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Wisdom and Work
Alluring yet frustrating. Charming yet maddening. Such is our reaction to the literary wonder called Ecclesiastes (Qoheleth), a “wisdom” book that has captured the fascination of readers everywhere for over two millennia with its mix of poetry and personal reflection, its probing of the human experience and its piercing assessment of human activity—especially human labor. Its “All is meaningless!” lament, which frames the document, is well known to all. But its message and the structure of the writer’s argument remain disputed, even among professional scholars. Often overlooked, when not ignored, is the relationship between joy or contentment and the fear of God. And almost unive...
Natural Law and Religious Freedom
Every successive generation finds fresh reasons for the study of natural law. Current interest in the natural law may well be due to a pervasive moral pessimism in the Western cultural context and wider contemporary geopolitical challenges. Those geopolitical challenges result from two significant and worrisome global developments – unprecedented violent persecution of religious minorities on several continents and a growing climate of secular hostility toward religious faith in Western societies. Natural Law and Religious Freedom aims to address what is relatively absent from the literature by demonstrating the importance of natural law ethics in both establishing and preserving basic human rights, of which religious freedom has pride of place. Probing contemporary challenges to natural law thinking that are both internal and external to religious faith, and examining the character and constitution of natural law ethics, Natural Law and Religious Freedom will be of interest to theologians, ethicists and philosophers as well as policy analysts, politicians and activists who are concerned to anchor religious freedom and human rights policy considerations in an enduring way.
Between Pacifism and Jihad
Pacifism. Jihad. Militarism. Are these our only alternatives for dealing with global injustice today? J. Daryl Charles leads us to reconsider a Christian view of the use of force to maintain or reestablish justice. He shows how love for a neighbor can warrant the just use of force. Reviewing and updating the widely recognized but not necessarily well-understood just-war teaching of the church through the ages, Charles shows how it captures many of the concerns of the pacifist position while deliberately avoiding, on the other side, the excesses of jihad and militarism. Aware of our contemporary global situation, Charles addresses the unique challenges of dealing with international terrorism.
The Just War Tradition
Politicians, pundits, and scholars have cited the principles of “just war” to defend military actions from Iraq to Afghanistan to Libya. Other politicians, pundits, and scholars have cited just war principles to condemn those same military interventions. How can the same tradition lead to such sharply opposing conclusions? What is the just war tradition, and why is it important today? Authors David D. Corey and J. Daryl Charles answer those questions in this insightful exploration. A fascinating blend of history, theology, and political philosophy, The Just War Tradition: An Introduction traces the development of the tradition from its inception nearly two millennia ago. Corey and Charles illuminate how the various voices within the tradition—from Augustine and Aquinas, to Luther and Calvin, to Suárez and Locke, up to present-day commentators—relate to one another and to rival ways of understanding war and peace.
The Unformed Conscience of Evangelicalism
J. Daryl Charles urges the evangelical church to better equip (in character and moral vision) its pastors, leaders and members to constructively and effectively engage the ethical debates of the twenty-first century.
The Reformers on War, Peace, and Justice
Conflict and war were common during the Reformation era. Throughout the sixteenth century, rising religious and political tensions led to frequent conflict and culminated in the Thirty Years' War (1618-48) that devastated much of Germany and killed one-third of its population. Some of the warfare, as in central and southern Europe, was between Christians and Muslims. Other warfare, in central and northwestern Europe, was confessional warfare between Catholics and Protestants. Religion was not the only cause of war during the period. Revolts, territorial ambitions, and the beginnings of the contemporary nation-state system and international order that emerged after the Treaty of Westphalia (1648) also fueled the trauma and tragedy of war. In many ways, the world of the Reformers and Protestant Reformation was a violent world, and it was within such a sociopolitical framework that the Reformers and their followers lived, worked, and died. This book introduces the teachings of the Protestant Reformers on war and peace, in their context, before offering relevant primary source readings.
A Basic Guide to the Just War Tradition
This brief introduction surveys Christian thinking on an array of topics related to security and peace from a just war perspective. Drawing primarily on Scripture and theology, Eric Patterson explores the moral dimensions of order, justice, and peace in light of key Christian doctrines such as love of neighbor, stewardship, vocation, and sphere sovereignty. He also examines the perennial questions of civil disobedience, terrorism, revolution, and holy war (including a discussion of Israel's removal of the Canaanites and the Crusades) and interacts with theological thinkers throughout Christian history. The volume concludes with a treatment of punishment and restitution, considering how these can help move a society toward conciliation. While ideal as a textbook for courses on Christian ethics, theology and politics, and church and society, this book will also appeal to pastors and lay readers questioning the morality of war and Christians' involvement in force. Christians who serve in government, law enforcement, and the military will also find helpful guidance for thinking theologically about their vocations.
Wisdom's Work
When the early Christian author Tertullian asked what Jerusalem has to do with Athens, he could not have anticipated the intellectual, cultural, and social challenges facing Christians in the twenty-first century. But his question is no less relevant today. What does life in Christ have to do with the stuff of our daily lives--our work, education, citizenship, and behavior? What are we on earth to do? In this wide-ranging collection, J. Daryl Charles shares insights from nearly thirty years of reflecting on these and related questions. Wisdom's Work explores the earthiness of the Christian life through essays on vocation, work, ethics, education, and the calling of believers to be salt and light in the world--the real world that we inhabit every day.
Baptist Political Theology
Baptist ideals like the separation of church and state have indelibly shaped Western democracies, and Baptist thinkers continue to influence public policy and political engagement today. Yet the historical contours, enduring commitments, and current contributions of Baptist political thought are little understood. Baptist Political Theology, edited by scholars Thomas Kidd, Paul Miller, and Andrew Walker, introduces readers to the full sweep of Baptist engagement with politics. Part 1 reviews the life, writings, and political activity of important figures in Baptist history, as well as Baptist involvement in key historical eras and episodes. Part 2 presents a collective effort at applied political theology, with essays relating Baptist principles to a range of contemporary issues. This monumental volume sheds light on the history and contemporary practice of Baptists in the public square, offering context and clarity for Baptist political thought in the years to come.
Valentinian Ethics and Paraenetic Discourse
Offering a fresh assessment of the presence and function of paraenesis within Valentinianism, this book places Valentinian moral exhortation within the context of early Christian moral discourse. Like other early Christians, Valentinians were not only interested in ethics, but used moral exhortation to discursively shape social identity. Building on the increasing recognition of ethical and communal concerns reflected in the Nag Hammadi sources, this book advances the discussion by elucidating the social rhetoric within, especially, the Gospel of Truth and the Interpretation of Knowledge. The social function of paraenesis is to persuade an audience through social re-presentation. The authors of these texts discursively position their readers, and themselves, within engaging moments of narrativity. It is hoped that this study will encourage greater integration of research between those working on the Nag Hammadi material and those studying early Christian paraenetic discourse.
