In Search of a National Morality: A Manifesto for Evengelicalism

by William Bentley Ball

From their many common beliefs, orthodox Catholics and Evangelicals have arrived at clear and identical positions on many issues of law and public policy, especially regarding freedom of religion,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0801010292
• ISBN13: 9780801010293
• Release Date: August 1992
• Publisher: Baker Publishing Group (MI)
• Length: 298 Pages
• Weight: 0.88 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.9" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Searching for Nation's Morality

Concern for America's morality is shared by the various contributors to In Search of a National Morality: A Manifesto for Evangelicals and Catholics, ed. William Bentley Bell (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, c. 1992). Bell, a Catholic, is a noted constitutional lawyer who's argued a number of landmark cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. He invited eminent Protestant and Catholic scholars and politicians to address the issues which form the chapters of this book. Contributors include Carl F.H. Henry, Henry Hyde, Paul Vitz, Norman Geisler, Russell Kirk, and William May--an impressive gathering of gifted minds. Bell himself keynotes the volume by arguing we Christians now live in an "occupied country." It's been captured by principalities and powers, most notably the media, which have systematically engaged in "normalizing evil" (p. 10). The authors cite persuasive data and credible authorities to show we're now living in a time when "barbarians" have seized control of our culture and are dismantling the foundations of civilization. For example, 60 years ago Harvard University's Pitrim Sorokin, a sociologist, warned that the "sensate culture" then emerging in this nation would incubate egoists concerned solely with their own pleasures. "'Through their scandals, indecencies, erratic exploits, and through the actions of robbery, murder, sacrilege, and the like, they ruin themselves and the society of which they are a part'" (p. 61). Still more, when too many of these "overfree" individuals are tolerated, society must either "bridle" them or allow itself to "disintegrate." It would seem that we've reached the point when the lawless among us must be constrained. Now is the time for righteous men to rise up and resist, to recover standards of righteousness for this land. The topics addressed alert one to some of the cataclysmic shifts which have transformed this nation. Secularization has succeeded in driving religion from power. Moral standards have dissipated as individualistic relativism has incubated social anarchy. The clear intent of this nation=s foundersCthat our republic be suffused with Christian principlesChas been upended (through a devious misrepresentation of their views) to create a polity devoid of religious guidance. Human life and family stability are no longer revered and protected as sacred. Educators have wrested children from parents and isolated them from God. Government has turned from being non-religious to being anti-Christian. The clamor for "rights" has banished responsibility for being righteous. The foregoing litany of decadence generally covers the concerns of a growing number of Americans. This volume, by bringing together Evangelicals and Catholics, enables one to see what they have in common when addressing moral and constitutional issues. The essays are short, readable, and illuminate some of the quandaries we now face.

A Fabulous Smorgasboard of Natural Law Analyses of Contemporary Moral Problems

This fabulous collections of essays counts Norman Geisler, William E. May, and Paul Vitz among its contributors. It is a treasure, which is sadly out of print.