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My entire working life has been devoted to the study of economic, social and political problems in Sweden, America and the world. In insisting, I express my Lutheran heritage — though of course the influence of other Christian churches has moved in the same direction. In fact by stressing that social sciences must be moral …
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Whereas European Protestantism was largely shaped by state support of particular churches and adjustment to the needs of other religious groups, American Protestantism was largely shaped by autonomous churches. These held the state at arms length, demanding freedom to order their own affairs. Needless to say, the history on both sides of the Atlantic was …
Continue reading “An American Protestant Perspective on World Order”
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For those trapped in the Twin Towers or the Pentagon, that fiery hell must have seemed apocalyptic. In the fleeting moments before they leaped from windows or were crushed under melting I-beams, what passed through their minds? For those who watched in horror, on the streets or on television in their homes and offices, it …
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For many years Stanley Hauerwas has been attempting to return the church to the center of Christian theological and ethical reflection. He argues that "liberal" and "conservative" voices in the church tend to mimic the groups that share those labels in the wider political culture. He also maintains that on ethical issues Christians have too …
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I. Unpacking the Title Titles are too brief to state clearly the topic of an essay or lecture. This one needs some unpacking. I will start with the end. 1. What is “the world?” Sometimes by world the entire universe is indicated. So far as I know the universe as a whole is in no imminent …
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In the Christian’s approach to society, as in every aspect of the Christian life, the place to begin is with the ghastly death and miraculous resurrection of Jesus. That is to say, the scope of Christian life in this world, whether approached from a personal or a corporate perspective, centers on a faithful encounter with …
Continue reading “Christians and Social Ministry: Witnesses to a New Age”
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In antiquity China acquired a beautiful name, Shen-zhou, which literally means "state of God." Unfortunately, the title probably was used as a political term meaning that God had given the elite the divine right to rule rather than that Yahweh claimed China as the chosen land and the Chinese as a chosen people. From its …
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"Is there anything laypeople can do to get themselves kicked out of the United Methodist Church?" My question stumped the speaker, expert on Methodist church law though he was. He had just delivered a detailed list of offenses that could get Methodist ministers cast into outer darkness. Wanting to democratize the misery a bit, …
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Fanny Makina, a farmer in Malawi, is tilling her plot of land with a hoe and spade. Next she will plant crops of corn, peanuts, squash, beans and cassava, and mark each row carefully with a stick. In most years, Makina harvests enough food for her family and has food left over to sell. Even …
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Book Review: Whose Religion Is Christianity? The Gospel Beyond the West. By Lamin Sanneb. Eerdmans, 130 pp., $12.00 paperback. Enlarging the Story: Perspectives on Writing World Christian History. Edited by Wilbert R. Shenk. Orbis, 123 pp., $16.00 paperback. Five hundred years ago Christianity was little more than the regional religion of the patchwork of societies …
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In his reflections on theology and politics, Catholic theologian William T Cavanaugh has focused attention on how Christian liturgical practices embody and inform — or should embody and inform — Christian political witness, His book Torture and Eucharist: Theology, Politics and the Body of Christ (Blackwell) is about the Roman Catholic Church’s responses to the …
Continue reading “Liturgy as Politics: An Interview with William Cavanaugh”
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So God created (the human creature] in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and till the earth and subdue it; and have dominion . . . over every living thing that …
Continue reading “Men, Women, and the Remarriage of Public and Private Spheres”
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Some months ago the New Yorker carried a “Millennium Travel Advisory" — a special advertising section concerning a "Global Party" "Talk about the mega super-event of our times," it said. “Will you be on the ultimate New Year’s Eve, when the big door swings open on a new era?" The ad touted destinations from Nantucket …
Continue reading “Millennial Reflections on an Interdependent World”
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In the first place, we must admit that it is difficult for a Christian to talk about himself. Not that it is difficult to lay oneself bare (especially in these days of literary exhibitionism). But a Christian ought to know how little interest attaches to him as a person. And he ought to know that …
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For better than two decades the consensus in theology and ethics has been that we have no consensus. Roger Shinn announced this fact before most people had noticed it ("The Shattering of the Theological Spectrum," C&C, September 30, 1963), but the years since have borne him out. At the American Theological Society’s plenary session last …
Continue reading “New Dynamics in Theology: Politically Active and Culturally Significant”
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Book Review: The Quiet Hand of God: Faith-Based Activism and the Public Role of Mainline Protestantism. Edited by Robert Wuthnow and John H. Evans, University of California Press, 430 pp. Despite the size and historic importance of mainline churches, say sociologists Robert Wuthnow and John Evans, “their activities and the ways in which they …
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In seminary I read certain biblical stories not only for their theological significance but also for their strategic value in political action. I couldn’t resist the temptation to do strategic exegesis; for example, of Nathan’s manipulating David into condemning himself, of St. Paul’s flattering defense before King Agrippa, of Micaiah’s gutsy predictions to King Ahab, …
Continue reading “Politically Feeble Churches and the Strategic Imperative”
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Reformation today is an issue raised every now and then among Protestants. Is not the church always in need of Reformation? Are we not heirs of an “unfinished Reformation”? The 500th anniversary celebration of Martin Luther’s birth is November 10, 1983. Meanwhile, Luther birthday celebrations are being planned everywhere in Protestantism — some very official …
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As one surveys the surge — indeed, the explosion — of human rights laws and activities over the past 40 years, one has to ask whether the overall level of public morality has been improved. The question is cosmic and probably unanswerable. But one of the many factors to be considered is the potential long-range …
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In the year 1911, as he penned the final pages of his famous Social Teachings of the Christian Churches, Ernst Troeltsch was certain that Christianity as he knew it could not “master” modernity. The key to understanding Christian faith in general, Troeltsch thought, lay in understanding its practical social expressions. And in all the history …
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A remarkable change is occurring in the attitude toward religion and the churches on the part of environmentalist scientists and philosophers. Carl Sagan who once expressed quite negative attitudes toward Christianity has begun to work closely with the churches. Quite recently, a new book by the environmentalist philosopher, Max Oelschleger, testifies to this shift. …
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The Bicentennial celebration of the United States Constitution has begun and will last through September 17. It should have enough momentum to carry through much of autumn. And since religious forces benefited most from the Bill of Rights, which was drafted in 1789 and ratified in 1791, believers will be able to prolong the party …
Continue reading “The Constitution and the Congregation: Time to Celebrate”
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During 1980-81, Protestant denominations in the United States focused their mission study programs on Latin America — that is, on the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking nations south of the border, and the Spanish-speaking countries of the Caribbean (Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico). But with more than 20 million Hispanics living in the United States, …
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Book Review: Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health By Laurie Garrett. Hyperion, 754 pp. I think the young man you just met has plague, the doctor told me. I was visiting one of my students at a community health clinic in Embudo, near Taos; New Mexico. The physician had called the …
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Book Reviews: Global Political Economy: Understanding the International Economic Order By Robert Gilpin with Jean M. Gilpin. Princeton University Press, 435 pp. also in paperback. God and Globalization, Volume I: Religion and the Powers of the Common Life Edited by Max L. Stackhouse with Peter J. Paris. Trinity Press International, 301 pp. God and Globalization, …
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Many people believe that Christian piety entails narrow-mindedness and that the more one affirms Christ in his particularity the more one rejects the world in its plurality. If the true Christian is, as John Wesley said, a person of one book, then it might seem that the worlds of art, literature and music — indeed, …
