People of faith have always been on search for the homeland, first promised to Abraham in light of the Babylonian civilization he left. That future hope was reinterpreted by Jesus and taken up by St. Augustine in The City of God, reinterpreted again by John Calvin in Geneva, and given a final form by the Puritan pilgrims who came to America to establish the City upon a Hill. Fundamental to this quest for a just, holy civilization has been the progress of humankind on the earth in light of the mandate to fill and rule over it. Authors Chad Brand and Tom Pratt discuss that progress as they answer the vital questions for praxis: How should biblically oriented Christians think of and work toward God's justice along the way? How can we steer between a utopian vision and a limited vision to a new rational compassion?
