Random House New Releases - Religion - Church & State - Between May 22, 2012 and June 21, 2013.

Liberation Theology by Phillip Berryman

2013-02-20T00:30:00-05:00

Liberation Theology The Essential Facts About the Revolutionary Movement in Latin America and Beyond
Written by Phillip Berryman

Liberation theology has become an essential component of almost every major debate over Latin America today. It has changed the face of political life in Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Haiti; contributed to the rise of “people power” in the Philippines; even played a role in the growing discontent of debt-plagued Brazil.

Now, using the plainspoken approach that made his Inside Central America the indispensable book on current affairs in the region, Phillip Berryman traces the origins, spread, and impact of liberation theology. He shows how its proponents have radically reinterpreted basic Biblical themes (such as the Creation and the Exodus) from the perspective of the poor and isenfranchised. By not asking “What must I believe?” but rather “What is to be done?” they make a direct connection between religious beliefs and political life.

OUR UNFINISHED BUSINESS by Phillip Berryman

2013-02-20T00:30:00-05:00

OUR UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Written by Phillip Berryman

What human ends are served by our economic policies? To whom is what “owed” in our country today? Is there an acceptable argument for just wars – or for the proliferation of nuclear weapons? In the final years of the Reagan era, The U.S. Catholic bishops emerged as articulate sources of dissenting wisdom, publicly testing our foreign and domestic policies against the principles of morality and humanity. With the same succinct style of Liberation Theology, Phillip Berryman analyzes two recent and widely circulated texts: the 1982 Challenge of Peace (on nuclear arms) and the 1986 Economic Justice For All.

Drawing on debate in and beyond church circles over these letters, Berryman argues that as we search for acceptable answers to urgent political questions we must use ethical and moral traditions if we are to confront them squarely. Only then can we promote peace and prosperity for all.

From the Trade Paperback edition.

The Positive Thinkers by Donald Meyer

2013-02-06T00:30:00-05:00

The Positive Thinkers
Written by Donald Meyer

The subject of Professor Meyer's superb study concerns the dissolution of the Protestant ethic, its relationship to a general failure of nerve within the American community, and the consequent rise of a pseudo-theology in the guise of a pseudo-psychology, as reflected through the work of certain "mind-cure" practitioners, from Mary Baker Eddy to Norman Vincent Peale. It is a subject largely ignored by intellectuals, and Professor Meyer, in taking it out of the domain of the Reader's Digestor similar habitations, has produced a real service, not only to sociology and political science, disciplines in which he is very well versed, but also to mass-culture and the vague but insidious ethos behind it. In describing what the sub-title states as "the American Quest for Health, Wealth, and Personal Power," Professor Meyer works from an historical perspective, does not beat any drums nor ride any hobby horse; scholarly care and an in-depth generosity illuminate a number of intricate concepts, whether they be "individualism," laissez-faire industry or the peculiar role and influence of women within society. His work is schematized yet fluid, showing how a process of ego-disintegration has paradoxically resulted out of the improperly understood religious orientation of the past and the anxiety-ridden religious revival of the present. Today God "means" Adjustment.

—Virgina Kirkus, Kirkus Reviews

In Freedom We Trust by Edward M. Buckner

2012-12-18T00:30:00-05:00

In Freedom We Trust An Atheist Guide to Religious Liberty
Written by Edward M. Buckner

Opponents attack the president of the United States for not being a real Christian. Bitter arguments erupt over whether the United States is or should be a Christian nation. Sound familiar? These contentious issues are not just recent developments but were also the topics of fierce debate in the late eighteenth century. Like President Obama today, President Thomas Jefferson had to contend with accusations that his religious convictions were questionable. Against complaints that the writers of the Constitution did not invoke God, John Adams replied, "It will never be pretended that any persons employed in that service had interviews with the gods." This book covers these and other related issues from the two-centuries-long debate over religion and secularism in America. Taking an unabashedly atheistic point of view, the father-and-son authors argue that everyone-from evangelical Christian to ardent atheist-needs a secular America and separation of church and state. They examine the decidedly unchristian roots of the Fourth of July, the important difference between "tolerance" and "toleration," the misleading confusions related to the difference between "public" and "governmental," the value of secular schooling, the erroneous contention that atheism is equivalent to immorality and therefore dangerous, and a host of other contemporary and historical topics. With a list of key dates related to the history of secular America, notes, bibliography, and glossary, In Freedom We Trust offers important facts and arguments for secular humanists and anyone with an interest in freedom of conscience.

In Freedom We Trust by Edward M. Buckner

2012-12-11T00:30:00-05:00

In Freedom We Trust An Atheist Guide to Religious Liberty
Written by Edward M. Buckner

Sword of the Spirit, Shield of Faith by Andrew Preston

2012-11-13T00:30:00-05:00

Sword of the Spirit, Shield of Faith Religion in American War and Diplomacy
Written by Andrew Preston

Winner of the Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction
Finalist for the Cundhill Prize in History

A richly detailed, profoundly engrossing story of how religion has influenced American foreign relations, told through the stories of the men and women—from presidents to preachers—who have plotted the country’s course in the world.

