Christianity and Politics

Christianity and Politics Series: Teach Yourself Books Date: First printed 1966. Copyright 1966 The English Universities Press Ltd. Printed and bound in Great Britain by Richard Clay (The Chaucer Press) Ltd, Bungay, Suffolk. Edition: First edition, first printing. No later impression stated. Format: Hardback. Blue cloth, blind-stamped series device on upper board. Gilt lettering on black spine panel: Teach Yourself Books / Christianity and Politics / R. Stackhouse. Original yellow and black dust jacket. Jacket flap price 7/6 net in UK. Size / pagination: 11 x 18 cm. x, 134 pages. Contents, acknowledgements, five chapters, further reading, index. OCLC 976705 / 5554720 Condition Original jacket present. Jacket shows age: creasing, light surface wear and marks, as usual for this series. Blue cloth generally clean and firm. Text block sound and readable. Owner inscription on front free endpaper: Terence Paul Smith, July 1974. No other writing noted in the photographs. Please treat the photos as part of the description. Provenance Inscribed by Terence Paul Smith (b. 1945), British local historian and buildings archaeologist, known for work on medieval and later English brickwork, Hertfordshire churches, town defences and vernacular architecture, including publications for the Hertfordshire Local History Council / Phillimore. Dated July 1974. Description First edition of this scarce Teach Yourself title on the Christian understanding of political power. Stackhouse argues that politics belongs to the care of God, that the State is both a divine ordinance and capable of demonic misuse, and that Christians cannot treat Church and State as sealed-off spheres. The book grew from lectures given at the Clergy School of Huron College, London, Ontario, in June 1964. He works from the paradox of power in scripture, especially Jesus before Pilate (John 19:10–11): political authority is “from above,” yet it can kill the innocent. The State may do great good and cannot do the supreme good. Twentieth-century welfare claims, population growth and secularisation limit what Christian political witness can be, but they do not excuse withdrawal. Jacket blurb topics match the chapters: the Bible and political power; demonic potential of power; right use of power; Church and State; Christian witness in politics. Front flap quotes Max Warren: God is a God of politics; to worship a God unconcerned with the marketplace is to worship an idol. Dedication: “To Margaret / Partner in both Christianity and Politics.” Acknowledgements include Laski, Vidler, Lippmann, Furfey, Hogan, Fletcher, Djilas, Warren, Maritain, Howse, Nicholls, Flanagan, Baldwin, and the World Council of Churches. Author Reginald Francis Stackhouse (30 April 1925 – 14 December 2016). Canadian Anglican priest, theologian and Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament. Educated at the University of Toronto, Wycliffe College and Yale (Ph.D., Th.D.). Parish priest in Toronto, then professor at Wycliffe College and Principal of Wycliffe, 1975–1985. MP for Scarborough East, 1972–74, and Scarborough West, 1984–88. Later served on human rights commissions. This 1966 book is an early published statement of the theme he lived in both pulpit and parliament: government as part of God’s ordering of the world, to be used and limited. Illustrator / design No illustrator. Jacket and binding use the house Teach Yourself design of the mid-1960s: yellow bands, black title panel, series name at the head, author and castle device below. The cloth repeats the castle stamp. The rear jacket lists uniform titles in the same series (Bible atlas, Christian faith, theology, Dead Sea Scrolls, ethics, Greek, Hebrew, history of philosophy and religions, etc.) and series number 236 on the list panel. Uncommon on the market with jacket. Suitable for collections of Teach Yourself hardbacks, mid-century Anglican social theology, Church and State, or Canadian public theology.…