Citizens Of Two Worlds

Wholly Citizens addresses the relation between the church and the world in light of the Reformation teaching of the two realms—especially as presented by Luther. Rather than exploring again the usual texts of Luther from the 1520’s, this book begins with a careful reading of Luther’s Commentary on Psalm 81 (1531), and then considers subsequent interpreters of Luther, both faithful and otherwise, and the dubious legacy they have left the church. The book argues that both the corporate church as well as individual believers are responsible for the world, and that each must speak directly about and to the world in meaningful ways. The final section of the book addresses the concrete situation facing believers in the early 21st century in light of faithful Reformation teaching about the two realms. Following this path leads to conclusions not entirely expected, including the forthright rejection of “a wall of separation” between church and state, and also a rebuke of the familiar clamor for the preservation of the rights of Christians and the church. Heedless of the status quo, Wholly Citizens offers an engaging and bracing picture of Christian life in today’s world—a picture framed in theological truth.

Seventh-day Adventists and the Civil Rights Movement is the first in-depth study of the denomination's participation in civil rights politics. It considers the extent to which the denomination's theology influenced how its members responded. This book explores why a brave few Adventists became social and political activists, and why a majority of the faithful eschewed the movement. Samuel G. London, Jr., provides a clear, yet critical understanding of the history and theology of the Seventh-day Adventist Church while highlighting the contributions of its members to political reform. Community awareness, the example of early Adventist pioneers, liberationist interpretations of the Bible, as well as various intellectual and theological justifications motivated the civil rights activities of some Adventists. For those who participated in the civil rights movement, these factors superseded the conservative ideology and theology that came to dominate the church after the passing of its founders. Covering the end of the 1800s through the 1970s, the book discusses how Christian fundamentalism, the curse of Ham, the philosophy of Booker T. Washington, pragmatism, the aversion to ecumenism and the Social Gospel, belief in the separation of church and state, and American individualism converged to impact Adventist sociopolitical thought.

This book is not a religious book, it is a book about the intergrity of God's word. The Spiritual reality of the unseen realms and the physical reality of the seen realms. The Spirit worlds is actually more real than the physical earth. Man is by nature a religious creature trying to connect to the Source. And this book i hope, will provide scriptural truths about this Source, that Everything man is looking for and seeking for, is in one place i.e. The Kingdom of God here on earth. "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness; and Everything shall be added unto you". Matthew 6:33.

After being introduced by a mutual friend in the winter of 2000, Reform Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch and Orthodox Rabbi Yosef Reinman embarked on an unprecedented eighteen-month e-mail correspondence on the fundamental principles of Jewish faith and practice. What resulted is this book: an honest, intelligent, no-holds-barred discussion of virtually every “hot button” issue on which Reform and Orthodox Jews differ, among them the existence of a Supreme Being, the origins and authenticity of the Bible and the Oral Law, the role of women, assimilation, the value of secular culture, and Israel. Sometimes they agree; more often than not they disagree—and quite sharply, too. But the important thing is that, as they keep talking to each other, they discover that they actually like each other, and, above all, they respect each other. Their journey from mutual suspicion to mutual regard is an extraordinary one; from it, both Jews and non-Jews of all backgrounds can learn a great deal about the practice of Judaism today and about the continuity of the Jewish people into the future.

This classic work by one of Europe s most respected twentieth-century legal minds tackles law through the eyes of Martin Luther. Johannes Heckel first reveals the basic features of Luther s doctrine of law in its totality, drawing from an overwhelming amount of material from all genres of Luther s writing. Heckel then considers how Luther viewed law as the framework for the existence of a Christian in this world. He develops a picture of Luther s position on law by grounding it in Luther s theology, arguing that his concept of natural law has to be understood in terms of the divine and the secular. Finally, Heckel shows the practicality of Luther s position by focusing on the places in which a Christian interacts with legality in this world church, marriage and family, and politics. / When Johannes Heckel s Lex Charitatis appeared more than half a century ago it brought new clarity to the much disputed issue of Luther s understanding of the law and of God s governance of his created order. . . . Having Heckel s work in English will assist scholars and students alike in putting Luther s insights to use in the context of twenty-first-century problems. / Robert Kolb, Concordia Seminary

Alexis de Tocqueville may be the most influential political thinker in American history. He also led an unusually active and ambitious career in French politics. In this magisterial book, one of America's most important contemporary theorists draws on decades of research and thought to present the first work that fully connects Tocqueville's political and theoretical lives. In doing so, Sheldon Wolin presents sweeping new interpretations of Tocqueville's major works and of his place in intellectual history. As he traces the origins and impact of Tocqueville's ideas, Wolin also offers a profound commentary on the general trajectory of Western political life over the past two hundred years. Wolin proceeds by examining Tocqueville's key writings in light of his experiences in the troubled world of French politics. He portrays Democracy in America, for example, as a theory of discovery that emerged from Tocqueville's contrasting experiences of America and of France's constitutional monarchy. He shows us how Tocqueville used Recollections to reexamine his political commitments in light of the revolutions of 1848 and the threat of socialism. He portrays The Old Regime and the French Revolution as a work of theoretical history designed to throw light on the Bonapartist despotism he saw around him. Throughout, Wolin highlights the tensions between Tocqueville's ideas and his activities as a politician, arguing that--despite his limited political success--Tocqueville was ''perhaps the last influential theorist who can be said to have truly cared about political life.'' In the course of the book, Wolin also shows that Tocqueville struggled with many of the forces that constrain politics today, including the relentless advance of capitalism, of science and technology, and of state bureaucracy. He concludes that Tocqueville's insights and anxieties about the impotence of politics in a ''postaristocratic'' era speak directly to the challenges of our own ''postdemocratic'' age. A monumental new study of Tocqueville, this is also a rich and provocative work about the past, the present, and the future of democratic life in America and abroad.

Written in the midst of World War II, this book makes a strong argument for the crucial importance of education as the solution to the dilemmas with which our Anglo-Saxon culture was nurtured, with particular emphasis on the work of John Dewey and Jean-Jacques Rousseau."The schools with which this argument is concerned are those of the Anglo-Saxon democracies of the last three centuries. In the life of England and America as we now know them, three hundred years of cultural change have moved on to a culminating and desperate crisis. That culture, in its religious and moral aspects, we have called Protestantism. On the economic and political side it has appeared as Capitalism. And these two together have established and maintained a way of life which we describe as Democratic. This book is devoted to an attempt to understand the education which is given by Anglo-Saxon democracies, to study the learning and teaching which have been done by a Protestant-capitalist civilization." ufrom the Preface.As the original foreword by Reginald Archambault indicates, "Fundamentally this is a book about education written by an educator who was anything but conservative and never merely theoretical. He is interested not only in educational theory but also in educational policy, and indeed, in pedagogy. The volume is invaluable, then, for the student of education, for it sheds critical light on the classic conceptions of education for the poor, and provides a heuristic statement of direction for the future." Stringfellow Barr, writing for the New Republic, indicates that this is "A wise and courageous book. I do not know how anybody concerned with education can ignore it." Mark van Doren in the Nation said, "As many readers as are interested in human happiness should go through this bookafor it is concerned with as important a theme as any I can imagine."

“Between Two Worlds is an extraordinary story of how an innocent young woman got caught up in the current of political events and met individuals whose stories vividly depict human rights violations in Iran.” — Shirin Ebadi, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize Between Two World is the harrowing chronicle of Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi’s imprisonment in Iran—as well as a penetrating look at Iran and its political tensions. Here for the first time is the full story of Saberi’s arrest and imprisonment, which drew international attention as a cause célèbre from Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and leaders across the globe.