Descriere: In the United States, there are hundreds of thousands of Protestant churches whose members habitually carry their Bibles with them. These churches--often referred to as "evangelical" or "fundamentalist"--play a crucial role in shaping American society. In this book, David Watt draws on years of fieldwork to present an elegant reinterpretation of the way that conservative Protestants influence American politics and culture. At the heart of the book is a sympathetic, but far from uncritical, analysis of those forms of social power that are assumed to be natural among Bible-carrying Christians. While outsiders often presuppose that evangelical Christians take for granted the authority of certain institutions (among them the American state, corporations, ministers, men, and heterosexuals), Watt argues that the reality is far more complex. This is a concise and lively book that sheds new light on the way that Bible-carrying Christians influence the way that people in America think--and avoid thinking--about social power.
Autori: David Harrington Watt (Author) | Editura: OXFORD UNIV PR | Anul aparitiei: 2002 | ISBN: 9780195068344 | Numar de pagini: 176 | Categorie: Religion
Tolstoy, Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy
The Kingdom of God Is Within You
First published in Germany in 1894, after being banned in Russia, The Kingdom of God Is within You reveals Tolstoy's world outlook after his conversion to Christianity. He argues that the kingdom of God is within reach of all. The core of the book deals with his nonresistance to evil, a principle Tolstoy passionately advocated. Gandhi was won over by the book. Tolstoy clearly describes the hazards that bullying governments and false beliefs produced. "The situation of the Christian part of humanity--with its prisons, forced labor, gallows, saloons, brothels, constantly increasing armaments, and millions of confused people ready like trained hounds to attack anyone against whom their masters set them--this situation would be terrible if it were the product of coercion, but it is above all the product of public opinion." Abhorring the violence of revolution, Tolstoy calls on Christians to remember that the only guide for their actions is to be found in the divine principle dwelling within them, which in no sense can be checked or governed by anyone or anything else.
David Baddiel (Author)
From the bestselling author of Jews Don't Count ' A hugely heartfelt, funny, kind, fascinating, human and clever book ' ALAIN DE BOTTON ' Magnificent. Breathtaking. And shockingly rare ... another one-sitting wonder' STEPHEN FRY David Baddiel would love there to be a God. He has spent a lot of time fantasising about how much better life would be if there actually was such a thing as a Superhero Dad who chased off Death. Unfortunately for him, there isn't. Or at least, that is Baddiel's view in this book, which argues that it is indeed the very intensity of his, and everyone else's, desire for God to exist that proves His non-existence. Anything so deeply wished-for we will, considers Baddiel, make real. The admission of his own divine yearnings makes for a book that is more vulnerable - and more understanding of the value and power of religion - than most atheist polemics. A philosophical essay that utilises Baddiel's trademarks of comedy, storytelling and personal asides, The God Desire offers a highly readable new perspective on the most ancient of debates.
C. S. Lewis (Author)
In the classic Mere Christianity , C.S. Lewis, the most important writer of the 20th cent