First Things and The Covenant School invite you to watch “Christian Witness in America” a First Things Lecture presented by editor R.R. Reno on Monday, November 17, 2014 in the Dallas area.
The moral and political developments of the past twenty years have left people of faith in an increasingly defensive position—defending marriage, defending religious liberty, defending the reasonableness of faith itself. The militant secularism targeting Christians in America over this period has reignited a fundamental debate about the place of faith in this country and whether the “American experiment” itself is compatible with Christianity and its views of the human person and community.
Thoughtful Christians have come down on both sides of this debate. On one side are those who argue that America’s free-market economy, liberal democratic institutions, and global leadership are compatible with, and can be leavened and guided by, Christian values. Others have taken the view that modern capitalism and the individualistic ethos of American culture are fundamentally at odds with crucial Christian insights into the human person and our social destiny.
The questions and implications raised by this debate are significant. Should Christians accept the incompatibility of their faith with the American system, turning their efforts instead to constructing communities of belief that exist outside of traditional American institutions? Or should they redouble their efforts to engage the culture and seek out a new positive, compelling political witness within the American project?
In his lecture, R. R. Reno sorts through the new challenges Christians face in America and discusses how best to meet them. We hope you will be able to join us for this important discussion.
R. R. Reno is editor of First Things. He has been published in many academic journals; his essays and opinion pieces on religion, public life, contemporary culture, and current events have appeared in Commentary and the Washington Post, among other popular outlets. His most recent books include Sanctified Vision: An Introduction to Early Christian Interpretation of the Bible and Fighting the Noonday Devil, published in December 2010. Reno has appeared as a guest on CNN’s Crossfire, EWTN’s Faith & Culture, and numerous radio shows.
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