Religion and politics Books

Trade ReviewPraise for If Nuns Ruled the World “In an age of villainy, war and inequality, it makes sense that we need superheroes. And after trying Superman, Batman and Spider-Man, we may have found the best superheroes yet: Nuns.” —Nicholas Kristof, The New York Times “Piazza writes vividly about hardworking women who devote their time and energy to making other people’s lives better. The result is a readable, informative look at how nuns, as flawed and human and real as they may be, also have a calling and a faith, and they use that to create change in the world. . . . If Nuns Ruled the World is a little bit of a crowd pleaser and a little bit subversive, and it opened up my eyes to the everyday heroism of some amazing women.” —Flavorwire “Anybody looking to argue there is a place for Catholicism in the modern world should just stand on a street corner handing out Piazza’s book. By sharing the chills-inducing tales of the women toiling in ways most of us could never fathom, she has given oxygen to that flickering flame that is the Church's reputation in the U.S.” —The Daily Beast “Fascinating profiles of 10 women determined to make a difference. Piazza successfully updates the image of black-garbed brides of Christ to strong, proactive and, yes, devout women intent on addressing social ills and tending to souls the Catholic church seems to shun, like gays and lesbians. Piazza delivers a controversial and important book.” —Daily News (New York) “This affecting collection of journalistic pieces by Piazza . . . goes a very long way toward dispelling any notion of nuns as conformist knuckle-whackers. . . . Accessibly written, these ten portraits should speak to many students and church groups.” —Library Journal

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Book SynopsisChristianity and Culture in the City: A Postcolonial Approach offers an introduction to the broad diversity of contemporary Christianities in a rich, complex, changing, and challenging city context. Cruz focuses upon a variety of changing communities with dynamic and striking cultural experiences, and the volume provides both scholarly and practical insights as to how Christianities in the city relate to and transform city institutions and communities that are undergoing dramatic shifts and invite opportunities for intentional study.This book offers a provocative interdisciplinary examination to shed light upon the ways in which diverse city communities appropriate Christianity to better engage their economic, cultural, political, and religious environment. A post-colonial theoretical framework will help inform how Christianity serves to empower and reinvent fragmented, oppressed, and struggling city populations. The reader is offered various conceptual, theoretical, and pragmatic insiTrade ReviewCity life is complicated. Religious expressions within cities are even more difficult to ascertain. Cruz brings together scholars who explore marginalized religious spaces within cities to discover that what people claim to believe in theory, what they say about their faith, and how they live out that faith can be quite incongruent. Most religious scholars miss this because they fail to consider the complicated ethnic, cultural, and political realities of the everyday. As a corrective, this book provides us with a liberative critical reflection on the praxis of the disenfranchised. -- Miguel A. De La Torre, professor of Social Ethics and Latinx Studies, Iliff School of TheologySamuel Cruz is a major prophetic voice who understands that urban Christian visions and witnesses constitute much of the best of our future! -- Cornel West, Union Theological SeminaryTable of ContentsIntroduction Samuel Cruz Chapter 1: The Use of Roman Catholic Material Culture, Ritual, and Devotional Practices in Haitian Vodou in the Greater Newark, New Jersey Area: The Urban Context. Peter Savastano Chapter 2: Between the Runway and Empty Tomb: Bodily Transformations and Christian Praxis in New York City’s House Ball Community. Edgar Rivera Chapter 3: Praying Aloud, in Spanish, in the South Bronx Nicolas Dumit Estevez Chapter 4: Troubling the Waters: Intimate Violence and the Church-Breaking the Hold of Shame and Secrecy Michelle L. Nickens Chapter 5: Revelation 12-13: A Guerilla Reading Charlene Sinclair Chapter 6: The Church, the City, and Its Mission in the 21st Century: A View from the Margins Elieser Valentin Chapter 7: Conclusion: A Praxis of Integral Liberation in a (Post) Colonial World A Critical and Compelling Conversation David Traverzo

