Mark’s Reviews > New Evangelical Manifesto: A Kingdom Vision for the Common Good > Status Update

Ch22-David Gushee. Can Christians condone the use of torture, for any means, even if demonstrated to be effective and legal? Christians do not return evil for evil, and that includes torture (i.e., enhanced interrogation techniques), even if it could be demonstrated to be beneficial. Evil can only ultimately be overcome by good, and Christians are morally obligated in this respect.

Ch21-Jennifer D. Crumpton. How can we fight consumerism when we are surrounded by it, and many of our livelihoods depend on it? Christians must fight injustice, oppression, poverty. The world values people by their ability to consume. We tend to think wealth is a sign of God's blessing. The pursuit of the "American Dream" can lead to failures in ethics and morality. We must learn to cooperate.

Ch20-Charlie Camosy. The issue of abortion must not be handled in isolation. It must be treated as part of a comprehensive ethic of life that is consistent across many issues. Both liberal and conservative insights are necessary to address abortion. Major assumption of this essay: fetuses are fully human.

Ch19-Jim Ball. Global warming and the Christian responsibility. Global warming affects the poor disproportionately, destroying their means to obtain resources necessary for life. For Christians that have seen the light about the reality of climate change, we have responsibility to do something about it, even when it goes against those who think otherwise.

Ch17-Paul Alexander. Peacemaking. "When followers of Jesus worked and sacrificed to make peace by turning their cheek of dignity to a violent enemy, by carrying a military pack farther down the road than required, by stripping naked in front of a courtroom full of people, they were acting like God’s children. This making of peace differs dramatically from acquiescing to the status quo or fighting the oppression."

Ch16-cont. Penal-substitution theology may contribute to Christian support for death penalty. The Christus Victor model of the atonement rejects violence and vengeance as a means of justice, and consequently, the death penalty as a means of criminal justice by the state.

Ch16-Timothy W. Floyd. Ending the Death Penalty. There is an fundamental unfairness in the judicial system toward those who are accused of capital crimes. There is no empirically shown deterrent effect of the death penalty. The New Testament speaks out against employing violence and vengeance as a means of achieving justice. Christians who support death penalty do so on inadequate theology.

Ch15-Adam Phillips. On the global poor. Our mindset must change to see the poor not as objects of charity, but as part of us, a community seeking God. Instead of simply bringing good news, we must become good news. We need to see Jesus' teachings not just as spiritual teachings, but as teachings about social justice. To the extent that we are able to hold political leaders accountable, we must do so.

Ch14-Scott Claybrook. How Christians ought to engage with disease, death and dying. "The church my mother loved so dearly was unprepared to walk with her toward death." People want to be cared for, but also to give back, even in their dying. They want to know they still belong to a community. Is bodily death truly an enemy, or is it healing? Is hastening death ethical for Christians? What is "life"?