This study examines the impact of Christian religiosity on attitudes toward social safety-net policies over the past three decades in the US. The study used data from the General Social Survey on social safety-net policy preferences and levels of Christian religiosity. Simple cross tabulations, correlations and multiple regression analysis were used to assess the data. Contrary to previous related research, the results of this study indicate that Christian religiosity has a very weak association with opposition to social safety-net policies. At the national level, the relationship between Christian religiosity and attitudes toward social protection policies was largely mediated by other factors such as race, gender, education, family income, and political ideology. These results indicate that Christian religiosity per se does not independently influence social spending preferences. Instead, these results suggest that social divisions in socioeconomic standing and in political ideology, which in turn are closely related to differences in support for social protection policies, permeate American Christianity. The study also examined the relationship between Christian religiosity and social protection policy preferences among Hispanic and Black Americans separately. Although Hispanics and Blacks are generally more supportive of social spending in comparison to White Americans, Christian religiosity was not found to have a strong independent effect on support for social safety-net policies among these two groups. The study did find, however, a markedly different level of support for social safety-net policies among identifiable Christian groups at the national level and in the Hispanic-American population. / Those who self-identified as "evangelical" or "fundamentalist" Christians were much less supportive of social safety-net policies in comparison to "mainline" or "liberal" Christians. Among Hispanics, Catholics were more supp in comparison to Evangelical Protestants. Moreover, the results of this study indicate that religious American Christians have had a tendency to give precedence to moral issues over concerns about social safety-net policies thus facilitating an issue-bundling effect in recent electoral competition. Lastly, the present work proposes a broad framework through which to interpret the aforementioned findings grounded on the existence and interaction of two counterpoised cultural narratives on social protection found within American Christianity. / by Emmanuel Alvarado. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2010. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2010. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

鍾志堅. / 論文(哲學碩士)--香港中文大學, 1998. / 參考文獻: leaves 152-168. / 中英文摘要. / Zhong Zhijian. / 論文摘要 --- p.i / Chapter 第一章 --- 導言 --- p.1 / Chapter 第二章 --- 公民社會理論的重點回顧 --- p.7 / Chapter 第一節 --- 三種公民社會觀點 --- p.8 / Chapter 第二節 --- 三種公民社會理論的應用 --- p.16 / Chapter 第三節 --- 小結 --- p.22 / Chapter 第三章 --- 公民社會在澳門的軌跡 --- p.24 / Chapter 第一節 --- 公民社會在澳門發展的遠因 --- p.25 / Chapter 第二節 --- 公民社會在澳門發展的近因 --- p.56 / Chapter 第三節 --- 公民社會在澳門浮現的不同面貌 --- p.76 / Chapter 第四章 --- 澳門天主敎會屬下組織 在公民社會形成中的角色 --- p.80 / Chapter 第一節 --- 羅馬天主敎會近代的改革 --- p.80 / Chapter 第二節 --- 影響澳門天主敎會發展的外在因素 --- p.90 / Chapter 第三節 --- 澳門天主敎會近代轉變的動力 --- p.95 / Chapter 第四節 --- 澳門天主敎會屬下組織的發展 --- p.98 / Chapter 第五節 --- 溝通行動理論的思考：敎會屬下組織 的民主參與個案--澳門敎育制度的 訂定 --- p.121 / Chapter 第五章 --- 結論 --- p.136 / 註釋 --- p.152 / 參考書目 --- p.161

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The theme of the MTh is the research of the Christian political responsibility in terms of an evangelical position. The first step is to examine the historical political background of evangelical engagements, whereas the focus is especially on the German development. The second step analyses theologically where to locate political and social barriers. It creates an overview in what way (or to what extend) the bible shows and discusses socio-political topics. Furthermore the theological base for political actions describes (themetizes) the relation between the (institution) church and the (governing) state, the understanding of salvation and God’s kingdom and also questions of eschatology. Ahead of the evangelical approach of political theology, the last chapter describes the difference from liberation theology and models of contextual theology. / Missiology / M. Th. (Missiology)

