M. Shawn Copeland - Böcker

Concilium has long been a household-name for cutting-edge critical and constructive theological thinking. Past contributors include leading Catholic scholars such as Hans Küng, Gregory Baum and Edward Schillebeeckx, and the editors of the review belong to the international "who's who" in the world of contemporary theology.

2022 Catholic Media Association second place award in theology: morality, ethics, Christology, Mariology, and redemptionFor some decades, the work of Carmelite theologian Constance FitzGerald, OCD, has been a well-known secret, not only among students and practitioners of Carmelite spirituality, but also among spiritual directors, spiritual writers, retreatants, vowed religious women and men, and Christian theologians.This collection sets out to introduce the work of Sister Constance to a wider and more diverse audience–women and men who seek to strengthen themselves on the spiritual journey, who yearn to deepen personal or scholarly theological and religious reflection, and who want to make sense of the times in which we live. To this end, this volume curates seven of Sister Constance’s articles with probing and responsive essays written by ten theologians.Contributors include:Susie Paulik BabkaColette Ackerman, OCDRoberto S. GoizuetaMargaret R. PfeilAlex MilkulichAndrew PrevotLaurie CassidyMaria Teresa MorganBryan N. MassingaleM. Catherine Hilkert, OP

This work of Christian political theology argues that the redemption offered by Christianity cannot be separated from the political and social realities of human oppression and injustice. According to M. Shawn Copeland, redemption cannot be understood solely as an abstract theological concept; redemption is a lived political act tied to the personal and communal transformation that works to turn church and society towards justice, dignity, the common good, and human flourishing. Theologizing from the perspective of the historical and transgenerational Black experience of social and cultural oppression in the United States, Copeland reinterprets the Christian doctrine of redemption as necessarily political and urges all Christians to confront the structures of power which continue to dehumanize Black and all oppressed people.The Politics of Redemption begins by reviewing various biblical and theological meanings of redemption, then considers the notion of redemption as a crucial, but often contradictory theme in American culture and politics. Moving to the specific context of African Americans, this work shows how God is portrayed as responding to the pain of the enslaved with a message of hope, liberation, and redemption.Redemption, Copeland argues, is properly understood as God’s work of love through Christ and the Holy Spirit aimed at the restoration of humanity to unity with God and the transformation of relationships, of society, and of the cosmos. If such transformations are to take place, individually and collectively Christians must resist the temptation to forgetfulness regarding the historical and ongoing effects of chattel slavery on all Americans, acknowledge the humanity of Black people, and respond to divine grace through redemptive acts of solidarity, hope, and love.