The House of Atreus: Abortion As a Human Rights Issueby James F. Bohan Praeger, 237 pp., $39.95 Bohan, a Pennsylvania attorney, argues that abortion is not merely a medical or religious issue but one of basic human rights. In making his case, he refers to authorities held in high esteem throughout our culture: the Declaration of Independence, Albert Schweitzer, Elie Wiesel, and Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Church Impotent: The Feminization of Christianityby Leon J. Podles Spence, 288 pp., $27.95 To explain the modern fact that, in general, women populate and participate in churches more than men, Ph.D. (Univ. of Virginia) and freelance writer Podles goes back to the Middle Ages, to Bernard of Clairvaux and the rise of scholasticism. He argues that only by emphasizing again the themes of initiation, struggle, and fraternal love will the church regain men’s allegiance.
The Virgin and the Dynamo: The Use and Abuse of Religion in Environmental Debatesby Robert Royal Eerdmans, 271 pp., $25.00, paperback Royal, a senior fellow in religion and society at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C., aims his sights at two groups: skeptics who believe the Judeo-Christian world-view has created environmental disasters, and radical Christians who assail the scientific, social, and economic structures that sustain the modern world. Then, from the perspective of Christian realism, he argues for a responsible use of religion in environmental debate.
Just Generosity: A New Vision for Overcoming Poverty in Americaby Ron Sider Baker, 288 pp., $11.99, paperback Arguing that poverty is more pervasive than ever, despite recent liberal and conservative “solutions,” Sider, a professor at Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary, calls for churches, synagogues, and faith-based community organizations to work with government, media, and business both to change unjust social structures and to help the poor make better moral choices.
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