A Marxist Interpretation of Church Leadership: Romans 13:1–7 is a study of Romans 13: 1-7 from a Marxist perspective. If too much emphasis is given to obedience, then this may provide the fundament for capitalism ruling with a focus on profit before people.
A timely and galvanizing work that examines how right-wing evangelical Christians have veered from an admirable faith to a pernicious, destructive ideology. Today’s right-wing Evangelical Christianity stands as the very antithesis of the message of Jesus Christ. In his new book, Christians Against Christianity, best-selling author and religious scholar Obery M. Hendricks Jr. challenges right-wing evangelicals on the terrain of their own religious claims, exposing the falsehoods, contradictions, and misuses of the Bible that are embedded in their rabid homophobia, their poorly veiled racism and demonizing of immigrants and Muslims, and their ungodly alliance with big business against the interests of American workers. He scathingly indicts the religious leaders who helped facilitate the rise of the notoriously unchristian Donald Trump, likening them to the “court jesters” and hypocritical priestly sycophants of bygone eras who unquestioningly supported their sovereigns’ every act, no matter how hateful or destructive to those they were supposed to serve. In the wake of the deadly insurrectionist attack on the US Capitol, Christians Against Christianity is a clarion call to stand up to the hypocrisy of the evangelical Right, as well as a guide for Christians to return their faith to the life-affirming message that Jesus brought and died for. What Hendricks offers is a provocative diagnosis, an urgent warning that right-wing evangelicals’ aspirations for Christian nationalist supremacy are a looming threat, not only to Christian decency but to democracy itself. What they offer to America is anything but good news.
Why should we pay attention to the great social critics like Marx? Americans, especially now, confront serious questions and evidences that our capitalist system is in trouble. It clearly serves the 1% far, far better than what it is doing to the vast mass of the people. Marx was a social critic for whom capitalism was not the end of human history. It was just the latest phase and badly needed the transition to something better. We offer this essay now because of the power and usefulness today of Marx's criticism of the capitalist economic system. eBook: https: //bit.ly/2K6iI8v
Managers and leaders spend a great deal of time on communication; it binds together all the communications in the organisational system. In other words, communication is the glue that impacts on the effectiveness of communication in the entire organization, therefore the style of leadership communication has a profound impact on how the organization works. If too much ‘glue’ is used, the consequence is information overload, which hampers effective communication. If there is too little glue, individuals and entire organizations may find themselves in a pathological state of disorder, with people filling the information vacuum with rumours and gossip. Leadership communication can be involving and participatory, motivating colleagues to be creative and put in as much extra effort as is necessary. Leadership communication can also be power-based and patronizing. Such a style of communication will cause tensions and conflicts within an organization. In this textbook, the author shows how information and communication are parts of a special type of interaction, namely situations in which you want to gain trust or influence people. With a plethora of case examples and practical exercises to get stuck into, this engaging book helps students gain a deeper understanding of the concepts and contexts described in each chapter, such as communication strategies, influencing techniques, communication and values, and communication and trust. The second half of the book offers six personal communication tools, and six personal coaching tools, with assignment to each of the coaching tools. In addition, the book provides 66 exercises to the six personal communication tools. Ideal reading for those taking leadership and communication courses, this textbook takes a practical approach to the key issues in organizational communication that will prepare students for their careers in business.
It's one thing to say that we believe in justice for all, but quite another to actively seek social justice for the poor in our midst. After extensive research, the author is convinced that a huge gap exists between talking about justice and actually doing justice for the poor. She believes that achieving justice for all requires a deep and broad approach that involves the integration of Catholic social teaching with Scripture and Tradition so that charity and justice actually become social justice. Only when people-every race, nationality, class, and religion-are educated for justice, built on respect for the person and the responsibility of individuals and the community, will we in the U.S. be able to cut through the rhetoric of blame and move toward solidarity.
This book is a practical guide on how to write conceptual papers and use conceptual generalization as a research methodology. Divided into two parts, the book first focuses on the scientific foundation for conceptual generalization, to identify what is a conceptual model and how conceptual models can be developed. Part two focuses on how to write a winning conceptual thesis, covering conceptual generalisation and empirical generalisation, and discusses research problems and questions, and how to analyse them. The authors cover different conceptual and analytical models to offer students a multitude of tools to visualize, interpret and uncover relationships and patterns. For example, they explore the thought experiment, analytical models, empirical causal models, analytical forms and data mining models, and outline a strategy for developing conceptual models to assist with students who wish to design their own conceptual paper. Students gain a clear understanding of the driving forces in the research process, how to define a research problem, how to analysis the problem and develop research strategies. Moving from concepts to hypotheses, the book also covers the main types of errors that may be encountered as students learn about understanding the development of models and how to develop a theory. Also including a checklist for students, and a list of definitions and concepts, this is the ideal resource for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students, and researchers, in the social sciences.
From 1949 to 1989, Germany was divided into West and East Germany. While West Germany became an ally of Western democracies, East Germany was allied with the Soviet Union and was governed by Marxist Communism. What was it like to be the church in East Germany? Hanfried Muller was a professor of theology and a committed Marxist. Johannes Hamel was a pastor who tried to minister in this environment. How did the two differ? This book examines the contrast between the two men and the struggle many pastors and Christians endured as they lived and worked in a hostile environment. Furthermore, it raises the question of how Christians everywhere deal with the issue of the relationship between church and state and what the Christian's responsibility is in that relationship.
The material effects of World War II, in combination with Eastern Europe's disappointingly undemocratic interwar history, placed radical social change on the postwar agenda across the region and shaped the debates that took place in immediate postwar Czech society. These debates adopted both a cultural form, in struggles over the meaning of the recent past and the nation's position on the East-West continuum, and a directly political form, in battles over the meaning of socialism. The Struggle for the Soul of the Nation examines the most important and politically resonant fields of historical and cultural debate in Czech society immediately after World War II. Bradley Abrams finds that communist public figures were largely successful in controlling debate over the nation's recent past--the interwar First Republic and the experiences of Munich and World War II--and over its location on the East-West continuum. This success preceded and was mirrored in the struggles over the political issue of the times: socialism. The communists engaged their political foes in the democratic socialist and Roman Catholic camps, and, surprisingly, found significant support from a major Protestant church. Abrams's careful reading of major publications re-creates a postwar mood sympathetic to radical social change, questioning the standard view of the communists' rise to power. This book not only contributes to the specific literature on Czech history, but also raises questions about the relationship between war and radical social change, about the communist takeover of the region, and about the role of intellectuals in public life.