Public Faith, A: How Followers Of Christ Should Serve The Common Good
Debates are raging today about the role of religions in public life. As the world shrinks and the interdependence of people increases, various religions come to inhabit the same space.,ul>
- But how do they live together, especially when each wants to shape the public realm according to the dictates of its own sacred texts and traditions?
- How does the Christian faith relate in the religious pluralism of contemporary public life?
While Volf argues that there is no single way Christian faith relates to the culture as a whole, he explores major issues on the frontlines of faith today:
- 1) In what way does the Christian faith come to malfunction in the contemporary world and how should we counter these malfunctions?
- 2) What should a Christian's main concern be when it comes to living well in the world today?
- 3) How should we go about realizing a vision for human flourishing in relation to other faiths and under the roof of a single state?
Covering such timely issues as witness in a multifaith society and political engagement in a pluralistic world, the book highlights things we must do for the Christian faith to truly impact the way we live in the world.
-Publisher.
Public Faith, A: How Followers Of Christ Should Serve The Common Good
Serving the Common Good in Public Life "Why should Christians use the resources of their faith to speak to and to serve the common good rather than reducing the faith to a message that soothes individuals or energizes them to pursue success? And how can they do that without coercing those who are not Christians? In A Public Faith, Miroslav Volf sets for himself the daunting task of addressing these two deep and urgent questions in a way that is both widely accessible and that takes account of the scholarly literature. He succeeds on all counts. It is a wonderful guide for the perplexed in our times." --Nicholas Wolterstorff, Noah Porter Professor of Philosophical Theology, Yale University; senior fellow, Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture, University of Virginia "Our efforts as people of faith to bring our religious convictions into the public arena have clearly malfunctioned in recent years. But Miroslav Volf does not want us to retreat to a 'private faith' mentality. Instead he offers profound counsel about how faith-based public advocacy can promote the common good in our increasingly pluralistic world. This important book is packed with wisdom!" --Richard J. Mouw, president and professor of Christian philosophy, Fuller Theological Seminary "Firmly rooted within his own tradition of Christianity, Miroslav Volf has produced an indispensible guide for voices of faith within the arena of public discourse. A Public Faith is arguably the most important book on the topic since H. Richard Niebuhr's Christ and Culture." --Randall Balmer, professor of American religious history, Columbia University
[Publisher]
Miroslav Volf
Miroslav Volf (Dr. Theol., University of Tubingen) is the Director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture and the Henry B. Wright Professor of Systematic Theology. Professor Volf's recent books include
Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace (2006), Archbishop of Canterbury Lenten book for 2006;
Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation (1996), a winner of the 2002 Grawemeyer Award;
After Our Likeness: The Church as the Image of the Trinity (1998), winner of the Christianity Today book award, and
The End Of Memory: Remembering Rightly in a Violent World.
A member of the Episcopal Church in the U.S.A. and the Evangelical Church in Croatia, Professor Volf was involved in international ecumenical dialogues (for instance, with the Vatican Council for Promotion of Christian Unity) and interfaith dialogues (most recently in Christian-Muslim dialogue). A native of Croatia, he regularly teaches and lectures in Central and Eastern Europe.
Koorong -Editorial Review.
View larger image
