Public Religion

Speaking by the Numbers offers a strategy that combines communication principles with Enneagram wisdom to help leaders, pastors, and teachers understand how to convey content in ways that both inspire and connect with their audiences. Using the Enneagram wisdom of triads and stances, communicators can learn insight into the ways that various Enneagram numbers receive and process information.

Jesus calls us to make disciples of all the nations. Many Christians believe this means enlisting soldiers in a culture war. But putting faith in the service of politics risks remaking God in our own image. How can the church help bring God's kingdom to earth without relying on the political structures of this world? Critiquing our idolization of the values of classical Western liberalism, Steven Félix-Jäger seeks a renewal of the church's public witness.

Science is in trouble. Real questions in desperate need of answers—especially those surrounding ethnicity, gender, climate change, and almost anything related to “health and safety”—are swiftly buckling to the fiery societal demands of what ought to be rather than what is. Can true, fact-based discovery be redeemed? In Science in an Age of Unreason, legendary professor of psychology and biology, John Staddon, unveils the identity crisis afflicting today’s scientific community, and provides an actionable path to recovery.

When political division shows up not only on the campaign trail but also at our dinner tables, we wonder: Can we be part of a better way? The Spirit of Our Politics says "yes," offering a distinctly Christian approach to politics that results in healing rather than division, kindness rather than hatred, and hope rather than despair.

Phillip E. Johnson pries the lid off public debate about questions of ultimate concern - questions often suppressed by our society’s intellectual elite. Moving far beyond matters of creation and evolution, Johnson outlines the questions we all ought to be asking about the meaning of human history, the limits of scientific inquiry, religion and education in a pluralistic society, truth, liberty and moral choices, and God and his word, Jesus Christ.

Two-term governor of Tennessee Bill Haslam reveals how faith - too often divisive and contentious - can be a redemptive and unifying presence in the public square.

The Supreme Court has issued a decision, but that doesn't end the debate. Now that the Supreme Court has ruled, Americans face momentous debates about the nature of marriage and religious liberty. Because the Court has redefined marriage in all 50 states, we have to energetically protect our freedom to live according to conscience and faith as we work to rebuild a strong marriage culture.

In 1802, President Thomas Jefferson distilled a leading idea in the early American republic and wrote of a wall of separation between church and state. That metaphor has come down from Jefferson to 21st-century Americans through a long history of jurisprudence, political contestation, and cultural influence. This book traces the development of the concept of separation of church and state and the Supreme Court's application of it in the law.

Christians are called to visibly live out our faith, but we also need to be able to reasonably explain what we believe and why. Graham Nicholls’ practical book will help us do just that. It’s easy to think that our faith is personal, something which should be expressed behind closed doors or with other Christians. But we are called to be a light to the world, to be able to give a reason for our faith. Graham Nicholls’ practical book helps us to think through not only why we should do that, but how we can do it.

Among Buddhist traditions, Zen has been remarkably successful in garnering and sustaining interest outside the Buddhist homelands of Asia, and "zen" is now part of the global cultural lexicon. This deeply informed book explores the history of this enduring Japanese tradition - from its beginnings as a form of Buddhist thought and practice imported from China to its reinvention in medieval Japan as a force for religious, political, and cultural change to its role in Japan's embrace of modernity.

Personal reinvention is a core part of the human condition. Yet in the mid-twentieth century, certain private religious choices became lightning rods for public outrage and debate. Public Confessions reveals the controversial religious conversions that shaped modern America. Rebecca L. Davis explains why the new faiths of notable figures including Clare Boothe Luce, Whittaker Chambers, Sammy Davis Jr., Marilyn Monroe, Muhammad Ali, Chuck Colson, and others riveted the American public.

It is now three years since Justin Welby first published his Reimagining Britain. The fundamental message of that book remains as urgent as ever. But in this revised and expanded edition, Welby has taken fully into account the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Brexit and all the social and political unrest that has ensued. If anything, the new edition of Archbishop Welby's book is even more important than its predecessor. Here is a radical vision for 21st-century Britain.

Nearly 25% of American Christians do not regularly attend church in person (Pew Research, 2023). How can we recapture the duty and delight of public worship?

Public worship is not simply something we should do; it is something we should love. In the newest Puritan Treasure for Today, David Clarkson helps believers glorify God by enjoying the privilege and duty of the corporate assembly.

Racism is omnipresent in American life, both public and private. We are immersed in what prominent Black church leader Willie Dwayne Francois III calls white noise—the racist speech, ideas, and policies that lull us into inaction on racial justice. White noise masks racial realities and prevents constructive responses to microaggressions, structural inequality, and overt interpersonal racism. In this book, Francois calls people of all racial backgrounds to take up practices that overcome silence and inaction on race and that advance racial repair.

More than in any time in our nation’s history, there’s a greater opportunity now for minority populations to let their voices be heard, influence society, and reshape the role of government in their lives. A Manifesto: Christian America’s Contract with Minorities by Bishop Harry R. Jackson Jr. sets the stage for a biblical agenda or manifesto to bring about social change in our nation. Christians of every denomination and ethnic stripe are welcome to join this coalition to contribute to our national vision and strategic direction.

How do you eliminate a half trillion annual expense in the US alone? How do you prevent capital offenses in the first place? God has the solution: we just don't like key parts of it. We shoot ourselves in the foot in order to think of ourselves as dignified and compassionate. Yet the responsibility of public stoning (with the rest of the Biblical model) is more dignified and compassionate than any alternative. Death is the most severe court judgment in the full range of Biblical justice tools, and so it deserves primary investigation.

This is a book about hope in the midst of a polarized culture. Camosy begins with a hopeful starting point in the midst of a crumbling US political culture: two of every three Americans constitute an “exhausted majority” who reject right/left polarization and are open to alternative viewpoints.

The next time God asks you to speak, be ready! Chances are, if you’re active in your church, at some point you’ll have to talk to people. Your presentation may be informal—like greeting people at the door—or formal—like sharing your testimony before a congregation. But either way, it will make an impact. Whether you are called to preach, teach, greet, encourage, or share, Purpose-Filled Presentations will teach you the techniques to help you improve what you are already doing.

When we start with the wrong question, no matter how good an answer we get, it won't give us the results we want. Rather than joining the throngs who are asking, When will this economic crisis be over? Jim Wallis says the right question to ask is "How will this crisis change us?" The worst thing we can do now, Wallis tells us, is to go back to normal. Normal is what got us into this situation.

The Left has seized on our economic troubles as an excuse to “blame the rich guy” and paint a picture of capitalism and the free market as selfish, greedy, and cruel. Exactly the opposite is true, says Father Robert Sirico in his thought-provoking book Defending the Free Market: The Moral Case for a Free Economy. Father Sirico argues that a free economy actually promotes charity, selflessness, and kindness. In Defending the Free Market, he shows why free-market capitalism is not only the best way to ensure individual success and national prosperity but also the surest route to a moral and socially just society.