Saving Christianity From Empire - Hardcover

Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer

3.71

7 ratings by Goodreads

9780826416278: Saving Christianity From Empire

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0826416276 ISBN 13: 9780826416278

Publisher: Continuum, 2005

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U.S. foreign policy today, as presented in official documents and carried out in Iraq, Afghanistan, and an ill-defined 'war on terrorism,' commits the United States to seek global domination through the unilateral exercise of military power. Critics and supporters of this policy rightly describe it in reference to empire. Saving Christianity from Empire examines four central themes. First, the book describes the nuts and bolts of present U.S. foreign policy, including the philosophical foundations and practical policy options used to justify and pursue empire. Second, the author asserts that empire distorts Christianity, especially in the U.S. context one in which many Christians passively or actively support U.S. global domination through the exercise of unilateral military power, in opposition to the radical nonviolence of Jesus. In the U.S. imperial context, some combination of fear, patriotism, propaganda, and distorted theology results in broad-based support among Christians for policies that are dramatically opposed to authentic Christianity rooted in the life and faith of Jesus. In short, this theme addresses how the U.S. Empire subverts and distorts Christianity. Third, Saving Christianity from Empire describes empire as a key biblical theme. It explores three conflicting biblical streams, one that embraces or aspires to empire, one that portrays opposition to empire as essential for authentic faith, and another that explains imperial domination of Israel-Palestine as deserved punishment for sin. Finally, Saving Christianity from Empire explores the radical nonviolence of Jesus, the nuts and bolts of nonviolent power and nonviolent social change theory and practice, and the practical challenges to Christians living in an imperial nation now understood by many people throughout the world to be the gravest threat to world peace.

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Review:

At a time when Christian fundamentalists see the extension of American power in the world as God-given, Saving Christianity from Empire is especially welcome. In clear, strong language it demolishes the religious justification for imperialism and brings to the fore the best of the Christian heritage - the moral imperative for a nation to love and respect its neighbours.' - Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States 'Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer's Saving Christianity from Empire delineates the critical choices that face American Christians [...}, a choice between violent, world-dominating American empire supported by an apocalyptic Christianity or a genuinely democratic American republic buttressed by anon-violent, egalitarian Christianity. As Nelson-Pallmeyer makes clear, the first choice is leading America and the world to disaster, but it will not be easy to change course when both our religion and our nationalist ideology have long collaborated in promoting a fatal addiction to militarist global domination.' - Rosemary Radford Ruether Carpenter, Professor of Feminist Theology Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, California

Synopsis:

Christian author makes a passionate attack on American foreign policy and the distortion of Christianity by the neo-conservatives - as well as arguing for a return to the non-violent message of Jesus U.S. foreign policy today, as presented in official documents and carried out in Iraq, Afghanistan, and an ill-defined "war on terrorism," commits the United States to seek global domination through the unilateral exercise of military power. Critics and supporters of this policy rightly describe it in reference to empire. Saving Christianity from Empire examines four central themes. First, the book describes the nuts and bolts of present U.S. foreign policy, including the philosophical foundations and practical policy options used to justify and pursue empire. Second, the author asserts that empire distorts Christianity, especially in the U.S. context - one in which many Christians passively or actively support U.S. global domination through the exercise of unilateral military power, in opposition to the radical non-violence of Jesus. In the U.S. imperial context, some combination of fear, patriotism, propaganda, and distorted theology results in broad-based support among Christians for policies that are dramatically opposed to authentic Christianity rooted in the life and faith of Jesus.

In short, this theme addresses how the U.S. Empire subverts and distorts Christianity. Third, Saving Christianity from Empire describes empire as a key biblical theme. It explores three conflicting biblical streams, one that embraces or aspires to empire, one that portrays opposition to empire as essential for authentic faith, and another that explains imperial domination of Israel-Palestine as deserved punishment for sin. Finally, Saving Christianity from Empire explores the radical non-violence of Jesus, the nuts and bolts of non-violent power and non-violent social change theory and practice, and the practical challenges to Christians living in an imperial nation now understood by many people throughout the world to be the gravest threat to world peace.

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