Church State And Citizen

Christians are often portrayed as sharing the same political opinions and the same theological foundations for their actions. Yet, from the time of the early church, believers have held a variety of perspectives on the relationship between church and state and what constitutes legitimate political behavior for Christian citizens. Thoroughly Christian political beliefs run the gamut from disavowal of any political responsibility to a complete endorsement of government policies and the belief that the state has been divinely appointed. In Church, State, and Citizen, Sandra F. Joireman has gathered political scientists to examine the relationship between religion and politics as seen from within seven Christian traditions: Catholic, Lutheran, Reformed, Anabaptist, Anglican, Evangelical and Pentecostal. In each chapter the historical and theological foundations of the tradition are described along with the beliefs regarding the appropriate role of the state and citizen. While all Christian traditions share certain beliefs about faith (e.g., human sin, salvation, Christ's atonement) and political life (e.g. limited government, human rights, the incompleteness and partiality of all political action) there are also profound differences. The authors discuss the contemporary implications of these beliefs both in the United States and in other areas of the world where Christianity is showing increasing vigor.

The history of Christianity's relationship to government is long and complex. This book will attempt to bring order to the chaos by offering essays on how particular branches of the Christian tradition view the institution of the modern state.

This book traces the influence of Anglican writers on the political thought of inter-war Britain, and argues that religion continued to exert a powerful influence on political ideas and allegiances in the 1920s and 1930s. It counters the prevailing assumption of historians that inter-war political thought was primarily secular in content, by showing how Anglicans like Archbishop William Temple made an active contribution to ideas of community and the welfare state (a term which Temple himself invented). Liberal Anglican ideas of citizenship, community and the nation continued to be central to political thought and debate in the first half of the 20th century. Grimley traces how Temple and his colleagues developed and changed their ideas on community and the state in response to events like the First World War, the General Strike and the Great Depression. For Temple, and political philosophers like A. D. Lindsay and Ernest Barker, the priority was to find a rhetoric of community which could unite the nation against class consciousness, poverty, and the threat of Hitler. Their idea of a Christian national community was central to the articulation of ideas of 'Englishness' in inter-war Britain, but this Anglican contribution has been almost completely overlooked in recent debate on twentieth-century national identity. Grimley also looks at rival Anglican political theories put forward by conservatives such as Bishop Hensley Henson and Ralph Inge, dean of St Paul's. Drawing extensively on Henson's private diaries, it uncovers the debates which went on within the Church at the time of the General Strike and the 1927-8 Prayer Book crisis. The book uncovers an important and neglected seam of popular political thought, and offers a new evaluation of the religious, political and cultural identity of Britain before the Second World War.

Church, State and Citizen is a biblical-based approach for political engagement, which challenges Christians to always give their ultimate allegiance to God in the public square. It is a very insightful and useful resource and contains immense biblical wealth and practical experience on the vital issues relating to the Church, State, and citizenship. This book is a worthy investment of time and resources. I encourage you to join the author in this book on his eventful historical explorations, theological reflections, moral juxtapositions and healthy analysis of the experiences of great men and women who, through the prudent engagement in politics, were used by God to reshape the ungodly cultures, renovate their socio-political landscape, and reform the decadent structures of their societies. Emmanuel Ihim brings a fresh theological breath into the art of Christian political engagement and introduces a special revelation upon the dynamics of limited government, God's sovereignty, the legitimacy of government, the value of human dignity, God's concept of Christian citizenship, Church and state, and more. Ihim unravels why Christ did not give the State the key of the Kingdom and with it, His redemptive power, but instead, gave it to the Church, neither, did He give to the Church, the sword and its coercive power, but gave it to the government.Church, State, and Citizenship expounds on the invaluable responsibility of the Church to teach the Bible as a common standard of law, both to the Church and State; mobilize forces of compassion, courage, truth, and justice to salvage society; expose sin, equip believers, encourage the magistrates and embolden God's vision for humanity in society.Emmanuel Ihim unfolds biblical cornerstones and practical realities for Christian political engagement, which include, discovering Biblical TRUTH on the subject of politics and governance; developing basic biblical principles as policy tools for operating in the public square and linking these principles with basic complimentary moral values, as they ties into the political and social realities of the time. Church, State and Citizen clarifies the puzzles surrounding Church and State and contend that the Church and State's independent status is mutually exclusive. He describes it as an institutional separation that has an interface between religious faith and civil government. Emmanuel Ihim argues that the spirit behind the separation of the Church and State is to guarantee that, neither the Church nor the state unnecessarily meddles with each other's affairs, but that they coalesce to balance and preserve each other. Ihim explores the theological misconceptions and misinterpretations of Biblical Worldview of government and adequately resolves many controversial questions about Christian political engagement, proffering solutions upon which Christian political engagement should rightly be predicated. This Book challenges the apathy of Christians to comprehend the value of political power and its relationship to our "cultural mandate" and our "commission to disciple the nations." Ihim rejects passivity, for this is equivalent to culturally surrendering to satan, both the Lordship of Christ over all spheres of life and the dominion status that God gives to His children. It is tandem to rendering to Caesar both what belongs to Caesar and also that which belongs only to God.Church, State, and Citizen offer a practical guide for Christian political engagement and highlight some benefits of Christian political engagement, including, how it: *Secures the Bible-based structure for our society and government*Ensures that only Individuals of character and integrity are elected in public office*Nurtures democracy, religious freedom, sanctity of life and civic pleasantness for the propagation of the gospel*Demonstrates and builds upon the Lordship of Jesus over every sphere of life and society.

Lavinia Stan and Lucian Turcescu examine the relationship between religion and politics in ten former communist Eastern European countries. Contrary to widespread theories of increasing secularization, Stan and Turcescu argue that in most of these countries, the populations have shown themselves to remain religious even as they embrace modernization and democratization. Church-state relations in the new EU member states can be seen in political representation for church leaders, governmental subsidies, registration of religions by the state, and religious instruction in public schools. Stan and Turcescu outline three major models: the Czech church-state separation model, in which religion is private and the government secular; the pluralist model of Hungary, Bulgaria and Latvia, which views society as a group of complementary but autonomous spheres - for example, education, the family, and religion - each of which is worthy of recognition and support from the state; and the dominant religion model that exists in Poland, Romania, Estonia, and Lithuania, in which the government maintains informal ties to the religious majority. Church, State, and Democracy in Expanding Europe offers critical tools for understanding church-state relations in an increasingly modern and democratic Eastern Europe.

Pointing the way to a new history of the transformation of British subjects into American citizens, State and Citizen challenges the presumption that the early American state was weak by exploring the changing legal and political meaning of citizenship. The volume's distinguished contributors cast new light on the shift from subjecthood to citizenship during the American Revolution by showing that the federal state played a much greater part than is commonly supposed. Going beyond master narratives--celebratory or revisionist--that center on founding principles, the contributors argue that geopolitical realities and the federal state were at the center of early American political development. The volume's editors, Peter Thompson and Peter S. Onuf, bring together political science and historical methodologies to demonstrate that citizenship was a political as well as a legal concept. The American state, this collection argues, was formed and evolved in a more dialectical relationship between citizens and government authority than is generally acknowledged. Suggesting points of comparison between an American narrative of state development--previously thought to be exceptional--and those of Europe and Latin America, the contributors break fresh ground by investigating citizenship in its historical context rather than by reference only to its capacity to confer privileges.