Beyond the Pale: Reading Ethics from the Margins

How should Augustine, Aquinas, Bonhoeffer, Kant, Nietzsche, and Plato be read today, in light of postcolonial theory and twenty-first-century understandings? This book offers a reader-friendly introduction to Christian liberationist ethics by having scholars "from the margins" explore how questions of race and gender should be brought to bear on twenty-four classic ethicists and philosophers. Each short chapter gives historical background for the thinker, describes that thinker's most important contributions, then raises issues of concern for women and persons of color.Contributors include George (Tink) Tinker, Asante U. Todd, Traci West, Darryl Trimiew, Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz, Robyn Henderson-Espinoza, and many others."

Review :
"These volumes contain new interpretations of a number of classical thinkers and will interest scholars who do research in the areas of theology, philosophy, and ethics. They would also be well suited for use as textbooks for advanced undergraduate students or graduate students." "Choice," Vol. 49/11 (August 2012), by M. M. Veeneman, North Park University "A rare and important achievement. This work demonstrates both the hard work and hard play of philosophical argument. Not only will it invite a new generation of thinkers to discover the power of western philosophy but it could open new and liberating dialogues with and among communities that have been marginalized and oppressed." Robert Michael Franklin, President, Morehouse College, and author of "Crisis in the Village: Restoring Hope in African American Communities" ""Beyond the Pale" gives us a new angle of vision on familiar texts in theology, philosophy, and social thought. By helping us to see that ideas have consequences as well as content, Stacey M. Floyd-Thomas and Miguel A. De La Torre and their colleagues widen the discussion of Christian ethics and bring new voices into the conversation. Students and scholars alike will find these essays essential reading." Robin W. Lovin, Professor of Ethics, Southern Methodist University, and author of "Christian Ethics: An Essential Guide" "This splendidly conceived reader superbly analyzes and assesses how ethics today should deal with its inheritance in the light of liberationist and postcolonial developments. It is a valuable contribution on a crucially important topic." Gary Dorrien, Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Social Ethics, Union Theological Seminary, Columbia University, and author of "Social Ethics in the Making: Interpreting an American Tradition" "This provocative book is a critical inquiry into the values and presuppositions of twenty-four major philosophers and theologians concerning racism, sexism, colonialism and other forms of oppression. Clearly, there is much in this book that can and should be challenged by ethicists, philosophers, and theologians. Hopefully, it will generate a lively debate." Peter J. Paris, Professor Emeritus, Princeton Theological Seminary, and author of "The Spirituality of African Peoples: The Search for a Common Moral Discourse"