Other Kingdom

Peter Block (Cincinnati, OH; www.peterblock.com; www.designedlearning.com) is a leading consultant and bestselling author whose work is about empowerment, stewardship, chosen accountability, and the reconciliation of community. He is a partner in Designed Learning, a training company that offers workshops designed by Peter to build the skills outlined in his books. He received a Masters Degree in Industrial Administration from Yale in 1963. He has received national awards for outstanding contributions in the field of training and development, including the American Society for Training and Development Award for Distinguished Contributions; the Association for Quality and Participation President’s Award; and Training Magazine HRD Hall of Fame.Walter Brueggemann (Cincinnati, OH; www.walterbrueggemann.com) is one of the most influential Old Testament scholars of the last several decades, known throughout the world for his method of combining literary and sociological modes when reading The Bible. He has written more than 58 books, hundreds of articles, and several commentaries on books of the Bible, has contributed to the Living the Questions DVD series, and participated in Bill Moyers’ PBS television series on Genesis.John McKnight (Evanston, IL) is emeritus professor of education and social policy and co-director of the Asset-Based Community Development Institute at Northwestern University. He is the coauthor of Building Communities from the Inside Out and the author of The Careless Society.

• Signs of the Times xiiiIntroduction: C ontext Is Decisive xviiThe Landscape of the Market World xxEnclosure xxiCovenantal Versus Contractual Order xxiThe Neighborly Covenant xxiiChapter 1 The Free Market Consumer Ideology 1Scarcity 2Certainty and Perfection 3Privatization 3The Institutional Assumptions 4Better Management/Technology Is the Fix 4Interpersonal Is a Problem 5Competition Trumps Trust 5Toward a Neighborly Culture 6A Culture Based on Covenant 6Chapter 2 Neighborly Beliefs 9Abundance 9Mystery 10Mystery at Work 11A Place for God 13Holiness 15Wilderness 15Fallibility 16Failing to Be God 18Grief 19The Common Good 20Chapter 3 Enough Is Enough: Limits of the Market Ideology 21The Consumer Market Disciplines 22Surplus 22Predictability and Control 24Speed and Convenience 26The Sale of Convenience 26Convenience Displaces Capacity 27Digital Solutions 28The Meaning of Money 29Money and the Machine 30Wishing for Safety, Believing in Growth 31Competition and Class 32Class by Design 33Class Warfare and the Distribution of Wealth 34The Myth of Individualism 36Chapter 4 Tentacles of Empire 37The Corporatization of Schools 38No View from the Top 38End of Aliveness 39Mobility and Isolation 40Un-Productive Wealth 41Violence 42Illusion of Reform 43Chapter 5 The Common Good Is the New Frontier 45The Neighborly Covenant 46The Commons 48An Alternative Social Order 49Resisting the Empire 50Off-Market Possibilities 51The Neighborly Way 53The Alternative to Restless Productivity 55The Shadow Side of Community 58Chapter 6 The Disciplines of Neighborliness 61Time 63A Time for All Things 63Time Is the Devil 63Standing in Line 65Kairos 65Food 66Food and Sacred Re-Performance 67The Local Food Movement 69Food and Culture 69Silence 71Listening 72Quakers and Time and Listening 72Sacraments of Silence 73Covenant: A Vow of Freedom and Faithfulness 74Covenant and Retributive Justice 75Abundance and the Right Use of Money 75Money and Our Affection for Place 77A Liturgy for the Common Good 77Prophetic Possibilities 78Story as Liturgy and Re-Performance 79The Re-Performing Power of Liturgy 79Postscript: Beyond Money and Consumption 81Timing Is Everything 82Signs of Change 83Commentaries 85References and Further Reading 97Acknowledgments 103About the Authors 105Index 111