Chapter 6

 

 

Suggestions for Further Reading:

 

Going Public: Christian Responsibility in a Divided America (2002) by Lawrence E. Adams
The church ought to be involved in public issues, but how? Adams attempts to chart a path for political involvement in a time of hyper-partisanship.

 

The Practicing Congregation (2004) by Diana Butler Bass
In this short but insightful book, Bass offers a vision of renewal for all congregations, but especially those of the mainline Protestant denominations.

 

Transforming Mission (1991) by David J. Bosch
When it was published, this book started a whole new conversation not only about “mission”

understood as evangelism, but also about the nature and mission of the entire church as the people of God.

 

Truly the Community (1992) by Marva J. Dawn
A grace-centered description of what the church is called to be according the twelfth chapter of Romans.

 

Models of the Church (2002) by Avery Cardinal Dulles
First published in 1974, this is an expanded discussion of what the church (Catholic, but also Protestant)

can and should look like.

 

The Peaceable Kingdom (1983) by Stanley Hauerwas
This book is not an easy read, but it remains one of Hauerwas’s best books and his description of the

church as “the servant community” is a masterpiece of theological ethics.

 

What Is Mission? (2000) by J. Andrew Kirk
Kirk’s focus is on the church’s mission in the world and how that relates to the way of faith modeled by Jesus.

 

Tempting Faith (2006) by David Kuo
After years of working with the Religious Right, David Kuo examines the cost of being involved in politics.

 

Christ and Culture (1951) by H. Richard Niebuhr
This classic study of the relationship between Christianity and culture still serves as a guide for the church’s

role in society fifty years after its publication.

 

Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger (1997) by Ronald J. Sider
This 20th anniversary edition of Sider’s call for the church adopt to a posture of active generosity instead of

complacent affluence still rings true today.

 

God’s Politics (2005) by Jim Wallis
The subtitle is “why the right gets it wrong and the left doesn’t get it” and that is exactly what this book is

about – charting a middle pathway through currently befuddled political options.

 

Christian Perspectives on Politics (2000) by J. Philip Wogaman
Wogaman’s book walks the reader through all the varieties of political stances the church has adopted over

the years and helps Christians reflect on their own political goals and values in light of the gospel.