Ellen G. White and Gustavo Gutierrez make significant contributions on the issue of christians and involvement in politics. A knowledge of their backgrounds and theological orientations is helpful. White was born in 1827. She is accepted as a prophet in the Seventh-day Adventist church. Central to her theology is the sanctuary doctrine which also influences her views on politics. White holds that christians may participate in the "broad" but not the "narrow" aspect of politics. A Roman Catholic priest, Gutierrez was born in 1928. Many regard him as the pioneer of liberation theology. The starting point for his theology is the situation of poverty in Latin America. This influences his views on politics. He also argues for christians' participation in the "broad" but not the "narrow" aspect of politics. White and Gutierrez have more points of agreement than disagreement. Comparing their views on politics provides useful insights on christians' participation in politics. "I declare that: ELLEN G. WHITE AND GUSTAVO GUTIERREZ ON CHRISTIANS AND INVOLVEMENT IN POLITICS: A COMPARATIVE STUDY is my own work and that all the sources that I have used or quoted have been indicated and acknowledged complete references' / Philosophy, Practical & Systematic Theology / M.Th. (Systematic Theology)

The objective of this study is to analyse the contemporary political role of Christianity in the Middle East. This will be achieved by focusing on the office of the patriarch. In most of the Eastern Christian churches, the patriarch is widely accepted as the spiritual head of the community and, throughout the centuries, this authority has often been translated into temporal power. Although other communal actors have challenged the dominant position of the patriarch, this dual role as spiritual and civil leader provides resources which can be used to strengthen the claim to be the political representative at the expense of lay rivals. The case studies selected for this project - the Coptic Orthodox and the Maronite churches - share several key characteristics. Firstly, both evoke a distinct identity on the basis of faith yet are directly linked to a specific homeland - Egypt and Lebanon respectively. In contrast to spiritual leaders of communities which are not concentrated in one particular country, the Coptic Orthodox and Maronite patriarchs have the potential to become involved in national affairs if desired. Secondly, both communities have pressing if different concerns as indigenous Christians in a turbulent regional environment dominated by another religion - Islam. The vast majority of these relate to the position of the community in the homeland. Thirdly, both communities have recently experienced widespread expansion outside the traditional territory in the Middle East. This allows an examination of the impact this growth has had on both the church and community at home and abroad. Fourthly, since becoming the head of each church, Patriarch Shenouda III, Coptic Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria and all Africa and Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir, Patriarch of Antioch and all the East of the Maronites, have proven to be charismatic and influential figures in church and national affairs. They have clearly played significant parts in relations between the community and state in the decades since their election to office. Finally, the two case studies have been selected as they best represent the potential of Christian communities to have a political role in this region. While the Copts constitute only a small proportion (5-10% depending on the identity of the source) of the Egyptian population, they are still the largest Christian community in the Middle East, numbering around 5-6 million. In contrast, the Maronites are a small community in terms of size. It is estimated that there are no more than 600,000 Maronites in Lebanon. Yet within Lebanon, they still make up over 20% of the population, offering them a chance to have a significant impact on national affairs. This study proposes that the patriarch exercises a political role because of his position as the head of the community. The authority and tradition of the office is constantly invoked to reinforce this position. In the contemporary period, this can be attributed to the desire to fill the leadership vacuum which exists amongst Christians in the Middle East.