Ever since John Winthrop argued that the Puritans’ new home would be “a city upon a hill,” Americans’ role in the world has been shaped by their belief that God has something special in mind for them. But this is a story that historians have mostly ignored. Now, in the first authoritative work on the subject, Andrew Preston explores the major strains of religious fervor—liberal and conservative, pacifist and militant, internationalist and isolationist—that framed American thinking on international issues from the earliest colonial wars to the twenty-first century. He arrives at some startling conclusions, among them: Abraham Lincoln’s use of religion in the Civil War became the model for subsequent wars of humanitarian intervention; nineteenth-century Protestant missionaries made up the first NGO to advance a global human rights agenda; religious liberty was the centerpiece of Franklin Roosevelt’s strategy to bring the United States into World War II.

From George Washington to George W. Bush, from the Puritans to the present, from the colonial wars to the Cold War, religion has been one of America’s most powerful sources of ideas about the wider world. When, just days after 9/11, George W. Bush described America as “a prayerful nation, a nation that prays to an almighty God for protection and for peace,” or when Barack Obama spoke of balancing the “just war and the imperatives of a just peace” in his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, they were echoing four hundred years of religious rhetoric. Preston traces this echo back to its source.

Sword of the Spirit, Shield of Faith is an unprecedented achievement: no one has yet attempted such a bold synthesis of American history. It is also a remarkable work of balance and fair-mindedness about one of the most fraught subjects in America.

Proclaim Liberty by Carl Anderson

2012-10-09T00:30:00-05:00

Proclaim Liberty Notes on the Next Great Awakening in America
Written by Carl Anderson

America's history has been shaped by the sacrifice and witness of millions who have exercised in extraordinary ways our nation's guarantee of religious freedom. Historians have referred to these periods as "Great Awakenings." In this ebook, comprised of three talks Carl Anderson gave between April and August 2012, the author argues that all people of faith ought to approach politics in an effort to transform the divisiveness and hostility in today's political arena into a society in which every person is respected and valued—a society that Pope John Paul II has called a "Civilization of Love."

True Freedom by Timothy M. Dolan

2012-06-19T00:30:00-05:00

True Freedom On Protecting Human Dignity and Religious Liberty
Written by Timothy M. Dolan

True Freedom
On Protecting Human Dignity and Religious Liberty

Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, Archbishop of New York

Are American liberties on the endangered species list? In this eBook original, the Archbishop of New York and president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issues a plea for all citizens to reject the cynicism of the day and foster a culture in which religious freedom and all human life are infinitely valued.

Religion and the dignity of human life are under attack by a variety of threats in the modern world including abortion, infanticide, eugenics, misuse of artificial reproductive technologies, an unjust distribution of economic resources, war, the arms trade, drugs, and human trafficking. What can be done to stop this? Cardinal Timothy Dolan explains the need for all Americans to embrace a new culture rooted in what Blessed John Paul II called the Gospel of Life where the sacredness of all human life, and the freedoms that are their birthright, are upheld, respected and protected by law.

Random House New Releases - Religion - Church & State - Between May 22, 2012 and June 21, 2013.

Liberation Theology by Phillip Berryman

Liberation Theology The Essential Facts About the Revolutionary Movement in Latin America and BeyondWritten by Phillip Berryman

OUR UNFINISHED BUSINESS by Phillip Berryman

OUR UNFINISHED BUSINESS Written by Phillip Berryman

The Positive Thinkers by Donald Meyer

The Positive Thinkers Written by Donald Meyer

In Freedom We Trust by Edward M. Buckner

In Freedom We Trust An Atheist Guide to Religious LibertyWritten by Edward M. Buckner

In Freedom We Trust by Edward M. Buckner

In Freedom We Trust An Atheist Guide to Religious LibertyWritten by Edward M. Buckner

Sword of the Spirit, Shield of Faith by Andrew Preston

Sword of the Spirit, Shield of Faith Religion in American War and DiplomacyWritten by Andrew Preston

Proclaim Liberty by Carl Anderson

Proclaim Liberty Notes on the Next Great Awakening in AmericaWritten by Carl Anderson

True Freedom by Timothy M. Dolan

True Freedom On Protecting Human Dignity and Religious LibertyWritten by Timothy M. Dolan

Liberation Theology The Essential Facts About the Revolutionary Movement in Latin America and Beyond
Written by Phillip Berryman

OUR UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Written by Phillip Berryman

The Positive Thinkers
Written by Donald Meyer

In Freedom We Trust An Atheist Guide to Religious Liberty
Written by Edward M. Buckner

In Freedom We Trust An Atheist Guide to Religious Liberty
Written by Edward M. Buckner

Sword of the Spirit, Shield of Faith Religion in American War and Diplomacy
Written by Andrew Preston

Proclaim Liberty Notes on the Next Great Awakening in America
Written by Carl Anderson

True Freedom On Protecting Human Dignity and Religious Liberty
Written by Timothy M. Dolan