Social Issues
Showing 851–891 of 891 results
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Why America Needs Religion A Print On Demand Title
$23.99Add to cartThis is a print on demand book and is therefore non- returnable.
What is wrong with America? It has often called itself a Christian nation, yet its social and moral problems are legion. The increasing rates of crime, juvenile delinquency, teenage pregnancy, sexual promiscuity, and divorce are frequently linked to the declining importance of religious belief. But is there more than a presumed link between the strength of personal religiousness and moral behavior? Yes, says Guenter Lewy, and the large quantity of empirical data in existence which establishes that link ought to move people – Christians and non-Christians alike – to sit up and take note.
In this trenchant analysis of the moral decline of modern America, Lewy describes the moral crisis caused by secular modernity and points to the role of religiousness – especially Christian religiousness – as a necessary bulwark against today’s social ills. This work is all the more intriguing in that Lewy is an agnostic who has nonetheless concluded that a society that cuts itself off from the religious roots of its moral heritage is doomed to decline.
Lewy traces the rise of secularism in Western society, focusing particularly on the cult of individualism, and describes the social consequences of the weakened role of religion. He demonstrates that the crisis of the family and the rise of the underclass in our inner cities are linked to the decline of traditional values and shows, on the basis of surveys and other empirical data, that genuine religiousness can ward off some of the corrosive effects of modernity. Lewy concludes by calling on Christians, adherents of other faiths, and true humanists to join forces in the struggle to reverse the current ethos of radical individualism that threatens the moral integrity of our society.
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Christianity And Civil Society
$68.00Add to cartIn this book, well-known author Robert Wuthnow considers three aspects of the relationship between Christianity and civil society:
*whether civil society is in jeopardy and what effects Christianity’s declining influence has on civil society
*whether Christians can be civil in the face of conflicts that have arisen among religious groups in the public arena and the so-called culture wars that many in the media have been discussing
*growing multiculturalism in the United States, how Christians are responding to this new diversity, and how Christianity can regain a critical voice for itself in these debates -
Deliver Us From Evil
$21.00Add to cartComprehend and confront the devastation of societal evil. From a slave woman in 19th-century America to a female patient of Freud, Poling explores the history of resistance to racial and gender oppression. Identifying Jesus as a model for the marginalized, he calls for prophetic acts of solidarity toward healing and justice.
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7 Deadly Lawsuits
$25.99Add to cartDuring the last two decades, American law has undergone some startling developments that will affect all church leaders and religious organizations, regardless of denomination. Reacting to events allegedly occurring in the church counseling office or board room, the American public is suing its religious leaders and organizations at an unprecedented rate.
7 Deadly Lawsuits is about preventing lawsuits against clergy, religious professionals, churches, and religious organizations. The book, however, is not about “how to fight back.” Thomas Taylor leaves this to the lawyers, once the alleged damage is done. Instead, this book is about how clergy, religious professionals, and religious organizations can be educated about the kinds of lawsuits that are typically levied against them. Taylor then shows how to avoid such costly legal involvement. The final chapter discusses “responding to lawsuits.”
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Biblical Ethics And Homosexuality
$32.00Add 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. This book offers a challenge To the church to give heed to the multiplicity of voices that are engaged in biblically responsible and constructive debates about the volatile issues regarding sexual behavior.
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Homosexuality And Christianity Community
$32.00Add 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. The faculty of the Princeton Theological Seminary address such vital issues as ordaining homosexuals, blessing homosexual unions, using gender-specific language for God in the liturgy, defining the church’s role in a pluralistic society, and more.
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You Have Stept Out Of Your Place
$58.00Add to cartThis book fills an important gap in American women’s history. The author manages to discuss four centuries of women’s experience in the United States clearly, inclusively, and with both a sensitivity to feminist issues and a faithfullness to women’s own experience that ensures this book will have a wide readership. This book spans a broad range of geographic, ethnic, racial and denominational range of American women’s religious experiences and contributions and attempts to preverse the intregrity and diversity of their voices. In the absense of strong counterevidence, the author has assumed that American women were basically telling the truth about who they were, what they did, and why they did it.
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We Were Baptized Too
$23.00Add to cartWithin the liturgy, congregations pledge to accept, love, forgive, and nurture the newly baptized member. The church, however, often lives out this covenant selectively, forcing its gay and lesbian members into silence, alienation, and doubt. We Were Baptized Too challenges the church to take seriously its understanding of baptism and communion as a means of grace, justice, and liberation.
