Download or read book Social Justice Goes To Church The New Left in Modern American Evangelicalism written by Jon Harris and published by Ambassador International. This book was released on 2020-10-06 with total page 152 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The infusion of social justice into the gospel may well be the most dangerous problem facing the church today. Yet, it is going unnoticed in far too many circles. Social Justice Goes to Church can serve as a wake-up call." —Samuel C. Smith, Ph.D. Chair and Graduate Program Director, Department of History, Liberty University In order to understand why so many evangelicals recently support left-leaning political causes, it is important to know a little history. In the 1970s, many campus radicals raised in Christian homes brought neo-Marxist ideas from college back to church with them. At first, figures like Jim Wallis, Ron Sider, and Richard Mouw made great gains for their progressive evangelical cause. But, after the defeat of Jimmy Carter, the religious right stole the headlines. Today, a new crop of mainstream evangelicals has taken up the cause of the New Left, whether they know it or not. As pro-life evangelicals rush to support movements like #BlackLivesMatter and #MeToo, it is important to realize they are walking in footprints already laid down. Their mission may be more successful, but it is not new. To understand where the evangelical social justice movement is heading, it is vital to understand the origins of the movement. Social Justice Goes to Church: The New Left in Modern American Evangelicalism answers, from a historical perspective, the vital question, "Why are American evangelicals moving Left?" “The great injunction to the Church was to preach the Gospel to the world, while not being of the world. Social justice neatly reverses this trend, preaching the ways of the world into the church. That is not its only critical reversal. The Gospel is about freedom from guilt and sin and bondage. Social justice seeks above all to apportion guilt and sin and bondage, enslaving entire demographics and requiring that they kneel before man in attrition. How important that a book of this nature should enter the fray right now. I applaud Mr. Harris for his excellent work in providing the practical means of identifying and repelling this fraudulent force, this ideological interloper, this dangerous false teaching.” —Douglas Kruger Author of Political Correctness Does More Harm Than Good: How to Identify, Debunk, and Dismantle Dangerous Ideas

Download or read book Moral Minority written by David R. Swartz and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2012-09-07 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1973, nearly a decade before the height of the Moral Majority, a group of progressive activists assembled in a Chicago YMCA to strategize about how to move the nation in a more evangelical direction through political action. When they emerged, the Washington Post predicted that the new evangelical left could "shake both political and religious life in America." The following decades proved the Post both right and wrong—evangelical participation in the political sphere was intensifying, but in the end it was the religious right, not the left, that built a viable movement and mobilized electorally. How did the evangelical right gain a moral monopoly and why were evangelical progressives, who had shown such promise, left behind? In Moral Minority, the first comprehensive history of the evangelical left, David R. Swartz sets out to answer these questions, charting the rise, decline, and political legacy of this forgotten movement. Though vibrant in the late nineteenth century, progressive evangelicals were in eclipse following religious controversies of the early twentieth century, only to reemerge in the 1960s and 1970s. They stood for antiwar, civil rights, and anticonsumer principles, even as they stressed doctrinal and sexual fidelity. Politically progressive and theologically conservative, the evangelical left was also remarkably diverse, encompassing groups such as Sojourners, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, Evangelicals for Social Action, and the Association for Public Justice. Swartz chronicles the efforts of evangelical progressives who expanded the concept of morality from the personal to the social and showed the way—organizationally and through political activism—to what would become the much larger and more influential evangelical right. By the 1980s, although they had witnessed the election of Jimmy Carter, the nation's first born-again president, progressive evangelicals found themselves in the political wilderness, riven by identity politics and alienated by a skeptical Democratic Party and a hostile religious right. In the twenty-first century, evangelicals of nearly all political and denominational persuasions view social engagement as a fundamental responsibility of the faithful. This most dramatic of transformations is an important legacy of the evangelical left.

Download or read book Return to Justice written by Soong-Chan Rah and published by Brazos Press. This book was released on 2016-06-21 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reclaiming an Evangelical History of Activism In recent years, there has been renewed interest by evangelicals in the topic of biblical social justice. Younger evangelicals and millennials, in particular, have shown increased concern for social issues. But this is not a recent development. Following World War II, a new movement of American evangelicals emerged who gradually increased their efforts on behalf of justice. This work explains the important historical context for evangelical reengagement with social justice issues. The authors provide an overview of post-World War II evangelical social justice and compassion ministries, introducing key figures and seminal organizations that propelled the rediscovery of biblical justice. They explore historical and theological lessons learned and offer a way forward for contemporary Christians.

