibuhr's Christ and Culture. She points out that "these traditions overlap in many significant ways, have borrowed from each other's teachings over time, and continue to learn from one another and change from within.
Should Christians participate in politics? If it is no, is it a responsible way to live in this world? If yes, how should Christians relate to the political leaders of the land? What about the separation of Church and state? What does it mean? If a Church totally abandon all forms of involvement, what happens when the government makes decisions that negatively impact the Church? While most believers will tend to walk the middle way, to be involved only when absolutely necessary, Christians in general are split right down the middle generally, and at least five ways theologically. In this book, we learn of five such ways in the relationship between Church and state. In fact, when we read the gospels, we see how the Pharisees tried to trap Jesus with the question of whether the Jews ought to pay tax to the Romans. Either way, Jesus would be trapped. If Jesus answered 'yes,' the Jews would be unhappy. If he said 'no,' the Romans would come after him. Life nowadays are a lot more different than the first century. Moreover, Christians living in the modern world now have the benefit of hundreds of years of theological reflection. This book distills five different points of view surrounding relationship between Church and state. Editor Amy Black calls it the five historic traditions of Anabaptist, Lutheran, Black Church, Reformed, and Catholic. Five contributors have been invited to this discussion and after one proposition, there would be four other responses. This gives readers multiple dimensions of each proposition and alternative viewpoints. Each political thought begins with a historical background of the denomination and how they arrive at the current political thought. The names of key founders and significant leaders are mentioned, together with the unique circumstances they face.
Five Views on the Church and Politics (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology) Four Views on Moving beyond the Bible to Theology (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology) Who Runs the Church?: 4 Views on Church Government (Counterpoints: Church Life) Five Views on Law and Gospel (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology) Five Views on Biblical Inerrancy (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology) Five Views on Apologetics (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology) Five Views on Sanctification (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology) Genesis: History, Fiction, or Neither?: Three Views on the Bible's Earliest Chapters (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology) Show Them No Mercy: 4 Views on God and Canaanite Genocide (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology) Three Views on the Millennium and Beyond (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology) Three Views on Eastern Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology) Three Views on Creation and Evolution (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology) Four Views on Christianity and Philosophy (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology) Four Views on Hell: Second Edition (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology) Four Views on the Spectrum of Evangelicalism (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology) Four Views on the Role of Works at the Final Judgment (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology) Four Views on the Historical Adam (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology) Two Views on Women in Ministry (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology) Four Views on Divine Providence (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology) Are Miraculous Gifts for Today?: 4 Views (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology)