New Horsley book

Richard Horsley has a new book out. How does he manage to write so much? Here's the press release (with the usual rider that other publishers are welcome to send me their press releases and so to get some free publicity if they want it!).

Horsley Explores the Intersection of Religions, Rhetoric, & Political Life

MINNEAPOLIS (October 27, 2003)—In Religion and Empire: People, Power, and the Life of the Spirit Richard Horsley brings his considerable skills to bear on the timely questions concerning religious rhetoric and empire-building. How do the teachings of Jesus impact our understanding of the uses of power? How can we understand the invocation of God in modern political rhetoric? These questions and more are explored in order to help readers develop a clearer sense of modern religious and political issues.

In this perceptive look at ways politics and religion entwine, Horsley examines patterns of relations between imperial power and religion, describing how ancient and modern empires subjugate peoples by co-opting their local religious practices and attitudes, and identifying similarities between resistance movements.

“The most important task before us may be to consider how religious practices are related to the imperial power relations that have determined people’s lives for centuries, but have gone unnoticed and unanalyzed.”
—from the Introduction

Key Features

- Discusses Jesus, modern Islamic movements, and U.S. foreign policy

- A major move forward in establishing the history and social role of the Pharisees

Richard Horsley is Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and the Study of Religion at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. He is the author and co-author of numerous books, including Jesus and Empire and Jesus and the Spiral of Violence, both from Fortress Press.

Religion and Empire is the newest addition to the Facets series from Fortress Press.

The Facets Series, brief, brilliant treatments of vital aspects of faith and life, offers gems of religious writing from leaders who address today’s more important or pressing questions—biblical, theological, and moral. Other volumes recently released include: Walter Brueggemann, The Spirituality of the Psalms (0-8006-3450-0); Rosemary Radford Ruether, Visionary Women (0-8006-3448-9); John Kaltner, Islam: What Non-Muslims Should Know *0-8006-3583-3); Philip Hefner, Technology and Human Becoming (0-8006-3608-2); Walter Wink, Jesus and Nonviolence (0-8006-3609-0); James M. Robinson, editor, The Sayings of Jesus: Q in English (0-8006-3451-9); Martin Luther King, Jr., The Measure of a Man (0-8006-3449-7); Brevard S. Childs, Biblical Theology: A Proposal (0-8006-3481-0); N. T. Wright, The Contemporary Quest for Jesus (0-8006-3492-9); John B. Cobb Jr., Christian Faith and Religious Diversity (0-8006-3483-7); Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Who Is Christ for Us? (0-8006-3480-2); John R. Polkinghorne, Traffic in Truth (0-8006-3579-5); and Gösta W. Ahlströn, Ancient Palestine: A Historical Introduction (0-8006-3572-8). Each book, offered at an economical price, presents a special angle that uniquely illumines an area or issue.

###

Religion and Empire
Format: 96pp; 4.25 x 7";
ISBN: 0-8006-3631-1
Price: $6.00
Publication: November 2003

To order Religion and Empire please call Fortress Press at 1-800-328-4648 or visit the web site at www.fortresspress.com. To request review copies or exam copies please visit the website at www.fortresspress.com or call 1-800-426-0115 ext. 234. For interviews, speaking engagements, and writing assignments please call 1-800-426-0115 ext. 234 or email toddb@augsburgfortress.org.

More catch-up blogging to come, but probably not until tomorrow morning.