If you could recommend a book each for John Kerry and George W. Bush to read that would “deepen his understanding of the realtionship between religious faith and political responsiblity,” what book(s) would you choose? NY Times columnist Peter Steinfels posed this question to various erudite religious scholars, and they came up with all sorts of book recommendations, mostly rather obscure at least to this evangelical Christian.
However Doug LeBlanc at getreligion (see sidebar) where I got the link to the NY Times column in the first place recommends that John Kerry read Between Heaven & Hell: A Dialog Somewhere Beyond Death with John F. Kennedy, C. S. Lewis & Aldous Huxley by Peter Kreeft (InterVarsity, 1982). I thought this was a rather interesting recommendation, not only since I just posted about Huxley, but also because in reading a blurb about Kreeft’s book I found out that Kennedy, Huxley, and Lewis all died within hours of each other on November 23, 1963. What a creative idea to have these three men discuss the meaning of life and the claims of Christ! So I have yet another book to add to my ever growing list which lengthens much faster than I can read.
As for my recommendations, I would suggest that John Kerry read something by Marvin Olasky, perhaps
The Tragedy of American Compassion and for George W. Bush maybe
Kingdoms in Conflict by Chuck Colson.