Michael L. Budde – författare

The single most important change now well under way within Catholicism is its transition from a First World to a Third World entity. How this enormous shift will affect the Catholic church's role in the world economy is the subject of Michael L. Budde's book, the first world systems study of the mutual interaction of religion and political economy in the 1990s.Budde's argument here is twofold. He contends that world Catholicism, led by its Third World majority (most notably in Latin America), will continue to develop in an increasingly anticapitalist direction; and he suggests that once-dominant First World Catholic churches (exemplified by the U.S. Catholic church), are poorly placed to respond in solidarity with their coreligionists from the Third World.Covering a wide range of theoretical and substantive matters, The Two Churches examines religion as a source of both social legitimation and social rebellion. It demonstrates the importance of ecclesiology, a branch of theology dealing with "theories of the church," and it highlights the effect of capitalism on world Catholicism, as well as the latter's influence on the development of the capitalist order.In his original, far-reaching analysis of the Catholic church's role in world affairs, Budde revises current views of religious institutions as subordinate social phenomena. By relating developments in the world political economy to material conditions in the Third World and in turn to the practice of Catholicism, he reveals how the Catholic church functions as a worldwide institution. He also shows how core-periphery conflicts within the church affect transnational capitalism.As the Third World becomes more and more volatile, and as its relations with the First World further complicate the politics of the Catholic church, the questions addressed in The Two Churches demand attention with increasing urgency. Timely, thoughtful, and lucid, this book will inform and enhance our understanding of this complex, pressing issue.

Explores a new Christian identity in which churches reclaim their roles as communities of disciples to constitute a countercultural reality and challenge to secular society and existing power relations.The question, "What does it mean to be 'the church'?" has always been among the most controversial and of vital concern to political, economic, and ecclesial leaders alike. How it is answered influences whether Christianity will be a force for legitimating or subverting existing secular relations of power, influence, and privilege. The Church as Counterculture enters the debates on Christian identity, purpose, and organization by calling for the churches to reclaim their roles as "communities of disciples"-distinct and distinctive groups formed by the priorities and practices of Jesus-to constitute a countercultural reality and challenge to secular society and existing power relations.The notion of the church as a countercultural community of disciples confounds many conventional divides within the Christian family (liberal and conservative, church and sect), while forcing redefinition of commonplace categories like religion and politics, sacred and secular. The contributors to this book-theologians, social theorists, philosophers, historians, Catholics and Protestants of various backgrounds-reflect this shifting of categories and divisions. The book provides thought-provoking Christian perspectives on war and genocide, racism and nationalism, the legitimacy of liberalism and capitalism, and more.Contributors include Michael J. Baxter, Robert W. Brimlow, Walter Brueggemann, Michael L. Budde, Curt Cadorette, Rodney Clapp, Roberto S. Goizueta, Stanley Hauerwas, Marianne Sawicki, and Michael Warren.