Doing Justice in Our Cities : Lessons in Public Policy from America's Heartland

Warren Copeland, Professor of Religion at Wittenberg University and Mayor of Springfield, Ohio, draws from his experience of more than two decades in city politics and addresses head-on the issue of Christian ethics in public service. Throughout, Copeland animates the entire discussion with numerous anecdotes from his tenure in City Hall, combining examples of specific ethical issues in American cities with theological and ethical reflection. Then he takes it a step further by including specific suggestions for addressing social injustice in a manner that is true to Christian faith.

Warren R. Copeland is Professor of Religion and Director of Urban Studies at Wittenberg University. Appointed to the Springfield, Ohio, City Commission in 1988, he was later elected to four four-year terms and went on to serve several terms as Mayor. He holds a PhD in social ethics from the University of Chicago and is the author of And the Poor Get Welfare: The Ethics of Poverty in the United States and Economic Justice: The Social Ethics of U.S. Economic Policy. He is the coeditor (with Roger D. Hatch) of Issues of Justice: Social Sources and Religious Meanings.