Product Description

Kingdoms in Conflict is a provocative, practical, and challenging look at the role of the church in society, the role of government in the world, and the role of Christians in each. Winner of the Gold Medallion award.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #542299 in Books
• Published on: 1989-02-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

From the Back Cover
" ...Definitely worth reading" -Billy Graham "Colson's criticisms of the Religious Right are especially noteworthy...Colson's warnings echo a concern that religious conservatives would be reckless to ignore." -Richard N. Ostling, Religion Editor, Time "The timing could hardly be better for an author with a new book." -Newsweek "Kingdoms in Conflict speaks with wisdom and "guts" to the major issues of our day." -Charles R. Swindoll "Kingdoms in Conflict is a classic that belongs on every Christian's bookshelf." -Dr. James C. Dobson "This was a book waiting for Chuck Colson to write. As no other evangelical author can, Colson brings his political experience, thoroughly changed life, and lucid writing together at just the right time..." -Moody Monthly "The arguments- church-state, the correct admixture between the two- are familiar grist for controversial mills, but Colson does wonderful theatrical instruction in his book..." - William F. Buckley, Jr. "In Kingdoms in Conflict Charles W. Colson masterfully weds the two subjects he knows best- politics and Christian faith." -Russell Chandler "Kingdoms in Conflict offers a welcomed new insight into an age-old question." - Jack Anderson "One cannot be a passive reader of Chuck Colson's Kingdoms in Conflict." -Mark O. Hatfield

About the Author
Charles Colson, well-known syndicated columnist, author, and international speaker, is founder and chairman of Prison Fellowship and host of the daily radio commentary BreakPoint. An honors graduate of George Washington University, he served from 1969 to 1973 as special counsel to President Richard M. Nixon. Colson’s articles appear in magazines and newspapers such as Christianity Today, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and the Chicago Tribune. He has written twenty books, the most recent of which is How Shall We Now Live? Charles Colson donates the royalties from his books to Prison Fellowship.;Ellen Vaughn is an award-winning author and speaker. Her works of fiction include The Strand and Gideon's Torch (co-authored with Chuck Colson). She collaborated with Colson on eight other non-fiction books. She speaks frequently at Christian retreats, and has been featured at writers' seminars in the U.S. and Canada. A native of Washington D.C., Vaughn and her husband, Lee, live in Virginia with daughter Emily, twins Walker and Haley, and an enormous dog named after C.S. Lewis.

Customer Reviews

Striking a thoughtful balance
Chuck Colson brings to this book his wealth of experience, passion and intellect. Having lived his life in both "kingdoms" -- the secular state as well as in ministry -- Colson sheds much needed light and balance into the conflict between the role of the church in the world of the state.

What Colson does most strikingly in this work is call for a measured, authentic Christianity by those who most want to affect society for Christ. Is there a role for Christians in government? Colson argues yes. Is goverment the solution to the world's problems? Colson agrues no, or at least not entirely.

Intellectual, yet readable, Kingdoms in Conflict is one of the best books I've ever read. Published in the late 1980's (at the height of the Moral Majority movement) it is still highly relevant to anyone seeking a cogent analysis of American politics today and the part Christians have in it and out of it as we seek to affect our world.

Elaborates on Truth
Colson takes a topic that has been discussed by Christians ever since the disciples questioned Jesus about it when He was in Galilee with them, i.e., the role of God's kingdom and that of man's. Colson contends that the kingdom of God is within a person. It is not an external means of control exercised by political power. In the Epilogue he cites Winston Churchill's last words, "there is no hope." But Colson counters that statement by explaining that spiritual things are not based on the circumstances of this present world.
On the other side of the coin, however, Colson presents specific examples throughout history where Christian have actively been involved in politics and government because of their belief in the eternal, unseen kingdom of God within. Having an awareness of things eternal, while contributing in this life is the balance he is seeking to describe.

Vintage Colson - Makes You Think and Not Just Feel!
Like Colson's other books, Kingdoms in Conflict challenges you to think deeply about what and why you believe.

The title focuses on the precarious balance Christians experience between heavy involvement and no involvement in politics. Colson's thesis seems to be that Christians need to maintain a balance - being in the world while not being of the world and Christians must be a light to the world and salt of the earth.

Colson uses the examples of Christian involvement (and lack of) in resisting Hitler, Marcos, and other brutal figures in history to illustrate the importance of Christians being involved in the political process without being consumed by the power that goes with politics.

Read and be encouraged to be rightly involved in politics while remembering that ultimately we are citizens of another kingdom to come that will last forever!