Page 52 of 109
What is Acton doing outside of the United States?
When I am out on the road and have the opportunity to meet supporters and people interested in Acton, I often get a lot of questions about our international projects. There have been a lot of new developments since I addressed this topic in the 2006 winter issue of Religion & Liberty.Constantine and the great transformation
Review of: Peter J. Leithart, Defending Constantine (IVP Academic, 2010), ISBN: 978-0-8308-2722-0. The argument that the lifting of the persecutions of early Christians and the subsequent expansion of the Christian faith led to a "fall" of the Christian Church is more widespread than we may believe. Academics have defended it for years. Popular Christianity, especially conservative Protestantism, takes it as a truth second only to the Gospel.Double-edged sword: The power of the Word - Hebrews 1:3
The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.Social leveling: Socialism and secularism
Social leveling is something that we typically associate with the destruction of material differences between human beings. It is the socialist dream of a classless society in which distinctions, usually the result of economic variation, are made irrelevant. The state, empowered by the political action of the masses (or at least a group claiming to speak for the masses), works to gain control of the wealth and property of a society and then to redistribute it in such a way as to make people equal.Bringing forward tradition - An interview with Thomas C. Oden
Thomas C. Oden is a retired theology professor at The Theological School of Drew University in Madison, New Jersey. He is author of numerous theological works, including the threevolume systematic theology The Word of Life, Life in the Spirit , and The Living God . Currently he is director of the Center for Early African Christianity at Eastern University, St. Davids, Pennsylvania.Editor’s note
We should always look to drink deeply from the rich wells of Christian tradition and Thomas C. Oden helps us to do exactly that. Oden has committed much of his work to lifting up the voice of the Church Fathers.Reading 'Centesimus Annus'
Grasping the authentic significance of Centesimus Annus requires two approaches. First, one must read the encyclical on its own merits, independently of previous papal teaching. As objectively as possible, one can exegete its various passages to discern its thrust and priorities. Then one must read the document in the context of previous social pronouncements by the magisterium over the past 100 years and see what new themes, developments, and directions the present encyclical initiates.On the place of profits and politics
Review of: Carl R. Trueman, Republocrat: Confessions of a Liberal Conservative (Phillipsburg: Presbyterian and Reformed, 2010), ISBN: 978-1-59638-183-4.The Work of culture and civilization
This article is excerpted from Lester DeKoster’s Work: The Meaning of Your Life—A Christian Perspective , newly made available in a second edition. The Power We know, as soon as reminded, that work spins the wheels of the world. No work? Then nothing else either. Culture and civilization don’t just happen. They are made to happen and to keep happening—by God the Holy Spirit, through our work.Double-edged sword: The power of the Word - John 8:12
John 8:12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’ Martin Luther called this announcement by Christ, “The language of presumption that stops all mouths.” Luther is right. One must stop and take heed of the word of Christ here and the authority of his teaching. The theologian Thomas C. Oden says of the “I am” statements in John’s Gospel:The interview: A collection
We thought it would be appropriate to highlight some of our past interviews in the 20th Anniversary issue of Religion & Liberty . The responses selected represent a range of timeless truths of the Gospel, the importance of human liberty, and the importance of religion and moral formation in society.