As I write, there are now 99 days left until Citizenship Without Illusions is published. I have been pleased to receive several endorsements for the book which will likely make it to its back cover or front pages. Here is one from the former leader of a Dutch political party:
As Christians, we are getting lots of sermons on what it means for a Christian to be a church member or parent. But who tells us what it means for a Christian to be a citizen? Thankfully, David T. Koyzis does. With a rich variety of historical and contemporary illustrations from all over the globe, including my own country, he encourages us to be faithful to Christ as members of our civil communities. As former leader of a Dutch Christian party that was part of coalition governments and as a follower of Christ, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this thoughtful, biblical, and well-written book.
— Gert-Jan Segers, former Dutch member of Parliament and leader of ChristenUnie, Christian party in the Netherlands
I will remind you as well that if you pre-order the book, you will likely have it in hand before the official publication date of 26 November.
Canada is one of the few countries around the world that is not having an election this year. Indeed around half the population of the world has gone or will be going to the polls, including 64 countries and the European Union. In the United States, the lengthy presidential election campaign was recently upended when President Joe Biden withdrew his candidacy following a poor showing in the first presidential debate at the end of June. Americans are facing a choice that many are finding unpalatable. How do we vote when each party and candidate has significant drawbacks? Here are my thoughts: When voting makes things worse.
Last month, James Spencer, who had already interviewed me on the subject of Christian citizenship, interviewed me again on my work with the Psalms. The interview has now been posted on the various online hosts of the Thinking Christian podcast: How can the Psalms help Christians worship? A Conversation with David Koyzis.
On the 8th of this month, I spoke online with the coming year's Cardus NextGen cohort. I believe this is the third year in a row that I have done this. The programme consists of intensive mentoring of a group of young people ages 25 to 34. More information can be found here. Before this event, the group had read two chapters of Political Visions and Illusions and a sample chapter from Citizenship Without Illusions.
Last week I spoke at a Society of Christian Scholars webinar on Citizenship Without Illusions. Forty people attended this online event from 18 countries. The content of my talk was from the second chapter of my book. Questions from listeners came from as far away as Pakistan and Argentina. If you missed this event, you can watch it online at my blog. This is the second time I have spoken at an event of the Society of Christian Scholars (SCS), which aims to equip "Christian academics to have a missional and redemptive influence for Christ among their students, colleagues, institutions, and academic disciplines." SCS is a partner organization to Global Scholars Canada.
There are other projects and events coming up in the future. I have been invited to lead a workshop at the upcoming Jubilee Conference in Pittsburgh in February of 2025. I was recently interviewed by Rebecca Carrell and Liz Rodriguez for their Honestly, Though podcast. I will provide a link to it once it is posted online. I am currently working on a project about which I hope to say more in a few months. Then in November I have a cluster of engagements related to the release of my book.
Thanks so much for your ongoing support for my work. If you have
contributed financially on a one-time basis in the past, please consider
a regular monthly
contribution, as it makes it easier for Global Scholars to set an annual
budget, including the modest salary I
receive from the organization. GSC's page for giving can be found here. Once you are in the page, scroll down to the heading marked DONATION
DETAILS, and then choose one of the options under FUND. Americans may donate through our sister organization in the US.
Or, if you prefer, Canadian donors can donate publicly traded securities (shares or mutual funds) directly to charities without having to pay the capital gains tax. This is a cost-effective and painless way to make a donation that comes with a substantial tax incentive. By donating securities, donors pay no tax on capital gains, receive a tax receipt for the fair market value of the securities, as well as reduce their taxes. Watch this video for more information about this option: Link Charity Canada: Donation of Securities. If interested, please visit the Link Charity Canada Inc. website, and call for details at 1-800-387-8146. Link Charity Canada is a partner organization of Global Scholars Canada, so Link Charity can easily direct funds for my work. Thank you!
Yours in God's service,
David Koyzis, Global Scholar
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