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Prelude | |
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Acknowledgments | |
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Introduction | |
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Why a Book about the Sacredness of Human Life? | |
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How This Book Came to Be | |
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Joining the Archaeologists | |
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Plan of the Book | |
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Notes about My Approach | |
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Two Scenes from Europe | |
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Sacredness as Moral Reality and Moral Task | |
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What It Means to Say That Human Life Is Sacred | |
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Definitions and Etymologies | |
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A Sacredness Paradigm | |
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Sacred Human Beings | |
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Does Sacredness Require God? | |
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Humanity as Sacred: Ancient Christian Doctrine or Recent Innovation? | |
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Current Christian Definitions of the Sacredness of Life | |
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My Christian Definition of Life's Sacredness - and Puzzles That Remain | |
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The Old Testament and the Sacredness of Human Life | |
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Creation, Humanity, and the Image of God | |
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God's Compassionate Care and Liberating Deliverance | |
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Biblical Law and Life's Sacredness | |
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The Decalogue | |
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The Prophetic Demand and Yearning for Shalom | |
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Toward Jesus Christ | |
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Jesus Christ, the New Testament, and the Sacredness of Human Life | |
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The Ministry of Jesus Christ | |
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The Incarnation of Jesus Christ | |
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The Image of Jesus Christ | |
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The Expansive Reach of the Body of Christ | |
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The New Testament and the Sacredness of Life: A Dialogue with Richard Hays | |
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The Sacredness of Life in Early Christianity | |
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The Christendom Question | |
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The Church against War | |
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The Church against Abortion and Infanticide | |
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The Church against Judicial Torment and Killing | |
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The Church against the Mayhem of the Arenas | |
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"Regard People as Truly Sacred" | |
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An Army of Peace and Piety | |
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Love without Partiality | |
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Sojourners of Christ | |
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Christians as the Romans Saw Them | |
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How the Early Church Retained Its Moral Vision | |
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The Fateful Transition to Christendom | |
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The Constantinian Transition | |
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Theodosius Mandates Orthodox Christianity | |
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Moral Damage at the Foundations | |
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Advances and Regressions for the Sacredness of Life | |
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Christendom Divided against Itself: Three Case Studies | |
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The Crusades, Francis, and the Sacred Lives of Enemies | |
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Colonialism, Las Casas, and the Sacred Lives of Indians | |
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Anti-Semitism, Overton, and the Sacred Lives of Jews | |
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A Tragically Mixed Legacy | |
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Enlightenment Transitions: Natural Rights, Rule of Law, and Human Dignity | |
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Enlightenment Transitions and the Sacredness of Human Life | |
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Natural Right/s: Bridge Concepts between the Medieval and Modern Worlds | |
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John Locke: Equality, Rule of Law, and Resistance to Tyranny | |
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Immanuel Kant: Dignity, Autonomy, and the Moral Law | |
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Trial Balance: The Journey So Far | |
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Nietzsche Rejects the Christian God and Christian Morality | |
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New Challenges to Belief in the Sacredness of Human Life | |
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Reading Nietzsche | |
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Biographical Basics | |
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Tragic Pessimism: The Birth of Tragedy (1872) | |
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The Pathos and Delusion of the Great Quest for "Truth" (1872-1873) | |
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Acknowledging That We Are Human, All Too Human (1878) | |
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No Justice, No Rights, No Equality | |
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No Pity | |
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Cruelty Not Necessarily Evil | |
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The Right and Dignity of Suicide | |
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Social Contempt and Suppression of "Degenerating" Lives | |
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The Benefits of War | |
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Nietzsche and the Sacredness of Human Life | |
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Desecrations: Twentieth-Century Nazi Assaults on Human Life | |
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Hitler and His Crimes | |
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How They Got There: The Nazi Party Platform of 1920 | |
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Aggrieved Nationalism | |
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Imperialism and Colonialism | |
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Racism and Anti-Semitism | |
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Disenfranchisement - Exclusion from Political Community | |
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Expulsion and Statelessness | |
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Statist, Racist, Homogeneous Communitarianism | |
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Ruthless Avenging Violence | |
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National Health and Racial Hygiene | |
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Authoritarianism, Propaganda, and Suppression of Civil Liberties | |
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The Religious Politics of National Salvation | |
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"Contempt for the Sanctity of Human Life" | |
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Honoring Human Life: Twenty-first-Century Challenges | |
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Rebuilding the Moral Order after World War II | |
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Abortion | |
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Biotechnological Innovations | |
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The Death Penalty | |
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Human Rights | |
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Nuclear Weapons | |
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Women's Rights | |
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Other Issues | |
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The Sacredness of God's Creation | |
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The Sacredness of Human Life and Ecological Degradation | |
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Problems of a Sacredness-of-Human-Life Ethic for the Care of Creation | |
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The Development of Alternative Theological Paradigms | |
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Toward a Broadened Christian Sacredness-of-Life Ethic | |
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Rediscovering Scripture | |
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Some Moral Implications | |
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Embracing a Sacredness-of-Created-Life Ethic | |
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Final Words: For the Church and Its Neighbors | |
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Where We Started: What It Means to Say That Human Life Is Sacred | |
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Summary of Major Discoveries | |
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The Thirty-six Righteous | |
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Honoring Life Together | |
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Bibliography | |
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Index of Subjects and Names | |
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Index of Scripture References | |