Download or read book Jesus and Justice written by Peter Goodwin Heltzel and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2009-07-21 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This timely book investigates the increasing visibility and influence of evangelical Christians in recent American politics with a focus on racial justice. Peter Goodwin Heltzel considers four evangelical social movements: Focus on the Family, the National Association of Evangelicals, Christian Community Development Association, and Sojourners. The political motives and actions of evangelical groups are founded upon their conceptions of Jesus Christ, Heltzel contends. He traces the roots of contemporary evangelical politics to the prophetic black Christianity tradition of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the socially engaged evangelical tradition of Carl F. H. Henry. Heltzel shows that the basic tenets of King's and Henry's theologies have led their evangelical heirs toward a prophetic evangelicalism in a shade of blue green--blue symbolizing the tragedy of black suffering in the Americas, and green symbolizing the hope of a prophetic evangelical engagement with poverty, AIDS, and the environment. This fresh theological understanding of evangelical political groups shines new light on the ways evangelicals shape and are shaped by broader American culture.

Download or read book Christianity and Social Justice written by Jon Harris and published by . This book was released on 2021-09-27 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Christianity and Social Justice is everything Christians need to understand and answer the social justice movement in one book. From its history, secular manifestations, and Christian variations, Jon Harris thoroughly describes the movement, shows how it threatens orthodoxy, and offers powerful responses.

Download or read book Woke Religion Unmasking the False Gospel of Social Justice written by Wes Carpenter and published by Ambassador International. This book was released on 2021-08-03 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In today’s society, many, including Christians, want to be “woke.” But has woke become simply another religion, another ploy of Satan’s to shred the fabric of Christianity? As woke critical theory seeps through the teachings of the Church, many Christians are being misled by their own spiritual leaders to take part in the newest attempt for their souls. In Woke Religion: Unmasking the False Gospel of Social Justice, Wes Carpenter unashamedly addresses these heretical teachings, calling on those in spiritual authority to deny woke philosophies and cling to the teachings of Scripture. Follow Wes as he takes the reader from the stirrings of woke critical theory in Church history to the teachings that are pervading the Church today.

Download or read book Progressive Evangelicals and the Pursuit of Social Justice written by Brantley W. Gasaway and published by UNC Press Books. This book was released on 2014 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Progressive Evangelicals and the Pursuit of Social Justice

Download or read book Fault Lines written by Voddie T. Baucham and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2021-04-06 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In this powerful book, Voddie Baucham, a preacher, professor, and cultural apologist, explains the sinister worldview behind the social justice movement and Critical Race Theory--revealing how it already has infiltrated some seminaries, leading to internal denominational conflict, canceled careers, and lost livelihoods. Like a fault line, it threatens American culture in general--and the evangelical church in particular."--From publisher's description.

Download or read book Progressive Evangelicals and the Pursuit of Social Justice written by Brantley W. Gasaway and published by UNC Press Books. This book was released on 2014-10-30 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this compelling history of progressive evangelicalism, Brantley Gasaway examines a dynamic though often overlooked movement within American Christianity today. Gasaway focuses on left-leaning groups, such as Sojourners and Evangelicals for Social Action, that emerged in the early 1970s, prior to the rise of the more visible Religious Right. He identifies the distinctive "public theology--a set of biblical interpretations regarding the responsibility of Christians to promote social justice--that has animated progressive evangelicals' activism and bound together their unusual combination of political positions. The book analyzes how prominent leaders, including Jim Wallis, Ron Sider, and Tony Campolo, responded to key political and social issues over the past four decades. Progressive evangelicals combated racial inequalities, endorsed feminism, promoted economic justice, and denounced American nationalism and militarism. At the same time, most leaders opposed abortion and refused to affirm homosexual behavior, even as they defended gay civil rights. Gasaway demonstrates that, while progressive evangelicals have been caught in the crossfire of partisan conflicts and public debates over the role of religion in politics, they have offered a significant alternative to both the Religious Right and the political left.

Download or read book The Evangelicals written by Frances FitzGerald and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2017-04-04 with total page 752 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: * Winner of the 2017 National Book Critics Circle Award * National Book Award Finalist * Time magazine Top 10 Nonfiction Book of the Year * New York Times Notable Book * Publishers Weekly Best Books of 2017 This “epic history” (The Boston Globe) from Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Frances FitzGerald is the first to tell the powerful, dramatic story of the Evangelical movement in America—from the Puritan era to the 2016 election. “We have long needed a fair-minded overview of this vitally important religious sensibility, and FitzGerald has now provided it” (The New York Times Book Review). The evangelical movement began in the revivals of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, known in America as the Great Awakenings. A populist rebellion against the established churches, it became the dominant religious force in the country. During the nineteenth century white evangelicals split apart, first North versus South, and then, modernist versus fundamentalist. After World War II, Billy Graham attracted enormous crowds and tried to gather all Protestants under his big tent, but the civil rights movement and the social revolution of the sixties drove them apart again. By the 1980s Jerry Falwell and other southern televangelists, such as Pat Robertson, had formed the Christian right. Protesting abortion and gay rights, they led the South into the Republican Party, and for thirty-five years they were the sole voice of evangelicals to be heard nationally. Eventually a younger generation proposed a broader agenda of issues, such as climate change, gender equality, and immigration reform. Evangelicals now constitute twenty-five percent of the American population, but they are no longer monolithic in their politics. They range from Tea Party supporters to social reformers. Still, with the decline of religious faith generally, FitzGerald suggests that evangelical churches must embrace ethnic minorities if they are to survive. “A well-written, thought-provoking, and deeply researched history that is impressive for its scope and level of detail” (The Wall Street Journal). Her “brilliant book could not have been more timely, more well-researched, more well-written, or more necessary” (The American Scholar).

