God and Guns in America
Stock No: WW876430
God and Guns in America  -     By: Michael W. Austin

God and Guns in America

WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co / 2020 / Paperback

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Product Description

What would it look like for Christians to go beyond thoughts and prayers in their response to gun violence? 

The gun debate is raging in America. Mass shootings in El Paso, the Tree of Life Synagogue, Stoneman Douglas High School, Las Vegas, Pulse Nightclub, and Sandy Hook Elementary demand action. Senseless acts of gun violence—some involving police (e.g., Michael Brown) and some not (e.g., Trayvon Martin)—spark controversy about the right to own a gun. Yet many still regard gun ownership and use as an essential part of what it means to be an American. 

How should Christians think and act concerning guns and gun ownership? God and Guns in America provides a thoughtful, measured, robust, and articulate biblical treatment of an issue that is too often treated with more heat than light. Ethicist Michael Austin ultimately defends the view—from a Christian but non-pacifist perspective—that (1) the right to own and use a gun is a conditional right, (2) using a gun to harm another person is only morally permissible as a last resort, and (3) more legal restrictions are needed in the United States. 

Austin’s book is for anyone who wants to consider the issue of guns in America from a Christian perspective—whether they are gun owners themselves or not.

Product Information

Title: God and Guns in America
By: Michael W. Austin
Format: Paperback
Number of Pages: 216
Vendor: WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co
Publication Date: 2020
Dimensions: 8.5 X 5.5 (inches)
Weight: 8 ounces
ISBN: 0802876439
ISBN-13: 9780802876430
Stock No: WW876430

Author Bio

Michael W. Austin is Foundation Professor of Philosophy at Eastern Kentucky University and Bonhoeffer Senior Fellow of the Miller Center for Interreligious Learning and Leadership of Hebrew College. He has published twelve books, including Being Good: Christian Virtues for Everyday Life (Eerdmans, 2012), Humility and Human Flourishing (Oxford University Press, 2018), and his latest, God and Guns in America (Eerdmans, 2020).

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly
"Austin’s sound arguments, welcoming tone, and emphasis on building peace alongside protections of individual rights have the potential to sway Christians on both sides of the discourse around faith and firearms."

"With insight, brilliance, and conviction, Austin shows us how to match what the Bible, the evidence, and Christian discernment say about God and guns in America with corresponding actions we can undertake to reduce the dangers and suffering that so often attend them."
— Rob Schenck
from the foreword

"Michael Austin exposes the economic forces that have driven America’s gun culture since the end of the Civil War and challenges Christians to be peacebuilders in a violent world, offering a way forward in making it harder for us to harm one another with guns."
— Rev. Deanna Hollas
Minister of Gun Violence Prevention, Presbyterian Church (USA)

"God and Guns in America is required reading for any follower of Jesus interested in the gun debate. Austin advocates a third way between pacifism and the just war notions of the use of violence, which he calls ’peacebuilding.’ A fine work of theological integration around one of our culture’s most vexing issues."
— Scott B. Rae
Biola University

"This is an important book—comprehensive yet concise, well researched yet accessible, with a balanced treatment of the theological, ethical, and legal issues related to guns."
— David P. Gushee
Mercer University

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