Press Release: A New Evangelical Manifesto

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 18, 2012

Leading Evangelicals Discuss How Conservative Christians Can Also Be Liberals

ST. LOUIS, MO - Being theologically conservative doesn’t also mean being politically conservative. A significant, emerging segment of these right-wing Christians/left-wing voters believe being faithful to Christ doesn’t mean complete agreement with the Christian right’s agenda on a wide variety of American political issues.

A New Evangelical Manifesto: A Kingdom Vision for the Common Good, the first book from the New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good, features the writing of Christians who resemble Republicans theologically and Democrats politically. This fascinating, important demographic represents a highly prized audience both major political parties will spend millions of dollars courting this year.

A New Evangelical Manifesto: A Kingdom Vision for the Common Good, edited by David P. Gushee, features evangelicals such as Richard Cizik, Steven D. Martin, Brian McLaren and Lisa Sharon Harper on a wide variety of hot-button issues in American culture – and in the 2012 election season. After defining the theological foundation applied in the rest of the book, A New Evangelical Manifesto addresses a wide variety of social justice issues, including:

• torture
• capital punishment
• global warming
• abortion
• denuclearization
• consumerism

and human rights issues:

• racism
• sex trafficking
• poverty
• disease
• interfaith relations

“It might be hard to notice in an election season in which the word evangelical means little more than ‘right-wing social conservative Republican voting bloc’,” says editor David P. Gushee, “but evangelicalism is actually a religious community. It is—we are—one part of the global Christian family and a more-or-less identifiable part of the Christian landscape in the United States. Representing nearly a third of Americans, evangelicals are spiritually serious, theologically orthodox, evangelistically engaged, morally earnest Protestant Christians, members of hundreds of particular denominational traditions and tens of thousands of congregations all over the country.”

A New Evangelical Manifesto is getting great endorsements from political columnists, political centers such as Center for Religion and Public Affairs and Center for Democracy and Citizenship, authors, and academics.

“The word prophetic is tossed around rather promiscuously these days, but A New Evangelical Manifesto truly deserves to be seen in light of that long tradition of calling religious people to reflection, responsibility and action. It gathers together an extraordinarily thoughtful group of men and women who consider the central political questions with both eloquence and clarity.”

-E. J. DIONNE, syndicated columnist and author of Our Divided Political Heart

Published by Chalice Press, A New Evangelical Manifesto will be released August 30, 2012 - just days before the political conventions kickoff.

For more information or to order A New Evangelical Manifesto: A Kingdom Vision for the Common Good (print ISBN 9780827200340, $24.99) call 1-800-366-3383 or visit www.ChalicePress.com. E-book versions will be available upon release.

The mission of CBP/Chalice Press is to use sustainable practices to publish content that people buy and use to help their Christian faith make a positive difference in the world. CBP is a general ministry of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

For more information or a review copy, contact:
Christian Board of Publication
314-231-8500, press 8, and then 1
Amber Moore, AMoore@ChalicePress.com

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