Download or read book The New Evangelical Social Engagement written by Brian Steensland and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2014 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Evangelicals are increasingly turning their attention to such issues as the environment, international human rights, economic development, racial reconciliation, and urban renewal. The New Evangelical Social Engagement maps this new religious terrain and spells out its significance.

Download or read book Confronting Injustice without Compromising Truth written by Thaddeus J. Williams and published by Zondervan Academic. This book was released on 2020-12-22 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: God does not suggest, he commands that we do justice. Social justice is not optional for the Christian. All injustice affects others, so talking about justice that isn't social is like talking about water that isn't wet or a square with no right angles. But the Bible's call to seek justice is not a call to superficial, kneejerk activism. We are not merely commanded to execute justice, but to "truly execute justice." The God who commands us to seek justice is the same God who commands us to "test everything" and "hold fast to what is good." Drawing from a diverse range of theologians, sociologists, artists, and activists, Confronting Injustice without Compromising Truth, by Thaddeus Williams, makes the case that we must be discerning if we are to "truly execute justice" as Scripture commands. Not everything called "social justice" today is compatible with a biblical vision of a better world. The Bible offers hopeful and distinctive answers to deep questions of worship, community, salvation, and knowledge that ought to mark a uniquely Christian pursuit of justice. Topics addressed include: Racism Sexuality Socialism Culture War Abortion Tribalism Critical Theory Identity Politics Confronting Injustice without Compromising Truth also brings in unique voices to talk about their experiences with these various social justice issues, including: Michelle-Lee Barnwall Suresh Budhaprithi Eddie Byun Freddie Cardoza Becket Cook Bella Danusiar Monique Duson Ojo Okeye Edwin Ramirez Samuel Sey Neil Shenvi Walt Sobchak In Confronting Injustice without Compromising Truth, Thaddeus Williams transcends our religious and political tribalism and challenges readers to discover what the Bible and the example of Jesus have to teach us about justice. He presents a compelling vision of justice for all God's image-bearers that offers hopeful answers to life's biggest questions.

Download or read book Religion of Fear written by Jason C Bivins and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2008-08-29 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Conservative evangelicalism has transformed American politics, disseminating a sometimes fearful message not just through conventional channels, but through subcultures and alternate modes of communication. Within this world is a "Religion of Fear," a critical impulse that dramatizes cultural and political conflicts and issues in frightening ways that serve to contrast "orthodox" behaviors and beliefs with those linked to darkness, fear, and demonology. Jason Bivins offers close examinations of several popular evangelical cultural creations including the Left Behind novels, church-sponsored Halloween "Hell Houses," sensational comic books, especially those disseminated by Jack Chick, and anti-rock and -rap rhetoric and censorship. Bivins depicts these fascinating and often troubling phenomena in vivid (sometimes lurid) detail and shows how they seek to shape evangelical cultural identity. As the "Religion of Fear" has developed since the 1960s, Bivins sees its message moving from a place of relative marginality to one of prominence. What does it say about American public life that such ideas of fearful religion and violent politics have become normalized? Addressing this question, Bivins establishes links and resonances between the cultural politics of evangelical pop, the activism of the New Christian Right, and the political exhaustion facing American democracy. Religion of Fear is a significant contribution to our understanding of the new shapes of political religion in the United States, of American evangelicalism, of the relation of religion and the media, and the link between religious pop culture and politics.

Download or read book The Christian Left written by Lucas Miles and published by BroadStreet Publishing Group LLC. This book was released on 2021-05-04 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The church has been invaded. The Christian Left unveils how liberal thought has entered America's sanctuaries, exchanging the Trinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for the trinity of diversity, acceptance, and social justice. This in-depth look at church history, world politics, and pop culture masterfully exposes the rise and agenda of the Christian Left. Readers will learn how to: Identify and refute the lies of the Christian Left Uncover the meaning of love as Jesus defined it Navigate controversial subjects such as abortion, gender identity, and the doctrine of hell Gain confidence in upholding biblical values Come face-to-face with the person of Jesus, who is neither left nor right but the embodiment of truth and grace Be equipped with a strong understanding of issues facing the church today and empowered to elevate God's truth, justice, and wisdom.