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Book SynopsisI no sooner perceived myself in the world, wrote English philosopher John Locke, than I found myself in a storm. The storm of which Locke spoke was the maelstrom of religious fanaticism and intolerance that was tearing apart the social fabric of European society. His response was A Letter Concerning Toleration (1689), arguably the most important defense of religious freedom in the Western tradition. In God, Locke, and Liberty: The Struggle for Religious Freedom in the West, historian Joseph Loconte offers a groundbreaking study of Locke's Letter, challenging the notion that decisive arguments for freedom of conscience appeared only after the onset of the secular Enlightenment. Loconte argues that Locke's vision of a tolerant and pluralistic society was based on a radical reinterpretation of the life and teachings of Jesus. In this, Locke drew great strength from an earlier religious reform movement, namely, the Christian humanist tradition. Like no thinker before him, Locke forged an aTrade ReviewIn God, Locke, and Liberty: The Struggle for Religious Freedom in the West, Joseph Loconte, associate professor of history at The King’s College in New York CIty, has made an invaluable contribution to our understanding of where religious freedom came from and how we can help renew it. God, Locke, and Liberty traces the history of religious freedom’s emergence in the early modern period. Loconte deftly combines intellectual, religious, and political history to weave a story that will keep you reading. ... This is a wonderful book that laypeople and scholars alike will benefit from reading. At a time when the foundations of our freedom strain under the weight of both religious and secular forms of fanaticism, Loconte points us back to the simple yet powerful idea that Locke expressed so eloquently: 'The toleration of those that differ from others in matters of religion is so agreeable to the gospel of Jesus Christ, and to the genuine reason of mankind, that it seems monstrous for men to be so blind as not to perceive the necessity and advantage of it.' Monstrous as it may seem, religious and irreligious people are once again growing blind to the rights of their neighbors. This book will help reopen eyes. * The Gospel Coalition *In recovering Locke's religious views, Loconte refuses to be sidetracked, as are many observes, by Locke's doctrinal peculiarities. . . .Rather, the relatively 'unexamined' Christian elements that helped shape Locke's moral imagination - and the subsequent manner in which this imagination modeled his understanding of religious toleration, his social-political vision, and his accent on preserving the common good - are in need of thorough examination. . . .Loconte's broader conclusion is richly suggestive. * Touchstone: A Journal Of Mere Christianity *Religious freedom is the key to the whole modern world, the foundation stone upon which all other forms of freedom rest. Yet most of us no longer think that religious freedom is the central organizing principle of a humane social order, as our forefathers did. One reason for this myopia is that the real story of religious freedom’s origins and first purposes is almost completely unknown beyond a few academic specialists. Joe Loconte draws upon an extensive array of historical scholarship to weave the story for us, and show why the modern world so desperately needs to remember it. He treats the evidence with conscientious care, uncovering Locke’s connections to an ancient tradition of Christian humanism neglected by most scholars. But he also keeps the story flowing and the reader engaged; this is one of those rare books that scholars and ordinary lovers of history alike will profit from. And it comes not a moment too soon. In a world where the foundations of freedom are buckling under the weight of both religious and secular fanaticisms, this book cannot find too wide a readership. -- Greg Forster, Kern Family FoundationJohn Locke considered toleration ‘to be the chief characteristic mark of the true church.’ This book helps us to see Locke as he saw himself—a religious reformer in the tradition of Erasmus, calling his fellow believers to stop persecuting and start imitating ‘the perfect example of the Prince of Peace.’ There is much more to be said about Locke and toleration, but Loconte shows how the ethos of Christian humanism was used to tame post-Reformation religion, paving the way for the ameliorated Christianity of the Enlightenment. -- John Coffey, University of LeicesterMany have written about Erasmus and religion. This book is as good a statement as we are likely to get for Erasmus as the great inspiration of Locke’s thinking about religious liberty. -- Ian C. Harris, University of LeicesterLoconte reconstructs the meaning of Locke’s ideas on religious toleration with exceptional clarity, erudition, and a dynamic, engaging style. He has the rare ability to make seventeenth-century writings seem urgently relevant, without ever wrenching them out of their specific historical contexts. -- Ian McBride, King's College LondonTable of ContentsIntroduction: A ‘Secret Stream’ of Toleration: Christian Humanism and the Crisis of the West Chapter 1: A Thing Called Liberty: The Great Debate over Freedom of Conscience Chapter 2: Bright Enough for All Our Purposes: Locke and the English Reformers Chapter 3: The Heirs of Erasmus: Locke and the Dutch Reformers Chapter 4: The Captain of Our Salvation: Toleration and the Politics of Jesus Conclusion: Let Us Not Devour Each Other: The Lockean Vision of a Just Society Bibliography

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Book SynopsisWhat does it mean to think, believe, and act like an American? Get the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and other important United States historical documents all in one book!The soul of America is far more than a concept—it is a people. Even the most sacred principles mean very little unless lived out passionately by an informed citizenry. In The Portable Patriot you’ll find a carefully assembled sampling of American history’s most formative words, written by the people who made that extraordinary history—George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, and many more of America's Founding Fathers. Speeches and sermons, essays and extracts, poems and proclamations illumine such values as independence, virtue, humility, bravery, thrift, prayer, enterprise, liberty, and reliance on God. While peering back to the cradle of America’s national identity, The Portable Patriot also points a way forward, compelling us to heed poet John Dickinson’s plea to “rouse your bold hearts at fair Liberty’s call.” “Nothing ignites a patriot’s heart—or the hope that the truths of our founding era will prevail again—like the documents assembled in The Portable Patriot. How grateful we should be, and how quick to make these historic words our own.” ?Stephen Mansfield, author, The Forgotten Founding Father and The Faith of the American Soldier“Our current struggles over taxation, federal debt, and limited government are part of a larger American story. Kudos to Miller and Parrish for highlighting these essential passages.” ?Hon. Andrew P. Napolitano, Senior Judicial Analyst, Fox News Channel

