Ulrik Nissen addresses the difficulty that contemporary theology faces in trying to find a way to maintain both all the shared goods we cherish as political beings, and the call for Christians to be a particular people in the world and bear witness to Christ. Nissen stresses that Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Christological ethics allows for a polemical unity between the reality of the world and the reality of God, reconciled in the reality of Christ. Based on a series of case studies that provide a point of departure for a robust reshaping of Christian humanism and responsibility, Nissen reads Bonhoeffer's ethics in the light of both his Lutheran heritage and contemporary challenges, highlighting the importance of his thought for political theology. By demonstrating the significant influence of Lutheran and Chalcedonian Christology in contemporary ethics, Nissen provides a robust argument for a love of the common reality we share as human beings, and a call for Christians to bear witness to Christ in the public world.

The prevailing narrative of human history, given to us as children and reinforced constantly through our culture, is the plot of progress. As the narrative goes, we progressed from tyranny to freedom, from superstition to science, from poverty to wealth, from darkness to enlightenment. This is modernity’s origin myth. Out of it, a consensus has emerged: part of human progress is the overcoming of religion, in particular Christianity, and that the world itself is fundamentally secular. In The Two Cities: A History of Christian Politics, Andrew Willard Jones rewrites the political history of the West with a new plot, a plot in which Christianity is true, in which human history is Church history. The Two Cities moves through the rise and fall of empires; cycles of corruption and reform; the rise and fall of Christendom; the emergence of new political forms, such as the modern state, and new political ideologies, such as liberalism and socialism; through the horrible destruction of modern warfare; and on to the plight of contemporary Christians. These movements of history are all considered in light of their orientation toward or away from God. The Two Cities advances a theory of Christian politics that is both an explanation of secular politics and a proposal for Christians seeking to navigate today’s most urgent political questions.

This collection of essays spans the breadth of the United Church of Christ: its roots; its polity, ministry, and worship issues; and its theological issues and movements. The revised and updated edition includes a new preface; a new chapter title for Chapter 18 The United Church of Christ Tomorrow: A View from 1990; and the addition of a new chapter, Chapter 19: Into a New Century.

In Christ and the Common Life Luke Bretherton provides an introduction to historical and contemporary theological reflection on politics and opens up a compelling vision for a Christian commitment to democracy. In dialogue with Scripture and various traditions, Bretherton examines the dynamic relationship between who we are in relation to God and who we are as moral and political animals. He addresses fundamental political questions about poverty and injustice, forming a common life with strangers, and handling power constructively. And through his analysis of debates concerning, among other things, race, class, economics, the environ­ment, and interfaith relations, he develops an innovative political theology of democracy as a way through which Christians can speak and act faithfully within our current context. Read as a whole, or as stand-alone chapters, the book guides readers through the political landscape and identifies the primary vocabulary, ideas, and schools of thought that shape Christian reflection on politics in the West. Ideal for the classroom, Christ and the Common Life equips students to understand politics and its positive and negative role in fostering neighbor love.

Perspectives on Church Government presents in counterpoint form the basic models of church government which have developed over the course of church history with a view toward determining which is most faithful to Scripture. Each chapter will be written by a prominent person from within each tradition—with specific guidelines dealing with the biblical, historical, and theological issues within each governance tradition. In addition, each writer will have the opportunity to give a brief response to the other traditions.

This book explores the relationship between Calvin's thought about civil and ecclesiastical order and his own circumstances and activities. The early chapters argue that in his pre-Genevan writings, including the first edition of the Institution, Calvin's political thinking was entirely conventional; his subsequent thought and conduct were not an implementation of previously formulated ideas. Later chapters examine whether and to what extent Calvin developed a distinctive vision of the Christian polity as part of an overall conception of the Christian life.

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Originally written for his students, this well-known 19th century Baptist minister turned out a proven classic of Theology. His orderly statements of the evidence prove that the Scriptures are a trustworthy revelation of Divine Will. The logical presentation of the blessed truths taught by the Scriptures has stood the test of time.The treatment of nearly every topic is biblical, rather than philosophical, and will be found useful in proportion to the care with which the Bible is consulted.