Download or read book Why Social Justice Is Not Biblical Justice An Urgent Appeal to Fellow Christians in a Time of Social Crisis written by Scott David Allen and published by Credo House Publishers. This book was released on 2020-09 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Prepare yourself to defend the truth against the greatest worldview threat of our generation. In recent years, a set of ideas rooted in postmodernism and neo-Marxist critical theory have merged into a comprehensive worldview. Labeled "social justice" by its advocates, it has radically redefined the popular understanding of justice. It purports to value equality and diversity and to champion the cause of the oppressed. Yet far too many Christians have little knowledge of this ideology, and consequently, don't see the danger. Many evangelical leaders confuse ideological social justice with biblical justice. Of course, justice is a deeply biblical idea, but this new ideology is far from biblical. It is imperative that Christ-followers, tasked with blessing their nations, wake up to the danger, and carefully discern the difference between Biblical justice and its destructive counterfeit. This book aims to replace confusion with clarity by holding up the counterfeit worldview and the Biblical worldview side-by-side, showing how significantly they differ in their core presuppositions. It challenges Christians to not merely denounce the false worldview, but offer a better alternative-the incomparable Biblical worldview, which shapes cultures marked by genuine justice, mercy, forgiveness, social harmony, and human dignity.

Download or read book After Evangelicalism written by David P. Gushee and published by Westminster John Knox Press. This book was released on 2020-08-25 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Named one of the Top 10 Books of the Year in 2020 by the Academy of Parish Clergy "Drawing on his own spiritual journey, David Gushee provides an incisive critique of American evangelicalism [and] offers a succinct yet deeply informed guide for post-evangelicals seeking to pursue Christ-honoring lives." —Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Calvin University Millions are getting lost in the evangelical maze: inerrancy, indifference to the environment, deterministic Calvinism, purity culture, racism, LGBTQ discrimination, male dominance, and Christian nationalism. They are now conscientious objectors, deconstructionists, perhaps even "none and done." As one of America's leading academics speaking to the issues of religion today, David Gushee offers a clear assessment and a new way forward for disillusioned post-evangelicals. Gushee starts by analyzing what went wrong with U.S. white evangelicalism in areas such as evangelical history and identity, biblicism, uncredible theologies, and the fundamentalist understandings of race, politics, and sexuality. Along the way, he proposes new ways of Christian believing and of listening to God and Jesus today. He helps post-evangelicals know how to belong and behave, going from where they are to a living relationship with Christ and an intellectually cogent and morally robust post-evangelical faith. He shows that they can have a principled way of understanding Scripture, a community of Christ's people, a healthy politics, and can repent and learn to listen to people on the margins. With a foreword from Brian McLaren, who says, “David Gushee is right: there is indeed life after evangelicalism,” this book offers an essential handbook for those looking for answers and affirmation of their journey into a future that is post-evangelical but still centered on Jesus. If you, too, are struggling, After Evangelicalism shows that it is possible to cut loose from evangelical Christianity and, more than that, it is necessary.

Download or read book Still Christian written by David P. Gushee and published by Presbyterian Publishing Corp. This book was released on 2017-09-15 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a book for folks whose commitment to Jesus has put them at odds with American evangelicalism. —Shane Claiborne So many Americans today love their faith but have found their church doesn't love them back. They then leave, seeking community elsewhere. Of all those personal stories, few have ever been told by someone so far inside the powerful places of white evangelical Christianity. In this provocative tell-all, David Gushee opens the door to the frictions and schisms of evangelicalism, tells his own story of leaving, and shows that you, too, can find a Christianity that is worth following. Gushee’s experiences begin with becoming a born-again Southern Baptist in 1978 and end with being kicked out of evangelicalism in 2014 for his principled stance on full LGBTQ inclusion. But his religious pilgrimage proves even broader than that, as he leads his doctoral studies at Union Seminary in New York, his dismay when the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary expelled female professors and fellow colleagues, to his days as every evangelical’s least-favorite liberal, and more. In telling his story, Gushee speaks to those who have been disillusioned by American Christianity. As he describes his own struggles to find the right path at different stages of his journey, he highlights the turning points and decisions that we all face. When do we compromise, and when do we stand our ground? Is holding to moral conviction worth sacrificing friendship, jobs, and security? As he takes us through his sometimes-amusing, sometimes-heartbreaking, and always-stirring journey, Gushee shows us that we can retain our faith in Christ even when Christians disappoint us.