Journal of Church and State

Prior to the publication of Gerda Lerner's study of the Grimke sisters in 1967, academic historians and students of political theory largely ignored antebellum women. Since that time many fine books and articles have been published about them. The vast...

Among the oft-noticed features of what scholarly observers sometimes tout as "American exceptionalism"-what distinguishes the U.S. from other advanced industrialized nations-two items perennially appear at the top of the list. One is the perduring and...

Farewell to Christendom: The Future of Church and State in America. By Thomas J. Curry. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. 143 pp. np. Thomas Curry begins his slender volume with the best of intentions, announcing his determination to resolve,...

The Churches of Christ are exemplary religious insiders in the United States.1 Their 1,600,000 members and adherents concentrated mostly in the upper South, sponsor several colleges and claim bestselling Christian author and Texas preacher Max Lucado...

With a people so steeped in religious history and a homeland that lies at the crossroads of the world's greatest religions, Israel cannot escape the importance of religious faith in its political and national life. While its own Declaration of Independence...

Learning Lessons from Waco: When the Parties Bring Their Gods to the Negotiation Table. By Jayne Seminare Docherty. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 2001. 351 pp. np. In this book Jayne Docherty seeks to understand why the 1993 FBI-- Branch...

ARMENIA Armenia's highest court, the Court of Cassation, upheld the not guilty verdicts of two lower courts in the case of Lyova Margaryan, who was charged under Article 244 of the Criminal Code for his activities as a Jehovah's Witness. The charges...

Pagan City and Christian Capital. Rome in the Fourth Century. By John Curran. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. 389 pp. $85.00. The city of Rome between the reigns of Constantine the Great and Theodosius I was the setting for dramatic changes. This...

Religion and the Demise of Liberal Rationalism: The Foundational Crisis of the Separation of Church and State. By J. Judd Owen. Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press, 2001. 218 pp. $16.00. This book consists of a critical analysis of three major...

Sacred Places, Civic Purposes: Should Government Help Faith-Based Charity? Edited by E.J. Dionne Jr. and Ming Hsu Chen. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 2001. 272 pp. $20.95. This book plunges into the controversy surrounding President...

The Esoteric Origins of the American Renaissance. By Arthur Versluis. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. 234 pp. np. Arthur Versluis argues that Western esotericism-a wide range of spiritual currents that included alchemy, Hermeticism, Kabbala,...

The Holy Blood: King Henry III and the Westminster Blood Relic. By Nicholas Vincent. Cambridge, Mass.: Cambridge University Press, 2001. 254 pp. np. On 13 October 1247, King Henry III of England proceeded barefoot and dressed in a simple cloak from St....

The newly invented electronic media of radio gave Father Charles Coughlin a "pulpit" that catapulted him into national prominence beginning in October 1926. A Canadian native ordained in the Order of St. Basil in 1916, Coughlin immigrated to the United...

Understanding Fundasmentalism: Christian, Islamic, and Jewish Movements. By Richard T. Antoun. Walnut Creek, Calif.: AltaMira Press, 2001. 181 pp. np. The author is professor of anthropology at the State University of New York at Binghamton and does...