Reviews for Narrative, Nature, and the Natural Law: From Aquinas to International Human Rights

The average rating for Narrative, Nature, and the Natural Law: From Aquinas to International Human Rights based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2013-07-02 00:00:00 Joyce Lachowski Question: How might religion and spirituality play a positive role in the work of diplomacy? When a friend in Washington, D.C. recommended I read Religion, The Missing Dimension of Statecraft, I hesitated. I shouldn't have waited. This book is a series of theoretical chapters and case studies, which illuminate the effect of a sacred-secular dichotomy in public life and religious life in the United States. It shows how American diplomats have been unwilling or unable to understand the influence of religion in peace-making the past several decades. Douglas Johnston shows how the role of religion in peacemaking is mostly unnoticed because religious mediators typically avoid attention from the media. Conflict resolution is chronicled in post WWII France and Germany, Nicaragua in the mid-1980s, Nigeria in the Biafran civil war, East Germany's peaceful transition from communism, South Africa's journey to the end of apartheid, and more. These case study chapters show how, in each of these conflicts, there were faithful Christian leaders serving as peacemakers. These mediators paid close attention to the role of religion in the peace negotiations. Finally, after surveying the track record of the US foreign policy establishment's attention to spirituality, a few chapters explore the implications of the case studies. For today's Christian leader, this book is a useful resource to seriously examine the challenges faced in envisioning how we might partner with political leaders to realize the fuller potential of peacemaking. Citation: Johnston, Douglas and Cynthia Sampson, eds. Religion, The Missing Dimension of Statecraft. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1994.

Review # 2 was written on 2012-03-06 00:00:00 Robert Tachna Outstanding case studies on the role of Religion and Non-violent actions against oppressive governments.