The Bible in Political Debate

Frances Flannery is Director at the Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Terrorism and Peace, and Professor of Religion at James Madison University, USA.Rodney A. Werline is Professor of Religious Studies, Leman and Marie Barnhill Endowed Chair in Religious Studies, and Director, Barton College Center for Religious Studies at Barton College, USA.

Politicians and pundits regularly invoke the Bible in social and political debates on a host of controversial social and political issues, including: abortion, stem-cell research, gay marriage, the death penalty, separation of church and state, family values, climate change, income distribution, teaching evolution in schools, taxation, school prayer, aid for the poor, and immigration. But is the Bible often used out of context in these major debates?This book includes essays by fourteen biblical scholars who examine the use of the Bible in political debates, uncovering the original historical contexts and meanings of the biblical verses that are commonly cited. The contributors take a non-confessional approach, rooted in non-partisan scholarship, to show how specific texts have at times been distorted in order to support particular views. At the same time, they show how the Bible can sometimes make for unsettling reading in the modern day. The key questions remain: What does the Bible really say? Should the Bible be used to form public policy?

Takes a non-partisan, respectful and thoughtful approach

PrefaceAcknowledgementsIntroduction: The Bible and Political Debate: What Does it Really Say? - Frances Flannery, James Madison University, U.S.A. and Rodney Werline, Barton College, Wilson, North Carolina, U.S.A.Part I: The Bible in Contemporary Political Debate1. The Bible and Family Values (Marriage is Between One Man and One Woman) - Andrew Klumpp and Jack Levison, Southern Methodist University2. Diasporas "R" Us: Attitudes Toward Immigrants in the Bible - Hector Avalos3. Ending a Life that Has Not Begun - Abortion in the Bible, Bert Jan Lietaert Peerbolte, VU University, Amsterdam, Netherlands4. Senators, Snowballs, and Scripture: The Bible and Climate Change - Frances Flannery, James Madison University, U.S.A.5. Work, Poverty and Welfare, Rodney A. Werline, Barton College, Wilson, North Carolina, U.S.A.6. Culture Wars, the Bible, and Homosexuality - Jonathan L. Jackson7. The Bible and Divine Sanctioning of Governments - Colleen Shantz, University of Toronto, Canada8. Teaching Evolution vs Creationism - Daniel K. Falk, Pennsylvania State University, USAPart II: The Bible in Historical Political Debate9. Tracing the Use of the Bible in Colonial Land Claims in North America - Judith H. Newman, University of Toronto, Canada10. The Bible, Slavery, and Political Debate - Emerson B. Powery, Messiah College, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.11. Women, the Bible, and the Nineteenth Amendment to the US Constitution - Christopher Rollston, George Washington University, U.S.A.Part III: Concluding Thoughts12. What is the Bible? - Kelley N. Coblentz Bautch13. Compromise as a Biblical Value - John Kutsko, Executive Director of the Society of Biblical Literature, U.S.A.