What are the prospects for liberation theology and the social change it espouses? What can liberation theologies learn from each other?Writing from a variety of social locationsthe African American community, the feminist struggle, and tensions within Europe, North America, and Latin Americathese exciting and enlightening thinkers reflect on the vastly changed context of and challenges to liberation. Yet they find common concerns and cause. They espouse religious reflection that attends closely to those pushed to the margins (even though on the surface things seem to be improving), to shifting structures of oppression, and especially to global economic structures as they affect specific locales.
For all those interested in the survival and growth of justice-oriented religious commitment, this volume signals concrete and exciting new directions for thought and action.
Participants include:John B. Cobb, Jr., Claremont School of TheologyGustavo Gutierrez, Instituto Bartalome de Las Casas, Rimac, PeruM. Douglas Meeks, Wesley Theological SeminaryJurgen Moltmann, University of TubingenJoerg M. Rieger, Perkins School of TheologySusan Brooks Thistlethwaite, Chicago Theological SeminaryGayraud S. Wilmore, Interdenominational Theological Center, Atlanta
Table of Contents:
Preface
Contributors
Introduction: Watch the Money
Joerg Rieger
God and Mannon
The Signs of the Times
Where We Are
Entering a New Era?
A Global Effort
On Becoming a Traitor: The Academic Liberation Theologian and the Future
Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite
Liberation Theology and the Future
Defend Us from Our Friends and Not Just Our Enemies
Economic Analysis
Postmodernism
Liberation Theology and the Global Economy
John B. Cobb Jr.
The Primacy of Theology over Virtue
Serving God and Mammon
Economism
Economism and Liberation Theology
The Global Capitalist Market
Economism and Poverty
Refuting Other Economistic Claims
Economy and the Future of Liberation Theology in North America
M. Douglas Meeks
Church and Economy
The Landscape of Liberation in North America
Church as Alternative Economy
Political Theology and Theology of Liberation
Jürgen Moltmann
Origins and Beginnings
Developments in European Political Theology
Where Do We Stand?
The Future of Liberation Theology
The Theology of Our Liberation
Black Consciousness: Stumbling Block or battering Ram?
Gayraud S. Wilmore
Black and White Theology
The Meaning of Blackness
Religion and Color Symbolism
Where We Are Now
Reconciliation Prematurely?
Liberation Theology and the Future of the Poor
Gustavo Gutiérrez
Theological Reflection
The Poor and the Future
Liberated to Be Free
Between Mysticism and Solidarity
Developing a Common Interest Theology from the Underside
Joerg Rieger
Contextual Theology and Special Interest Theology
Which Context?
Where Is God?
A Look Ahead
New Birth of Conscience
Frederick Herzog
Notes
Index
About the Author :
Joerg Rieger is distinguished professor of theology, Cal Turner Chancellor's Chair of Wesleyan Studies, and director of the Wendland-Cook Program in Religion and Justice at Vanderbilt University. Hs books include Jesus vs. Caesar: For People Tired of Serving the Wrong God (2018), No Religion but Social Religion: Liberating Wesleyan Theology (2018), Unified We Are a Force: How Faith and Labor Can Overcome America's Inequalities (2016), and No Rising Tide: Theology, Economics, and the Future (2009).
