The God Factor | Sojourners

The God Factor

These days, you’d have to work pretty hard to avoid the flood of books on faith and politics. We’ve highlighted many of them in our pages, including The Party Faithful, by Amy Sullivan; Souled Out, by E.J. Dionne Jr.; Faith in the Halls of Power, by D. Michael Lindsay; The Scandal of Evan­gelical Politics, by Ron Sider; Jesus for President, by Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw (see review, page 45); and of course Jim Wallis’ The Great Awakening. Here are a few more to consider.

How should a Christian approach faith and politics in a pluralistic society? For a good primer, see Beyond Left and Right: Helping Christians Make Sense of American Politics (BakerBooks), by Amy Black, a professor of politics and international relations at Wheaton College. Black covers all the thorny issues, including the myths around America as a “Christian” nation, whether Christians must vote Repub­lican, why the U.S. has two political parties, the functions of the executive, judicial, and legislative branches of government, and what the Con­sti­tution actually says about the role of religion. The final section helps readers apply their own faith to politics.

Read the Full Article

Sojourners Magazine April 2008
​You've reached the end of our free magazine preview. For full digital access to Sojourners articles for as little as $3.95, please subscribe now. Your subscription allows us to pay authors fairly for their terrific work!
Subscribe Now!