Send Lazarus: Catholicism and the Crises of Neoliberalism(Catholic Practice in North America)

Today's regnant global economic and cultural system, neoliberal capitalism, demands that life be led as a series of sacrifices to the market. Send Lazarus's theological critique wends its way through four neoliberal crises: environmental destruction, slum proliferation, mass incarceration, and mass deportation, all while plumbing the sacrificial and racist depths of neoliberalism.

Table of Contents:
List of Abbreviations ix Introduction 1 Introducing Neoliberalism, 2 • Catholic Critique of Neoliberalism, 4 • Chapter Outlines, 7 • Send Lazarus, 11 Part I : Catholic Social Thought and the Economy 1 Catholic Social Thought against Economism 15 Modern Catholic Social Thought, 17 • John Paul II on Economism, 20 • Benedict XVI: Against an Impersonal Economy, 33 • Francis: No to a Faceless Economy, 46 • Papal Continuity, 56 Part II: Neoliberalism 2 Neoliberal Capitalism 65 Neoliberalism as PoliticalEconomy, 66 • Neoliberalism as Common Sense, 76 • Ethos of Mercilessness, 86 3 Sacrifice, Race, and Indifference 94 Sacrifice Zones, Earth, and Slums, 96 • Racial Neoliberalism, Mass Incarceration, and Mass Deportation, 110 • Neoliberalism as Culture of Indifference, 123 Part III: Catholic Mercy in a Neoliberal Age 4 A Theology of Mercy 133 Trinity, Mystery, and Mercy, 134 • Anthropology, Ecclesiology, and Mercy, 144 • The Works and the Politics of Mercy, 153 5 The Politics of Mercy against Neoliberal Sacrifice 164 Universal Destination of Goods, 165 • Visit the Sick, 167 • Give Food, Drink, and Clothing, 175 • Abolitionism, 180 • Ransom the Captive, 188 • Welcome the Stranger, 195 Conclusion: For Holistic Mercy 205 Acknowledgments 209 Notes 211 Bibliography 245 Index 269

About the Author :
Matthew T. Eggemeier is Professor of Religious Studies at the College of the Holy Cross. He is the author of A Sacramental-Prophetic Vision: Christian Spirituality in a Suffering World and Against Empire: Ekklesial Resistance and the Politics of Radical Democracy. Peter Joseph Fritz is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the College of the Holy Cross. He is author of Karl Rahner's Theological Aesthetics and Freedom Made Manifest: Rahner's Fundamental Option and Theological Aesthetics.

Review :
This book is one of the best theological engagements with economics available. The critique of neoliberalism is spot-on: It is a type of class warfare that does not shrink the state but empowers it to protect the market from the people. The market is sublime and cannot be controlled by people. Neoliberalism is thus a type of theology for a deified market, and Eggemeier and Fritz respond with a compelling Christian theology of a God who wants mercy, not sacrifice. If you want a vision of a world beyond today's suffering and inequality, read this book.---William T. Cavanaugh, DePaul University [T]his book is required reading for those interested in theological responses to neoliberalism or concerned with social injustice. Highly recommended. -- "Choice" To me, devotion to the Sacred Heart always felt like an individualized private devotion until I found myself challenged by a new book by theologians Matthew Eggemeier and Peter Fritz, who propose the Sacred Heart as a public devotion for the 21st century. In Send Lazarus: Catholicism and the Crises of Neoliberalism, they propose the popular devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus as a counterpractice for resisting the heartlessness of neoliberalism and throwaway culture... Weaving together Pope Francis, St. Pope John Paul II, Cardinal Walter Kasper, and Jesuit Father Karl Rahner, all of whom write of their strong devotion to the Sacred Heart, Eggemeier and Fritz prompted me to reconsider the devotion's relevance in today's world.---Meghan J. Clark, U.S. Catholic