Theology for the 21st Century – serie

Globalization is a reality in today's world, and with it comes the universalization of the influence of certain Powers and Authorities. These Authorities--Education, Law, Medicine, Technology--distance people from, and sometimes override the duties of, familial and religious connections and have generated new spheres of loyalty and practice that are touchstones for modern life as a whole. The contributors claim that the Authorities of modernity depend upon spiritual themes and insights. However, they note, these authorities lack a conscious moral rudder because they are not only ignorant of their roots, but because they have often repudiated them, leaving these professions morally and spiritually vacuous. The essayists claim that theological and ethical resources--Christian in root, public in character, and universal in implication--can re-engage these Authorities and offer them guidance. Contributors to the volume include: Richard Osmer (Princeton Theological Seminary); John Witte, Jr. (Emory University); Allen Verhey (Hope College); Ronald Cole-Turner (Pittsburgh Theological Seminary); Jürgen Moltmann (University of Tübingen); and Peter Paris (Princeton Theological Seminary). Max L. Stackhouse is the Stephen Colwell Professor of Christian Ethics at Princeton Theological Seminary and is the author of Christian Social Ethics in a Global Era. Don S. Browning teaches at the Divinity School of the University of Chicago and is the author of Religious Thought and the Modern Psychologies: A Critical Conversation in the Theology of Culture.

This collection focuses on the meaning of the common good and what resources Christian theology, biblical studies, and ethics might contribute to our understanding of it. The rationale for the discussion is ultimately theological. Whether under the formal rubric of "common good" discourse or not, the meaning of a commitment to community and the duties and claims of the individual related to the community have never been more pressing concerns. We must recognize that the thinking about the common good is intrinsic to the very character of Christian faith and the ethos it invokes. The biblical vision is in a most profound way a vision of the common good. Whether expressed in notions of justice and mercy, the care of the weak, covenantal living, or the new Jerusalem, the meaning of being human and living with the neighbor are so intrinsically bound together that there is no escaping involvement in the search for the common good in our time.

This is the fourth volume in the series God and Globalization, sponsored by the Center of Theological Inquiry in Princeton, N.J. The 3 previous volumes were multi-authored. This volume is authored solely by Max Stackhouse, the general editor of the series, with a Foreword by the distinguished church historian Justo Gonzales. This final interpretive volume argues for a view of Christian theology that, in critical dialogue with other world religions and philosophies, is able to engage the new world situation, play a critical role in reforming the "powers" that are becoming more diverse and autonomous, and generate a social ethic for the 21st century.

Despite the predicted secularization of the world, religion continues to grow as a global influence, one that has the power to unify or to divide. Yet contemporary discussions of globalization rarely take religion into account. The contributors to this third volume in the God and Globalization series investigate what happens when we account for religion as a force that shapes our increasingly common life on earth. They look at the effect of religion within and across national borders and cultures: how the world is brought together by common ethical perspectives, and pushed apart by the different ultimate concerns of each religion. God and Globalization: Christ and the Dominions of Civilization offers fresh perspectives and interpretations on religion and the politics, economics, and culture of globalization. It points readers toward the pivotal factors that will determine the fate of our common human destiny. Max L. Stackhouse, coordinating editor of the God and Globalization series, is Stephen Colwell Professor of Christian Ethics at Princeton Theological Seminary, and author of Creeds, Societies and Human Rights: A Study in Three Cultures, Public Theology and Political Economy, and Covenant and Commitments. Diane B. Obenchain is Visiting Professor in the Department of Religious Studies, Beijing University, and Fellow, The Casperson School of Graduate Studies at Drew University. She is the author of For China: Comparative Essays on Moral Leadership.

In the late 20th century, the world has grown increasingly smaller because of advances in technology and the erosion of the nation-state as a political paradigm. The process of globalization—with its promises of a common culture, a common currency, and a common government—offers a new political model for the world that fosters unity and community. At the same time, however, this process threatens to destroy the values, norms, and ideals that particular cultures have wrought and established and to thereby diminish the power of each culture's unique identity. As globalization occurs, society must decide which values will be normative and what roles that social institutions like religion and education will play in selecting and fostering these values. The contributors to this volume examine both the promise and the threat of globalization using the tools of theological ethics to understand and evaluate the "social contexts of life at the deepest moral and spiritual levels." This inaugural volume of a projected four volume series, Theology for the 21st Century: God and Globalization, examines five spheres of life—economics (Mammon), political science (Mars), psychology and sexuality (Eros), the mass media and the arts (Muses), and religion—that foster normative values for society. As the writers argue, their efforts attempt to determine whether "God is behind globalization in any substantive way." Contributors to the volume include: Roland Robertson, University of Pittsburgh; Yersu Kim, UNESCO; Donald W. Shriver, Jr., New York; William Schweiker, University of Chicago; Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen, Eastern College; David Tracy, University of Chicago. Max L. Stackhouse teaches at Princeton Theological Seminary and is the author of Covenant and Commitments: Faith, Family, and Economic. Peter Paris teaches at Princeton Theological Seminary.