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Book SynopsisEs un libro divertido que te hace reír hasta el cansancio, nosotros nos reímos mucho y es un libro que te hace llorar porque sabemos que el autor y su familia han pagado el costo de su llamado. Pero entre risas y alegría nos surge una pregunta: ¿habrá justicia y misericordia en Mexico?... Este libro es una voz profética y un manual con brújula que provee guía a los que son llamados a gobernar. Forma el carácter de aquellas y aquellos que desean servir a la nación proveyendo como fundamento principal el temor al Creador y exponiendo como modelo un matrimonio no solamente exitoso y feliz: Rosi y Alex (a quienes conocemos en lo íntimo de su seno familiar), sino un honorable ejemplo de quienes se puede aprender para hacer el servicio de manera diferente.He aquí un memorándum para la Iglesia de Cristo de nuestros días. Nos recuerda que nuestra fe y nuestra adoración a Dios tienen una dimensión práctica en cuanto a la responsabilidad con el mundo, nos confronta con una histórica omisión en cuanto a nuestra participación social y en el servicio público en nuestra nación, y nos desafía a salir de nuestro “auto-encierro” para cumplir con nuestra profesión profética y transformar al mundo, tal como nos fue demandado por el Señor.

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Book SynopsisEzra Taft Benson is perhaps the most controversial apostle-president in the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For nearly fifty years he delivered impassioned sermons in Utah and elsewhere, mixing religion with ultraconservative right-wing political views and conspiracy theories. His teachings inspired Mormon extremists to stockpile weapons, predict the end of the world, and commit acts of violence against their government. The First Presidency rebuked him, his fellow apostles wanted him disciplined, and grassroots Mormons called for his removal from the Quorum of the Twelve. Yet Benson was beloved by millions of Latter-day Saints, who praised him for his stances against communism, socialism, and the welfare state, and admired his service as secretary of agriculture under President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Using previously restricted documents from archives across the United States, Matthew L. Harris breaks new ground as the first to evaluate why Benson embraced a radical form of conservatism, and how under his leadership Mormons became the most reliable supporters of the Republican Party of any religious group in America.Trade Review“Ezra Taft Benson was one of the most significant and controversial figures in the twentieth-century Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Thanks to Matt Harris’s outstanding book, we can now make better sense of Benson’s far-right political ideology and activism, substantial influence on the church, and consequential legacy. Deeply researched, hard-hitting but always fair, and written with a lively pace, Watchman on the Tower is essential reading for anyone interested in understanding modern Mormonism."- Patrick Q. Mason, Leonard J. Arrington Chair of Mormon History and Culture, Utah State University;"In this well-researched and timely book, Matt Harris reveals that Ezra Taft Benson once chided professional historians for “inordinately” humanizing “the prophets of God.” Here it is Benson himself who is sensitively and carefully humanized, and thank goodness. Harris skillfully positions Benson’s firebrand politics and anti-communist rhetoric within the ethos of their time, and our understanding is the better for it."- Jana Riess, senior columnist for Religion News Service and author of The Next Mormons: How Millennials Are Changing the LDS Church"This is a wonderfully engaging book and the first of its kind. It is not a general biography of Benson. Instead it is a very well researched study of how his far-right political views affected relationships with his political party, with his apostolic colleagues, and with the LDS Church membership."- Armand L. Mauss, professor emeritus of sociology and religious studies at Washington State University and author of All Abraham’s Children: Changing Mormon Conceptions of Race and Lineage;"Documenting Benson’s extended controversial foray in politics makes a major contribution to the history of the LDS Church during the 1960s, especially in view of later attempts to diminish Benson’s participation in such activities. This work is one of the best discussions of the subject now available"- Gary James Bergera, editor of Confessions of a Mormon Historian: The Diaries of Leonard J. Arrington, 1971 to 1997"The significance of Ezra Taft Benson has not been fully appreciated. This book will be of interest to Latter-day Saint scholars and students of twentieth-century religious and political history."- Robert Alan Goldberg, author of Enemies Within: The Culture of Conspiracy in Modern America

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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