To Be at Home

Library Journal

Rouner provides a well-reasoned Christian perspective on world community that avoids both evangelical claims to Christianity as an exclusive path to religious truth, and the overzealous ecumenism of those who hold all religions are essentially the same. He traces the development of Judeo-Christian ideas on the nature of human community from Old Testament times down to the present in a slim volume that is historically informed and willing to recognize the increasing secularization of Western thought since the 17th century. Using American and Indian examples, he shows how Christian beliefs have helped to form a broad-based civil religion in two countries characterized by democracy and diversity in their ethnic and religious traditions. Public, academic, and seminary libraries should seriously consider Rouner's argument for world community and understanding, which combines readability, scholarship, and a centrist position on interfaith relations.--Susan A. Stussy, Barton Cty. Community Coll., Great Bend, Kan.