Throughout history, religion and politics have approached each other with a wary appreciation of mutual power. One of the latest offspring of this uneasy relationship is the Sanctuary movement. On 24 March 1982, Southside Presbyterian Church in Tucson, Arizona and five churches in Berkeley, California publicly proclaimed their status as sanctuaries for Central American refugees. Three years later there were 214 churches involved and eleven church workers were about to be tried in Tucson. This study is an analysis of the rhetoric used by the movement as it sought to extend its mantle of authority and thus move from the social periphery to the center of society evoking a new public vision of reality. The rhetoric of religious critique of the governmental and social order has been designated "prophetic rhetoric" after the often modeled discourse of the Old Testament prophets. Such discourse can be sectarian and polarizing in tone and impact, but to achieve social transformation the prophet needs some central acceptance. This study examines the potential of prophetic rhetoric within the Sanctuary movement in southern Arizona. It explores how Sanctuary rhetoric draws on the prophetic tradition; how that rhetoric expands or leaves the tradition; and how the rhetoric employs prophetic themes, authority claims, and emotional imagery. The letters and statements of Jim Corbett introduce major Sanctuary themes of the God/Love-Money/Government conflict, prophetic action, civil initiative, and the WWII parallel. The predominantly in-group rhetoric of Southside Presbyterian develops religious justification arguments, while ecumenical Sanctuary services use varied texts, church authority figures, and bonding rituals to build prophetic community across denominational lines. In public debate, religious argument is deemphasized as Sanctuary speakers focus on legal justification and assertion of general social values through image manipulation. Sentencing statements of eight Sanctuary workers vary as some are harshly polarizing, others focus on secular images and legal values, and still others deftly interweave religious and secular justification. Sanctuary speakers use prophetic discourse to critique, without falling into the trap of purely secular political campaigning. A tiny core of dissenters, viewed as extremists, grew into a movement with worldwide support. The justifying message adapted and was at times diluted, but it did not lose prophetic essence.

M.A. (Historical Studies) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

The majority of political science research on religion and politics examines how religious variables influence political outcomes. Either implicitly or explicitly, this literature posits a one-way causal arrow from religion to politics. This dissertation argues that in many developing countries, however, religious and political change have been endogenous (interrelated). This is particularly true in weak states, where established religious groups mobilized to promote third wave democratization. In such contexts, politicians simultaneously faced heightened political competition and established religious groups mobilized to demand accountable democratic governance after the Cold War. Under these conditions, I argue that politicians faced incentives to intervene in the religious sphere, and to actively propagate conversionary religious movements. In doing so, politicians sought to cultivate both moral authority and new constituencies that would compete with the established "watch dog" religious groups. I term this strategy "politicized propagation," and argue that it is an important mechanism undergirding the endogenous relationship between religious and political change in the region. Although the theoretical argument advanced in this dissertation is general, I assess the argument empirically by focusing on the explosive rise of pentecostal (born again) Christianity as a politically salient identity in some, but not all, sub-Saharan states in recent decades. I begin by evaluating the dissertation’s broadest claim — that religion and politics are endogenous — at the cross-national level. Specifically, I assess the degree to which a country’s pentecostal population share in 2010 is predicted by that country’s (i) level of political competition in the 1990s and 2000s, and (ii) prior mobilization by established religions for democratization. The evidence reveals a strong, and significant positive correlation between these political context variables and pentecostal population shares in the region. Moreover, through a controlled comparison of born again movements (i.e., charismatics and pentecostals), I am able to adjudicate between the appeal of born again doctrine, and the organizational features of pentecostal churches (such as decentralized network structures, and relative freedom from transnational oversight and rigid training requirements for leaders), which make pentecostal churches accessible and malleable political allies. The dissertation’s cross-national findings therefore refute alternative explanations for cross-national variation in the rise of pentecostalism, as well as the null hypothesis that political and religious change were not endogenous in sub-Saharan states. The latter half of the dissertation proceeds to evaluate causal process mechanisms by examining church-state relations in a single case over time. Specifically, I focus on Zambia, a predominantly Christian nation, where I collected quantitative and qualitative data in 2011 and 2013. My analyses of these data reveal that Zambia's ruling party systematically targeted local pentecostal churches with cash grants, media permits, urban land plots, and political appointments between 1991 and 2011. Moreover, I find that the government was significantly more likely to allocate perks, such as lucrative tax breaks or church business licenses, in the lead up to national elections. This evidence provides strong suggestive support for the theory of politicized propagation. Zambians' subjective perceptions of the relationship between different religious groups and the state are consistent with the theory of politicized propagation, but also belie the wide-ranging motivations of pentecostal converts. I conclude with reflections on the impact of politicized propagation, as well as the ability of this argument to illuminate political dynamics of born again Christian movements in Latin America, and Islamic movements in sub-Saharan Africa.

楊衛華. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2011. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 468-475) / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in Chinese and English. / Yang Weihua.