Journal of Church and State articles from June 2007

Journal of Church and State archives from June 2007

A primer on governmental accommodation of religion.
June 22, 2007... I Polls consistently show that nearly nine out of ten Americans say they are religious or spiritual. Along with a substantial Christian majority, our religious landscape reflects a plethora of religious traditions. Indeed, the United...

A house divided: grassroots national religious perspectives on the Gaza disengagement and future of the West Bank. (Israel)
June 22, 2007... Israel celebrated its 58 anniversary in May 2006. Normally a time of excitement and national unity, some marked this Independence Day as an occasion to mourn the loss of the Jewish dream. Some rabbis identified with the Israeli Orthodox Jewish...

The further legal consequences of Catholic clerical sexual abuse.
June 22, 2007... In 2002, The Boston Globe broke the story about Catholic clerical sexual abuse, (1) revealing allegations against Father Joseph Geoghan, the settlement of fifty lawsuits by the Archdiocese of Boston amounting to approximately $10 million, and a...

The cultural construction of state sponsored religion: race, politics, and state implementation of the faith-based initiative.
June 22, 2007... First introduced at the federal level in 1996, the faith-based initiative was intended to increase the role of faith-based organizations (FBOs) in the provision of social services. While it is unclear whether that has occurred--or whether it is...

Overhauling Islam: representation, construction, and co-option of "moderate Islam" in Western Europe.
June 22, 2007... In the wake of September 11 and the attacks in Amsterdam, London, and Madrid, governments in Western Europe have initiated bold and controversial new policies aimed at the institutionalization of a moderate, Euro-friendly Islam. Official...

New religions in "new Europe".
June 22, 2007... Post-socialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe have witnessed significant legal (and formal) re-regulation of religious activities after changes in the political systems. Some of these societies have observed a certain rise in some...

Why Politics Needs Religion: The Place of Religious Arguments in the Public Square.(Book review)
June 22, 2007... Why Politics Needs Religion: The Place of Religious Arguments in the Public Square. By Brendan Sweetman. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2006.256pp. $19.00 paper. Brendan Sweetman is a philosopher with an old-fashioned belief that...

God's Joust, God's Justice: Law and Religion in the Western Tradition.(Book review)
June 22, 2007... God's Joust, God's Justice: Law and Religion in the Western Tradition. By John Witte, Jr. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2006. 464 pp. $30.00. As a legal historian, John Witte, Jr.'s work has been primarily descriptive in nature. In God's...

Ethics and Politics: Selected Essays, Vol. 2.(Book review)
June 22, 2007... Ethics and Politics: Selected Essays, Vol. 2. By Alasdair MacIntyre. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. 139pp. $24.99. Ethics and Politics is the second published volume of the collected essays of Alasdair MacIntyre. The twelve...

The Meaning of Marriage: Family, State, Market, and Morals.(Book review)
June 22, 2007... The Meaning of Marriage: Family, State, Market and Morals. Edited by Robert P. George and Jean Bethke Elshtain. Dallas, Tex.: Spence Publishing Company. $29.95. 336pp. np. Future historians of the contemporary crisis of marriage and family...

The Politics of Past Evil: Religion, Reconciliation, and the Dilemmas of Transitional Justice.(Book review)
June 22, 2007... The Politics of Past Evil: Religion, Reconciliation, and the Dilemmas of Transitional Justice. Edited by Dan Philpott. Notre Dame, Ind.: Notre Dame University Press, 2006.250pp. $25.00. In a time of steadily proliferating reflection on the...

Holy Hatred: Christianity, Antisemitism, and the Holocaust.(Book review)
June 22, 2007... Holy Hatred: Christianity, Antisemitism, and the Holocaust. By Robert Michael. New York/Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. 254pp. $24.95. Holy Hatred is a catalogue of every seemingly antisemitic incident in...

God's Rule: Government and Islam, Six Centuries of Islamic Political Thought.(Book review)
June 22, 2007... God's Rule: Government and Islam: Six Centuries of Islamic Political Thought. By Patricia Crone. New York: Columbia University Press, 9.004. 472 pp. np. Professor Crone's book is a highly ambitious, yet welcome contribution to our...

Biblical Interpretation and Middle East Policy: The Promised Land, America and Israel, 1917-2002.(Book review)
June 22, 2007... Biblical Interpretation and Middle East Policy: The Promised Land, America and Israel, 1917-2002. By Irvine H. Anderson. Gainesville, Fla.: University Press of Florida, 2005. 187 pp. $39.95 paper. Irvine H. Anderson's Biblical...

