Themes of Crhistian Faith - Essay Example

lshtain judges the historical and modern events through the prism of religious and divine monism and promotes a view that only sovereignty of God can give societies a better sense of dignity, decency, and common sense. Elshtain’s book is a sustained examination, critique, and interpretation of monistic understanding of the sovereignty of God, states, and selves (227). The central thesis of the book claims that as a sovereign state is sovereign to God, so sovereign selves are to sovereign states (159).

Elshtain’s book revolves around the topic of monistic religions, the finality of God’s religious word, and the conflict between individual autonomy and the power of religion. Elshtain discusses and evaluates the changes that have occurred to the current position of religion against the state: today, individuals seek to rely on individual judgments and no longer regard the word of God as the source of the ultimate truth. Elshtain refers to the case of Terry Schiavo to judge and condemn her family’s decision to let Terry die.

Elshtain is confident that a truly theological state would not let family members kill Terry simply because she was causing them discomfort. Elshtain asserts that Terry’s family members applied to the power of the state, state laws, and their autonomy to take the decisions that go against the will of God. Elshtain is confident that the shift of God’s sovereignty to the sovereignty of state marks the erosion of decency, dignity, and common sense in society and gives way to using others for the sake of personal comfort.

The discussion of the bound and unbound state and self are among the central categories in Elshtain’s book. These categories reflect the two opposing dimensions of the moral theory and represent the two dramatically different aspects of philosophic and religious reasoning. The discussion of state-bound and self-bound categories must begin with the reference to the Biblical scriptures. In ACTS 5:29 we read: “Peter and