New Releases by Michael Johnston

The companion to Volume 2 of The New Church''s Teaching Series, Roger Ferlo''s Opening the Bible, Michael Johnston''s Engaging the Word teaches us how to use the critical and practical tools for reading the Bible described by Ferlo to interpret the Hebrew and Christian scriptures: what did they mean for their original audience and what do they mean for us today? Johnston introduces us to the key terms and concepts of biblical criticism that show us how to read Scripture on three key levels: the literal, historical, and prophetic. He explores with us passages that touch on questions of ethics, the nature of God, the teachings of Jesus, and eschatology, and offers vivid insights into the physical setting and geography of the Bible. Above all, the purpose of Engaging the Word is to help us become people who can read and interpret the Bible intelligently and perceptively. It offers the fundamental questions that we must ask of any biblical text in order to enter fully into its meaning for us and for our worshiping community: Who wrote the passage? When was it written? What does it actually say? For what community or group was it written? What was its message for that community? What is its message for us today?

This analysis of political corruption and public policy in America considers such issues as the costs and benefits of political corruption, the causes of corruption, and the consequences of a corruption-free political system. J.S. Nye''s definition of corruption is used for the discussion: ''behavior which deviates from the formal duties of a public role (elective or appointive) because of private-regarding (personal, close family, private clique) wealth or status gains: or violates rules against the exercise of certain types of private-regarding influence.'' Three general perspectives for understanding corruption are considered: (1) personalistic approaches, which deal with the kinds of people who hold positions of public trust; (2) an institutional view, which finds the causes of corruption in flaws or unrecognized biases in laws and institutions; and (3) a systemic perspective, which suggests that corruption grows from basic relationships between government and society. The development of the systemic view suggests that corruption is a form of influence that depends on the successful mobilization of political resources. Case studies of machine politics, police corruption, and Watergate are presented, followed by a case study that shows the difficulties of reform to counter corruption. An analysis of the broad social and political consequences of corruption considers both the costs and benefits of corruption. The concluding chapter offers a few reform strategies and policy proposals, tempered by a comment on the necessity of a realistic perspective of corruption in a democratic society. A selected bibliography has 61 listings, and a subject index is provided. Illustrative tabular information and footnotes accompany each chapter.