When Did Jesus Become Republican?: Rescuing Our Country and Our Values from the Right-- Strategies for a Post-Bush America: Mark Ellingsen: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

When Did Jesus Become Republican?

Rescuing Our Country and Our Values from the Right-- Strategies for a Post-Bush America

When Did Jesus Become Republican?

Rescuing Our Country and Our Values from the Right-- Strategies for a Post-Bush America

Description

Despite the results of the 2006 elections, the coalition between Conservative politics and American Christians remains a dominant force in setting the American socio-cultural and political agenda. Ellingsen argues that until this coalition is diminished we will remain a politically conservative nation to the detriment of the poor, the marginalized, the middle class, and nations around the world, as well as to the detriment of the spiritual life in America's churches! Unlike previous books lamenting this Neo-Conservative-Christian coalition, Ellingsen offers the first account of the root (Puritan) causes for this coalition and provides readers with concrete strategies that we can adopt to challenge the tragic pact between so many committed Christians and political leaders that value business and global domination above all else.

Chapter 1 Introduction: Are True Believers Really Conservative?
Part 2 How We Got the Way We Are
Chapter 3 The Puritan Paradigm
Chapter 4 Revivalism and the Individualizing of American Religion
Chapter 5 Fundamentalism, Its Decline, and the Rise of the Religious Right
Chapter 6 The Conservative Jesus
Part 7 Why It's Unlikely To Get Better Soon
Chapter 8 American Theological Education Since World War II
Chapter 9 Impact of German Philosophy and Theology on the Pews:The Importance of Today's Cutting-Edge Theologies
Chapter 10 The Impact of Americanization
Chapter 11 Stubborn Exceptions and What They Might Teach Us
Part 12 It Will Take a Conservative Theology To Recover a Politically Liberal Jesus and a New Liberal Coalition
Chapter 13 Resources in Classical Christianity
Chapter 14 What Catholics and Protestants Will Need To Do to Keep Jesus and his Gospel form Becoming Conservative: Some New (Old) Alternatives
Chapter 15 Conclusion: Where Do We Go From Here?

Product details

Published	Aug 24 2007
Format	Hardback
Edition	1st
Extent	224
ISBN	9780742552241
Imprint	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Dimensions	9 x 6 inches
Publisher	Bloomsbury Publishing

Mark Ellingsen has written an incredible narrative. Its analysis, if heeded, could realign faith and civic engagement in America. He tells us substantively and clearly why conservatives get the connection between religion and voting right. Ellingsen then unites progressive faith with progressive politics in such a way that the revelations in this book could alter presidential and congressional elections for a generation. He pulls the Left outside of its box and pushes the Right to the center. A refreshing theological voice that untangles the outdated public debates over red states and blue states. What remains is a new vision for a new America and a clarion call for an inclusive civilized discourse.

Dwight N. Hopkins, University of Chicago Divinity School, author of Being Human: Race, Culture, and Religion, University of Chicago Divinity School, author of Being Human: Race, Culture, and Religion

Mark Ellingsen once again brings a thought provoking challenge to the religious and secular communities with his When Did Jesus Become Republican?. It can be an excellent read as we enter into a new era in the political process and as we look at our two party system. Ellingsen makes us examine the question of liberalism and conservatism as it reflects on Jesus, one of our most revolutionary prophetic voices in the religious community, yesterday, today and tomorrow. This is a must read for all political junkies and public theologians.

W. Arthur Lewis, director of African-American Affairs for former New Jersey Governor James Florio, Helium

Mark Ellingsen here gives some hard-headed counsel on how to break the political lock on Jesus by the Religious Right. Relate, but do not capitulate, to the regnant "Puritan Paradigm." Reclaim the country's own Constitutional faith assumptions of common sense morality and the corruptability of power by human sin. While retaining its diverse religious and secular constituencies, let the Democrats reach out to the more numerous-than-realized mainline Christianity that needs to recover its own narrative faith and resist cultural captivity to the both the relativisms and fundamentalisms of the day. A wealth of wisdom here for both party and church.

Gabriel Fackre, author of The Religious Right and Christian Faith

Ellingsen…packs in a remarkable amount of history, mostly of Christianity in America. He not only addresses Christianity's roots, but its U.S. evolution, its ebb and flow, all in an effort to illustrate what he calls 'the dominance of the Puritan Paradigm on our social psyche'…Readers of Jim Wallis, Michael Lerner, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and others who've addressed the dichotomy between the New Testament Jesus, champion of the poor and forgotten, and the Jesus of the political right will want to add this title to their library.

Publishers Weekly

Of all the recent books written as clarion calls for liberals of faith to redefine an alternative to the religious right's version of 'values voting'...Ellingsen's call to action includes something unique: a sociological explanation of why the religious right's version of Christianity resonates with the average American. Ellingsen shows that the "Puritan Paradigm" – what he describes as a 'revivalist-tempered, individualistic Puritanism' – is the prevailing American model for Christianity and righteous living and that policies and practices aligned with this paradigm tend to receive voter approval. All readers, no matter their beliefs, will find the Puritan Paradigm an enlightening key to today's politics. The solutions Ellingsen proposes...could be embraced by Jews, Muslims, and secularists alike. Recommended for all libraries collecting in the area of religion and politics.

Library Journal

When Did Jesus Become Republican? provides an extensive review of how the followers of several religions have changed their thinking when it comes to politics. Mark Ellingsen presents the facts fairly without trying to persuade the reader as to which party he or she should support. He gives an unbiased account of the past and offers strategies that the parties can adopt if they wish to counteract or retain the recent voting trends

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