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Not My Own A Print On Demand Title
$20.99Add to cartThis is a print on demand book and is therefore non- returnable.
This timely, tough-minded work examines the implications of the church’s distinctive characteristics in relation to the most heated moral crisis of our age. Writing from an ecumenical perspective, the authors explore the traditional “marks” of the church – the Word and the sacraments – and ask what difference the church can and should make in the lives of human beings affected by abortion. No other book has approached the issue of abortion from this perspective; no other book offers such sound practical help.
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Know My Name
$32.00Add 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. The place of gay men and women in the community of faith has become one of the most divisive debates in the church today. Writer and activist Richard Cleaver takes a fresh approach to this issue by examining the struggles of gay men and lesbians in the church through the lens of liberation theology. He offers a “gay” reading of scripture, but one that is also spiritually challenging to all readers. Cleaver weaves biblical reflections with historical, social, political, and personal commentary. He discusses personal identity issues and “coming out,” the development of class consciousness as members of the oppressed group and solidarity with other oppressed groups. This provocative book brings a new voice to the debate about the place of gays and lesbians in our churches.
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Welfare In America A Print On Demand Title
$53.99Add to cartThis is a print on demand book and is therefore non- returnable.
Between 1992 and 1995, the Center for Public Justice, a Christian civic-education and public-policy think tank undertook an extended project named the Welfare Responsibility Inquiry. In May 1994, the project hosted a conference in Washington, DC, on “Public Justice and Welfare Reform.” The project involved, at its center, a group of scholars who met periodically to discuss the issues involved. Those scholars then wrote the papers which are collected in Welfare in America.
“Welfare in America,” James Skillen writes, “argues that assistance to the needy does not, and should not, come primarily from government. Government, whether at federal or state levels, should help hold people accountable to their various institutional and personal responsibilities rather than fill in for every failure.” The range of topics addressed in Welfare in America is extensive. Though no reader will agree with everything here, those whose calling requires them to think through this issue with care will be wise to include Welfare in America in their list of books to be read.
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Morality And Beyond
$27.00Add to cartThis work confronts the age-old question of how the moral is related to the religious. In particular, Tillich addresses the conflict between reason-determined ethics and faith-determined ethics and shows that neither is dependent on the other but that each alone is inadequate. Instead, Tillich reveals to us the gift that came with the arrival of Christ: a new reality that offers a power of being in which we can participate and out of which true thought and right action are possible. Paul Tillich (1886-1965) taught at several German universities before emigrating to the United States. In the United States, Tillich taught at Union Theological Seminary in New York, Harvard Divinity School, and the Divinity School of the University of Chicago.
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Equal Rites : Lesbian And Gay Worship Ceremonies And Celebrations
$34.00Add to cartEqual Rites is a much-needed collection of worship services, ceremonies, and celebrations that is attuned to the unique needs of sexual minorities. The selections, written primarily by lesbians and gay men, include rites of spiritual beginnings, healing, blessings, holy communion, and pride and empowerment. Also included are funeral memorial services and seasonal and holiday rites for couples. More than a collection, Equal Rites can also serve as a reference book for creating unique and meaningful worship services that address significant aspects of lesbian and gay spirituality.
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Childs Song
$38.00Add to cartThis book is about reconciliation and the healing of the child self–“the mutilated soul”–that all adults carry within themselves. Using the biblical image of the Garden, the author draws from the same biblical tradition that has contributed to the physical and emotional abuse of children to envision and initiate the healing process.
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Vanishing Boundaries : The Religion Of Mainline Protestant Baby Boomers
$45.00Add to cartThis in-depth survey provides a vivid overview of the religious world of the Baby Boomers. The authors worked with a national sample of persons confirmed in the Presbyterian Church, examining the religious faith of the Baby Boomers and exploring the reasons they gave for leaving or staying in the church. The authors identify eight types of young adults-half of them churched and the other half unchurched. Their findings provide some unexpected results.
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Using Gods Resources Wisely
$17.00Add to cartNew and different readings of biblical texts are one consequence of a growing awareness of the environmental crisis and how it relates to social relations, especially in urban settings. Walter Brueggemann explores readings from Isaiah and how they relate to the environment and urban crisis. He approaches the readings as an artistic-theological history of the city of Jerusalem–a case study of urban environmental crisis that resulted from a lost sense of covenantal neighborliness. Reflecting on Jerusalem, its failure, demise, and prospect, Brueggemann uncovers some alarming parallels in today’s urban cities, and offers a demanding but hopeful challenge to faith.
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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.
