Bible in political debate : what does it really say? / edited by Frances Flannery and Rodney A. Werline.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Flannery, Frances, editor of compilation, editor.

Werline, Rodney Alan, 1961- editor of compilation, editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bible and politics.

Politics in the Bible.

Physical Description:

xiv, 195 pages ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

London : Bloomsbury T & T Clark, 2016.

Summary:

Politicians and pundits regularly invoke the Bible in social and political debates on a host of controversial social and political issues, including: abortion, stem-cell research, gay marriage, the death penalty, separation of church and state, family values, climate change, income distribution, teaching evolution in schools, taxation, school prayer, aid for the poor, and immigration. But is the Bible often used out of context in these major debates? This book includes essays by fourteen biblical scholars who examine the use of the Bible in political debates, uncovering the original historical contexts and meanings of the biblical verses that are commonly cited. The contributors take a non-confessional approach, rooted in non-partisan scholarship, to show how specific texts have at times been distorted in order to support particular views. At the same time, they show how the Bible can sometimes make for unsettling reading in the modern day. The key questions remain: What does the Bible really say? Should the Bible be used to form public policy?

Contents:

Introduction / Frances Flannery and Rodney A. Werline

pt. 1 The Bible in Contemporary Political Debate. The Bible and Family Values / Andrew Klumpp and Jack Levison

Diasporas "R" Us : Attitudes toward Immigrants in the Bible / Hector Avalos

Ending a Life That Has Not Begun : Abortion in the Bible / Bert Jan Lietaert Peerbolte

Senators, Snowballs, and Scripture : The Bible and Climate Change / Frances Flannery

Work, Poverty, and Welfare / Rodney A., Werline

Culture Wars, Homosexuality, and the Bible / Jonathan L. Jackson

The Bible and the Divine Sanctioning of Governments / Colleen Shantz

Teaching Evolution versus Creationism / Daniel K. Falk

pt. 2 The Bible in Historical Political Debate.

Tracing the Use of the Bible in Colonial Land Claims in North America / Judith H. Newman

The Bible, Slavery, and Political Debate / Emerson B. Powery

Women, the Bible, and the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution / Christopher A. Rollston

pt. 3 Concluding Thoughts. What Is "the Bible"? / Kelley Coblentz Bautch

Compromise as a Biblical Value / John F. Kutsko

Notes.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

0567666573

9780567666574

9780567666611

0567666611

OCLC:

926061867