The Will to Arise: Theological and Political Themes in African Christianity and the Renewal of Faith and Identity.(Book review)
June 22, 2007... The Will to Arise: Theological and Political Themes in African Christianity and the Renewal of Faith and Identity. By Caleb Oladipo. New York: Peter Lang, 2006. 240pp. np. Caleb Oladipo deals profoundly with the church in Africa, comparing...

God's War: A New History of the Crusades.(Book review)
June 22, 2007... God's War: A New History of the Crusades. By Christopher Tyerman. Cambridge: The Belknap Press, 2006. 1024pp. $35.00. Since its publication in the 1950s, Sir Steven Runciman's three-volume A History of the Crusades, has been the gold...

Portrait of an Expatriate Community: The English in Rome, 1362-1420.(Book review)
June 22, 2007... The English in Rome, 1362-1420: Portrait of an Expatriate Community. By Margaret Harvey. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006. 278 pp. $45.00. The English in Rome is Margaret Harvey's third monograph exploring relations between...

Marking the Hours: English People and Their Prayers, 1240-1570.(Book review)
June 22, 2007... Marking the Hours: English People & Their Prayers, 1240-1570. By Eamon Dully. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press. 208 pp. $35.00 paper. This is an attractive and valuable study of the Book of Hours, "beyond all question the most...

The Trial of the Templars, 2d ed.(Book review)
June 22, 2007... The Trial of the Templars. 2nd ed. By Malcolm Barber. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006. 398pp. $27.99 paper. Barber's updated edition of The Trial of the Templars comes at an opportune moment, when the Order of the Temple has...

Papacy and Politics in Eighteenth-Century Rome: Pius VI and the Arts.(Book review)
June 22, 2007... Papacy and Politics in Eighteenth-Century Rome: Plus VI and the Arts. By Jeffrey Collins. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004. 355 pp. $85.00. Giovanni Angelo Braschi, who became Pope Pius VI, was born on Christmas Day in 1717. He...

Letters on Toleration: Dutch and Persecuted Swiss and Palatine Mennonites, 1615-1699.(Book review)
June 22, 2007... Letters on Toleration: Dutch and Persecuted Swiss and Palatine Mennonites 1615-1699. Transcribed, translated, and introduced by Jeremy Dupertuis Bangs. Rockport, Maine: Picton Press, 2004. 489pp. $69.50. Letters on Toleration is a source...

American Religions: A Documentary History.(Book review)
June 22, 2007... American Religions: A Documentary History. By R. Marie Griffith. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007. 672 pp. $39.95. The one-volume source for a semester course in U.S. religious history is finally here. The days of expensive...

God in the Classroom: Religion and America's Public Schools.(Book review)
June 22, 2007... God in the Classroom: Religion and America's Public Schools. By R. Murray Thomas. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2007. 285 pp. up. The best way to acquaint the reader with God in the Classroom is to discuss what one will not find in the book....

Billy Graham and the Beloved Community: America's Evangelist and the Dream of Martin Luther King, Jr.(Book review)
June 22, 2007... Billy Graham and the Beloved Community: America's Evangelist and the Dream of Martin Luther King, Jr. By Michael G. Long. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. 280pp. $35.00. There is nothing subtle about Michael Long's study of Billy...

God in Public: Four Ways American Christianity and Public Life Relate.(Book review)
June 22, 2007... God in Public: Four Ways American Christianity and Public Life Relate. By Mark G. Toulouse. Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox. 2006. 269pp. $19.95. How should Christians orient themselves in the postmodern world? This question...

America's Battle for God: A European Christian Looks at Civil Religion.(Book review)
June 22, 2007... America's Battle for God: A European Christian Looks at Civil Religion. By Geiko Muller-Fahrenholz. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2007. 203 pp. $20.00. Geiko Muller-Fahrenholz is amply qualified to evaluate the United...

Rethinking Zion: How the Print Media Placed Fundamentalism in the South.(Book review)
June 22, 2007... Rethinking Zion: How the Print Media Placed Fundamentalism in the South. By Mary Beth Swetnam Matthews. Knoxville, Tenn.: The University of Tennessee Press, 2006. 204 pp. $36.00 paper. This is a solid contribution to the historical study of...

Confessing Christ in the 21st Century.(Book review)
June 22, 2007... Confessing Christ in the 21st Century. By Mark Douglas. Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield, 2005. 279 pp. $27.95. Mark Douglas has written a book filled with theological reflection on some of the basic doctrines of the Christian faith for...