2020 Election Study Resources
|
|
As we head into the November presidential election in the midst of an ongoing pandemic, we hope the resources below will allow you and your congregation to reflect on the place of the church in politics.
These resources focus on civil communication, hope, and practical ways to get involved. You can easily use these in virtual study groups or book clubs and many of the titles provide an opportunity to plan church revitalization efforts as we work to rebuild and discover new ways of being the church. |
|
Group & Individual Study
- "Let the Monster Perish": Read the February 1865 address to the U.S. Congress from Presbyterian pastor and abolitionist Henry Highland Garnet just days after the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment banning slavery.
- Holy Disunity: Layton E. Williams proposes that our primary calling as humans is not to create unity but rather to seek authentic relationships and our religious, political, social, and cultural differences can provide surprising gifts of perspective and grace.
- In Defense of Civility: James Calvin Davis argues for religion's potential to enrich both the content and the civility of public conversation.
- Truth Speaks to Power: Walter Brueggemann asserts that the Bible presents a "sustained contestation" over truth, in which established institutions of power do not always prevail.
- The Church and Politics from the Being Reformed Curriculum Series: This study will consider the Bible and Politics, Reformed Politics, Politics American Style, and other dimensions of justice, responsibility, and democracy.
- Politics from the Faith Questions Youth Curriculum: This four-session study explores the questions: Is God a Republican or a Democrat?, Is It a Sin Not to Vote?, Why Do Some Politicians Lie and Make Bad Decisions in Their Personal Lives?, and Is It OK or Not OK to Talk about Politics at Church?
|
|
Congregations Taking Action
- Running for Our Lives: The honest and authentic story of how one pastor running for public office learned about how our political identities shape us, what the role of government has in helping to meet people's needs, and how others can get involved in politics as an expression of progressive faith.
- Neighborhood Church: Practical, essential tools that lead to communal conversion, develop the DNA of listening, spur fruitful partnerships, promote integrated space, and sustain long-term visions .
- Fearless Dialogues: Gregory C. Ellison walks readers through the steps that must be taken to find common ground in our divided communities and then to implement genuine and lasting change.
- No Innocent Bystanders: A start-up guide for spiritual or religious people who are interested in working for social justice but don't know how or where to begin.
- To Do Justice: In this guidebook for becoming involved in social action, ordained PC(USA) ministers Rebecca Todd Peters and Elizabeth Hinson-Hasty offer tools for studying complex domestic social problems such as Social Security, immigration, the environment, and public education.
- Doing Justice in Our Cities: Warren Copeland draws from his experience of more than two decades in city politics and addresses the issue of Christian ethics in public service.
|
|
Deep Dives into Issues of Politics, Ethics, History, & Society
- Truth and Hope: This collection of essays from Walter Brueggemann is theologically rooted in the concept of prophetic tradition as a means of truth-telling and bringing about justice and restoration.
- The Possibility of America: David Dark provides a vision of a fractured yet redeemable American Christianity, bringing his signature mix of theological, cultural, and political analysis.
- Was America Founded as a Christian Nation? Revised Edition: John Fea offers a thoroughly researched, evenhanded primer on whether America was founded to be a Christian nation, as many evangelicals assert, or a secular state, as others contend.
- A Political History of the Bible in America: This substantial work explores the interplay of religion and politics throughout the history of the United States.
- Moral Man and Immoral Society: Arguably his most famous book, Moral Man and Immoral Society is Reinhold Niebuhr's important early study (1932) in ethics and politics.
- The Bible in Politics, Second Edition: This second edition of Richard Bauckham's work is essential for understanding how to read the Bible politically and gain an insight into the social relevance of the Bible.
|
|
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment