The Gospel and Religious Freedom by Bebbington, David W.;

Short description:

Explores the complex relationship between evangelicals and religious freedom from the eighteenth century to the present. The volume includes studies of the intellectual lineage of asserting the free exercise of religion, evangelicals who endorsed religious liberty, and recent American evangelical political pressure on behalf of freedom of religion.

Long description:

Religious freedom as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights remains a perennial concern across the globe. Over the centuries many evangelicals have not enjoyed this right in practice, but they have generally advocated its acceptance, especially to allow the spread of the gospel. Not always, however, have they supported freedom for religious groups besides themselves, and sometimes they have endorsed discrimination against other bodies.

The Gospel and Religious Freedom explores the complex relationship in theory and practice between evangelicals and religious freedom, covering periods from the eighteenth century to the present. The volume includes studies of the intellectual lineage of asserting the free exercise of religion, of evangelicals in the United States who endorsed religious liberty in the early twentieth century, and of recent American evangelical political pressure on behalf of freedom of religion at home and abroad. Other contributions address the evangelical defense of the cause in British territories in the age of William Wilberforce, the apparent threat to religious liberty by Roman Catholics throughout the world, an evangelical attempt to restrain Muslim laws in Nigeria, and the persecution of believers by Communists in Eastern Europe and China.

Evangelical Christians emerge as preeminently concerned with evangelism, but in other respects they are diverse in their responses to challenges in various global regions. This volume is designed to demonstrate something of the significance of the evangelical movement in the history of the modern world.

Table of Contents:

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• Foreword
  David W. Bebbington
• Introduction
  Robert J. Joustra
• Part One: America
• 1. Protestant Dissenters, a Second Magna Carta, and Religious Freedom
  Nicholas P. Miller
• 2. William Jennings Bryan, the Round Table Club, and Religious Freedom
  Jeffrey McDonald
• 3. George W. Truett and Religious Liberty
  Todd D. Still
• 4. ""Their Blood Cries Out"": Religious Freedom and Persecution Politics
  Melani McAlister
• 5. Principled Position or Interest Group Politics?: Evangelicals and Religious Liberty in the Trump Era
  Barry Hankins
• Part Two: The World
• 6. Evangelical Toleration in the Age of Wilberforce: Dissenters, Missionaries, and Colonial Others
  John Coffey
• 7. ""Totalitarianism in Religion"": Roman Catholicism, Religious Liberty, and the British Evangelical Imagination before Vatican II
  John Maiden
• 8. Norman Anderson, Islam, and Religious Freedom in Nigeria
  Todd M. Thompson
• 9. Evangelicals and the Communist Regimes in Postwar East-Central Europe
  Mary Heimann
• 10. An Open Door That No One Can Shut: Evangelicals under Repression in China, 1949–1982
  Wai Luen Kwok
• Afterword
  Judd Birdsall
• Contributors