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Christianity and democratisation : From pious subjects to critical participants.
Title:
Christianity and democratisation : From pious subjects to critical participants.
Author:
John, Anderson.
ISBN:
9781847792617
Personal Author:
Physical Description:
1 online resource (289 pages)
Series:
Perspectives on Democratic Practice
Contents:
9780719077388 -- 9780719077388 -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- Preface and acknowledgements -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Democracy and the Christian tradition -- 3 The Catholic 'third wave': underminingauthoritarianism -- 4 The Catholic 'third wave': creating a neworder -- 5 The Orthodox hesitation: Church, Stateand nation -- 6 The Orthodox hesitation: the 'liberaldemocracy'paradox -- 7 The Protestant ethic revisited:conservative Christianity and the qualityof American democracy -- 8 The Protestant ethic revisited: thePentecostal explosion as democratichindrance or support? -- 9 Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Index.
Abstract:
This book examines the contribution of different Christian traditions to the waves of democratisation that have swept various parts of the world in recent decades. It offers a historical overview of Christianity's engagement with the development of democracy, before focusing in detail on the period since the 1970s. Successive chapters deal with: the Roman Catholic conversion to democracy and the contribution of that church to democratisation; the Eastern Orthodox 'hesitation' about democracy; the alleged threat to American democracy posed by the politicisation of conservative Protestantism; and the likely impact on democratic development of the global expansion of Pentecostalism. The author draws out several common themes from the analysis of these case studies, the most important of which is the 'liberal-democracy paradox'. This ensures that there will always be tensions between faiths that proclaim some notion of absolute truth and political orders that are rooted in the idea of compromise, negotiation and bargaining. Written in an accessible style, this book will appeal to students of politics, sociology and religion, and prove useful on a range of advanced undergraduate and postgraduate courses.
Local Note:
Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2017. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.
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