Ethnography as Christian Theology and Ethics

Dr. Christian Scharen is Assistant Professor at Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN, USA where he teaches worship and practical theology. A leading scholar working at the intersection of ethnography and theology, he writes in the areas of worship, ethics, ecclesiology and popular culture. He is the author of several books and scholarly articles, including the forthcoming Broken Hallelujahs (Brazos 2011).Dr. Aana Marie Vigen is Associate Professor of Christian Social Ethics at Loyola University Chicago. Her areas of expertise bring ethnographic methods into conversation with medical ethics, feminist ethics, Protestant ethics, and white-anti racism commitments. She is the author of Women, Ethics, and Inequality in U.S. Healthcare: "To Count among the Living"(2006; new edition forthcoming in 2011) and co-editor of God, Science, Sex, Gender: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Christian Ethics (2010) along with several articles.

'This engaging collection is a helpful foundation for exploring the use of ethnography in Christian ethics and theology. The authors provide thoughtful and probing challenges to how social scientists and theologians do our work-encouraging us to question and alter some of the basic assumptions of our work so that we do it with genuine rigor rather than with unexamined normative commitments or using the social sciences as lax sources for theological reflection. The challenge is genuine and I encourage us to read and learn from this fine collection.' - Emilie M. Townes, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of African American Religion and Theology Yale Divinity School, USA.

• About the Contributors\Foreword by Mary McClintock Fulkerson\Preface: Blurring Boundaries\ Part One: Prolegomena\1. What is Ethnography?\2. The Ethnographic Turn in Theology and Ethics \3. Critiques of the Use of Social Science in Theology and Ethics \4. Theological Justifications for Turning to Ethnography \Part Two: Exemplars\5. Jeffery Tribble, Sr. 'Ethnographic Research on African American Pastoral Leadership and Congregations'\6. Emily Reimer-Barry, 'The Listening Church: How Ethnography Can Transform Catholic Ethics'\7. Robert P. Jones, 'Ethnography as Revelation: Witnessing in History, Faith and Sin&'\8. Melissa Browning, 'Theology and Morality on the Streets: An Examination of the Beliefs and Moral Formation of Street Children in Light of Christianity and African Traditional Religions'\9. Andrea Vicini, S. J., 'Living with Indigenous Communities in Chiapas, Mexico: The Transformative Power of Poverty and Suffering'\10. Todd Whitmore, 'Whiteness Made Visible: A Theo-Critical Ethnography in Acoliland'\11. Peter R. Gathje, 'The Cost of Virtue: What Power in the Open Door Community Might Speak to Virtue Ethics'\Part Three: Method\ 12.Benedictions: For Those Willing to Give Ethnography a Try\Bibliography\ Index