Posts Tagged richard t. hughes
Richard T. Hughes takes on The Christian Right in Context
Posted by Joel in Religion and Politics on November 9, 2010
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I’m simply not going to post every article that he writes in this series, although admittedly, Christian America and the Kingdom of God radically changed my viewpoint on how to approach terrorism and what it might mean to actually be a Christian country. This week, he is posting a series of essays which looks at the Christian Right, in context.
Thirty-five years ago, in a time that seems like ancient history to most young people today, the eminent social critic Robert N. Bellah wrote a book that illumines the current American crisis with devastating precision.
I do not use the phrase, “American crisis,” casually. All Americans, whether on the right, the left or in between, understand that the nation is now in a crisis of significant proportions. But most Americans fail to grasp how deeply that crisis runs.
Liberals and conservatives alike seem to think that the core of the American crisis stems from a flagging economy and the threat from Islamic terrorists.
But the American crisis runs much deeper than that. Ultimately, the crisis is a religious one, and that is the point that Bellah’s book, The Broken Covenant, helps us to see.
The Christian Right stands at the heart of our current crisis since, for 30 years and more, the Christian Right has so successfully eaten away at the core, bedrock values that shaped this nation at its founding.
To advance this argument, of course, is to advance an irony, since the Christian Right has claimed from its inception that others — especially liberals, secularists and humanists — were eroding the values of the nation that they sought to affirm and protect.
And precisely in that claim we find the seeds of the current American crisis.
Richard T. Hughes: The Christian Right in Context, Part 1: The Long View.
Related articles
- Gabe Lyons: A Third Way for the ‘Christian Nation’ Debate (huffingtonpost.com)
- Richard T. Hughes: Jesus and Strangers: What the Bible Teaches About Christian-Muslim Relations (huffingtonpost.com)
Richard T. Hughes: Christian politicians should start acting Christian
Posted by Joel in Religion and Politics on July 16, 2010
For any of you who haven’t read Dr. Hughes book, Christian American and the Kingdom of God, you should. In this essay, Hughes’ premise is short:
I say that because 83% of the American people claim to be Christians. If those Christians lived as they are taught to live by the teacher they claim to follow, the American public square would be a very different kind of place.
He goes on to single out a few current, trending, ‘Christian’ politicians, namely Sharon Angle, Newt and Sister Sarah, for their profession of Christianity with their lips, but their actions show something else. Read the rest here:
My Take: Christian politicians should start acting Christian – Religion – CNN.com Blogs.
Richard T. Hughes: Where are you at, Christian?
Posted by Joel in Religion and Politics on March 9, 2010
If you remember, a while ago I was able to review Hughes’ newest book and interview him. He has taken to asking a very serious question. For those who believe that the bible is to be taken with reverence and often times very literal, where are you at on social and economic justice?
Want to try your hand at solving a riddle with life-or-death implications for people all over the world? Why do so many evangelical and fundamentalist Christians-people who clearly honor the Bible-so often disregard two requirements that are central to the biblical text and central to the teachings of Jesus: peacemaking and justice for the poor? This is hardly an academic question. With over 25% of the total American population fundamentalist and evangelical Christians could make a vast difference in the lives of millions around the world if more of them took the Bible’s teachings on these two points more seriously.
Read the rest here. Good luck.
Radio Interview with Richard Hughes, Christian America and the Kingdom of God
Posted by Joel in Religious News on October 13, 2009
Nope, I didn’t do it, but it’s good anyway:
Review: Christian America and the Kingdom of God (Final)
Posted by Joel in Book Review on October 10, 2009
Note, this is the completed review, from the series. It is a housekeeping effort, but if you haven’t read either the review or the interview with the author, please do so. I have included some final thoughts at the end.
Interview: Richard Hughes, Christian America and the Kingdom of God
Posted by Joel in Book Review on October 9, 2009
Below is an interview conducted this week with the author of Christan America and the Kingdom of God:
Professor Hughes, first let me say what I an honor it is to host this interview. Let me say again, sir, what an honor it is for me to host this interview. Recently, while I attempt to keep my blog political free, I have been hit with the stark reality of just what the rhetoric in this country sounds like and I fear it will produce. This book, I believe is timely and speaks well to the needs of this country.
Christian America and the Kingdom of God (Chapter 5)
Posted by Joel in Book Review on October 9, 2009
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In the fifth and final chapter, Hughes culminates his vision of a Christian America and his retelling of the history of ‘Christian’ America with the developments of both Christian and political fundamentalism in the last century.
While he deals masterfully with the pre-WWII rise of a pacifist fundamentalist version of Christian – those who just gave up participating in the civics of this country – and spends quality time with the rise of the Religious Right since the 1970′s, he skips some of the most important points, and that of the Red Scare and Christian American. While it is not detrimental to his argument, there are key events in the intervening years between WWII and the late 70′s which produced tactics used by many today.
It is this chapter which many conservatives will find difficult to digest, Hughes tackles the rise of the Religious Right, a very active political force, comparing it to the rise of fundamentalism that existed pre-WWI. In doing so, he fails to handle sincere Christian believers with the sensitivity that he has shown before. His acoustic statements about fundamentalists can be placed on large segments of evangelicals and even Catholics. While those of us who may have heard his type of rhetoric before understand his point, the very crowd that he is trying to reach may be turned off a bit by his demeanor; however, if the fundamentalist, evangelical, and occasional Catholic can move past that, and place it in context, then this is a fine conclusion to this book.
