What has Washington to do with Jerusalem? In the raging debates about the relationship between religion and politics, no one has explored the religious benefits and challenges of public engagement for Christian believers - until now. This book defends and details Christian believers' engagement in contemporary pluralistic public life not from the perspective of some neutral 'public', but from the particular perspective of Christian faith, arguing that such engagement enriches both public life and Christian citizens' faith themselves. As such it offers not a 'public theology', but a 'theology of public life', analysing the promise and perils of Christian public engagement, discussing the nature of civic commitment and prophetic critique, and the relation of a loving faith to a liberal politics of justice. Theologically rich, philosophically rigorous, politically, historically and sociologically informed, this book advances contemporary discussion of 'religion and public life' in fundamental ways.

What might it mean for public and political life to be understood as an important dimension of following Jesus? As a part of Zondervan’s Ordinary Theology series, Vincent E. Bacote’s The Political Disciple addresses this question by considering not only whether Christians have (or need) permission to engage the public square, but also what it means to reflect Christlikeness in our public practice, as well as what to make of the typically slow rate of social change and the tension between relative allegiance to a nation and/or a political party and ultimate allegiance to Christ. Pastors, laypeople, and college students will find this concise volume a handy primer on Christianity and public life.

The Reformed tradition in the twenty-first century is increasingly diverse, dynamic, and deeply engaged in a wide variety of global and public issues, from the arts and business to immigration and race to poetry and politics. This book brings together the insights of a diverse group of leading Reformed thinkers--including Nicholas Wolterstorff, Makoto Fujimura, Bruce Ashford, John Witvliet, Ruben Rosario Rodriguez, and James K. A. Smith--to offer a contemporary vision of the depth and diversity of the Reformed faith and its global public impact.

As we are faced with recurring crises--financial, migration, climate, etc.--there is a need to reconsider public theology as both a practice and a field of study. By discussing public statements made by Christians faced with different kinds of crisis, this book contributes to the development and understanding of public theology. The public statements addressed are three kairos documents: The Kairos Document from South Africa in the mid-1980s; The Road to Damascus document from authors in developing countries, issued in 1989; and the Palestinian Kairos Document from 2009. The discussion is structured around three problems of public theology: social analysis, politics and ethics, and language and voice. Fretheim suggests a constructionist understanding of public theology--a public theology that interrupts current debates and expands the imagination of the public sphere. As public theology is concerned with public life and social issues, Interruption and Imagination will be of interest to scholars and students of theology, political science, sociology, and religious studies, as well as practitioners, policymakers, and professionals in the public sector, civil society, churches, and Christian organizations.

In these essays honoring ethicist Max Stackhouse, leading Christian scholars consider the historical roots and ongoing resources of public theology as a vital element in the church s engagement with global issues. / Public Theology for a Global Society explores the concept of public theology and the challenge of relating theological claims to a larger social and political context. The range of essays included here allows readers to understand public theology as both theological practice and public speech, and to consider the potential and limits of public theology in ecumenical and international networks. / The essays begin by introducing the reader to the development of public theology as an area of study and to the historical interrelationship of religious, legal, and professional categories. The later essays engage the reader with emerging problems in public theology, as religious communities encounter shifting publics that are being transformed by globalization and sweeping political and technological changes. / The breadth and scholarship of Public Theology for a Global Society make this volume a fitting tribute to Stackhouse a central figure in Christian ethics and pioneer in the church s study of globalization.

This book furthers the development of American public theology by arguing for the importance of narrative to a theological interpretation of the nation's social and political life. In contrast to both sectarian theologies that oppose a diverse public life and liberal theologies that have lost their distinctiveness, narrative public theology seeks an engaged yet critical role consistent with the separation of church and state and respectful of the multireligious character of the United States. Mary Doak argues for a public theology that focuses on the narrative imagination through which we envision our current circumstances and our hopes for the future. This theology sees both our national stories and our religious ones as resources that can contribute to a public and pluralistic conversation about the direction of society. Doak highlights arguments from Paul Ricoeur, Johann Baptist Metz, William Dean, Stanley Hauerwas, Franklin Gamwell, and Ronald Thiemann that can both contribute to and challenge a narrative public theology. She also proposes a model of public theology using narratives from Abraham Lincoln, Virgil Elizondo, and Delores Williams.