books
by glenn sunshine
An award-winning author, Glenn has published books, articles and book chapters on history, theology, and culture, online and on both sides of the Atlantic. His book Why You Think the Way You Do: The Story of Western Worldviews from Rome to Home (Zondervan, 2009) received the 2006 Acton Institute Book Grant.
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32 Christians Who Changed Their World
Now available for pre-order with free shipping! Hardbacks ship in March 2023.
The Christian faith is a call to adventure. Be inspired by these thirty-two saints and give thanks for their faithful stories. Now go and do likewise where God has put you.
For two thousand years, average Christians have been transforming culture, and this collection of stories by Dr. Glenn Sunshine tells some of those stories. Men like Robert Grosseteste and Roger Bacon laid the foundations for science. Political figures like Abba Enbaqom and Sorghaghtani Beki (daughter-in-law of Genghis Khan) promoted Christianity in societies hostile to it. Christians like Roque González and Solomon Plaatje opposed racial oppression, and heroes like Andre Trocme and Ho Fengshan helped Jews escape the Holocaust.
These men and women all have stories that show how broad and transformative the Christian faith really has been on the world. Learn these stories and be like them.
Slaying Leviathan: Limited Government and Resistance in the Christian Tradition
Christians first expressed these political truths under Caesars, kings, popes, and emperors. We need them in the age of presidents.
Leviathan is rising again, and the first weapon we must recover is the longstanding Christian tradition of resisting governmental overreach. Our bloated bureaucratic state would have been unrecognizable to the Founders, and our acquiescence to its encroachments on liberty would have infuriated them. But here is the point: our Leviathan would not have surprised them. They were well acquainted with the tendency of governments to turn tyrannical: “Eternal vigilance is the price we pay for liberty.”
In Slaying Leviathan, historian Glenn S. Sunshine surveys some of the stories and key elements of Christian political thought from Augustine to the Declaration of Independence. Specifically, the book introduces theories of limited government that were synthesized into a coherent political philosophy by John Locke. Locke, of course, influenced the American founders and was, like us, fighting against the spirit of Leviathan in his day. But his is only one of the many stories in this book.
Why You Think the Way You Do: The Story of Western Worldviews from Rome to Home
How do we come by our worldviews and philosophies? What impact did Christianity have on the worldviews that are common to Western civilization?
Why You Think the Way You Do traces the development of the worldviews that underpin the Western world. Professor and historian Glenn S. Sunshine demonstrates the decisive impact that the growth of Christianity had in transforming the outlook of pagan Roman culture into one that—based on biblical concepts of humanity and its relationship with God—established virtually all the positive aspects of Western civilization.
The two-pronged assault in our time on the biblically based worldview by postmodern philosophy and the writings of neo-atheists has made it even more crucial that we acknowledge and defend its historical roots.
The Image of God
The Image of God is the centerpiece of the Bible’s teaching about what it means to be truly human.
This book discusses fourteen aspects of the Image of God, what it has meant in history, and its implications for today. By exploring the story of the creation in Genesis, this book details what the Bible says about human purpose and abilities, the effects of sin on humanity, the impact of redemption, and the restoration of humanity’s original calling in Christ. Questions offered at the end of each chapter make The Image of God ideal for personal or group study.
Portals: Entering Your Neighbor’s World
People in America hold a variety of competing and incompatible worldviews that are so different that it can be difficult to communicate about important issues in life. Portals offers a brief survey of seven of the major worldviews that shape American culture today.
The book begins with an introduction that explains the idea of worldview and gives some suggestions for how to use the book. It then has chapters on historic Christianity, secular naturalism, postmodernism, Islam, Eastern religions, the New Age movement, and the Gaian worldview. The book concludes with an epilogue that looks ahead at where each of the worldviews seems to be heading, and points to new worldviews that are developing and that may emerge as important ways of seeing the world in the coming years. Intended primarily as a guide for Christians to understand their neighbors, this book can benefit anyone interested in bridging the divide between competing worldviews and entering the mental world of the people around us.
A Brief Introduction to the Reformation
This readable, accessible introduction provides a solid grounding in the history of the Protestant Reformation. In honor of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, Glenn Sunshine examines the key people and ideas of this movement. Questions for discussion and suggestions for further reading provided for each chapter make this book ideal for the classroom or group study.
Christianity is growing faster than at any time in history. So why is the church in Europe and America stagnant or declining, and what will it take for that to change? The Kingdom Unleashed explores God’s Kingdom Movements. Central to every movement are the core values of the Kingdom of God, which Jesus proclaimed and modeled throughout His ministry. The authors of The Kingdom Unleashed spent three years researching why only a few such movements are happening in North America and Western Europe. They identify historical and worldview issues that hinder Kingdom movements in the West. Interviews with many leading movement catalysts illuminate the biblical principles, paradigms, and practices that Jesus mandated for His disciples. By returning to these, we can revitalize Christianity in the Global North and see the Kingdom Unleashed.
The Reformation for Armchair Theologians
This readable, accessible narrative story of the Protestant Reformation is written for lay audiences. It is part of the popular Westminster John Knox Press Armchair series and is illustrated with memorable cartoons by Ron Hill. The chapters of the book are suitable for use in church adult education settings to provide a solid grounding in the history of the Reformation and its leading ideas. Questions for discussion and suggestions for further reading provided for each chapter make this book great for group study. Since the Protestant Reformation is such a formative event in the lives of churches, it is important to have an accessible resource to tell its story available for laypersons in all denominations.
Written by experts but designed for the nonexpert, the Armchair series provides accurate, concise, and witty overviews of some of the most profound moments and theologians in Christian history. These books are an essential supplement for first-time encounters with primary texts, a lucid refresher for scholars and clergy, and an enjoyable read for the theologically curious.
“Despite its brevity, the Vindiciae’s sharp defense of the right of subjects to resist unjust or ungodly rulers even to the point of armed rebellion helped shape the political theories of John Locke in England and the American Founding Fathers. Its arguments on the rights and responsibilities of rulers and subjects continue to be relevant today as we consider the limits of the power of the government and the rights of citizens to oppose governmental overreach.” – from Glenn Sunshine’s Introduction
In 1572, Roman Catholic soldiers slaughtered thousands of French Huguenots for their Protestant faith. This calamity forced many Protestants to ask whether taking up arms against a king was even lawful. Many Christians thought that even in the case of persecution, kings had absolute power and lesser magistrates had no right to resist them. Vindiciae Contra Tyrannos: A Defense of Liberty Against Tyrants, written by an anonymous Huguenot, is a powerful tract that makes a case for why Christians can sometimes lawfully resist and fight against tyrants and persecutors of the faith. The apostles told the Jews that they needed to obey God rather than man when it came to the Gospel, and to this day many Christians need to be reminded that men only derive their power from God and there are indeed times when resisting the authorities may be lawful and even biblically required. This tract is thoroughly biblical and a great testament to the courage and convictions of our fathers in the faith.
“Kings must be obeyed for God’s cause, and not against God, and then, when they serve and obey God, and not otherwise…. That sentence of God Almighty must always remain irrevocably true: ‘I will not give My glory to any other,’ (Is. 42:8), that is, no man shall have such absolute authority.” – From the Vindiciae
The authors in the Christian Heritage Series paid a high price for the words you see before you. Not all paid with blood, but each spent his life fighting for the truth. This faithful sacrifice has become a rich inheritance for the Church in our day, even though it is often neglected. The Christian Heritage Series aims to put these important theological classics on every Christian’s bookshelf in colorful, well-crafted, and affordable volumes, with introductions written by those that love the books and their heritage.
