[47.1] DANGEROUS FALLOUT, HOPEFUL WRITING

Christians are warning that tens of thousands of casualties may be the result of the development of a new generation of nuclear weapons by the USA. The details are in a report from the Ekklesia website -- the source of the news update column on the left-hand side of FaithInSociety. Ekklesia operates from an Anabaptist-style value base, but its reporting is from all quarters of the Christian community. Its hard-working director, Jonathan Bartley, has recently written The Subversive Manifesto: Lifting the Lid on God's Political Agenda, which partly charts his own journey from the religious right to a radical Christian commitment influenced by people such as Jim Wallis and the late John Howard Yoder.

For those long steeped in political theology this book may not contain a lot that's new, but it has three special merits. First it encapsulates the implications of the prophetic biblical tradition in direct and lively language. Second, it is media savvy. Third, it will reach into the evangelical and 'new church' constituency in a way that much of the literature in this field -- including the stuff I churn out -- never will. More strength to your elbow, Jonathan.

(I should declare an interest, by the way: I'm an Ekklesia columnist!)

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