God and Globalization: Volume 1: Religion and the Powers of the Common Life

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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 globalizationwith its promises of a common culture, a common currency, and a common governmentoffers 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 lifeeconomics (Mammon), political science (Mars), psychology and sexuality (Eros), the mass media and the arts (Muses), and religionthat 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.

Reviews

"This fine volume will provoke much needed debate about the meaning, the perils, and the possibilities of globalization. At a moment when so many are celebrating the triumph of economic globalization under market auspices, it is good that the distinguished scholars in this volume are helping us to take stock of the phenomenon and to refract its many contentious and contingent features." --Jean Bethke Elshtain, Laura Spellman Rockefeller Professor of Social and Political Ethics, University of Chicago -- Jean Bethke Elshtain * Blurb from reviewer *
"This is an important volume" --P. L. Redditt, Georgetown College, reviewing for Choice, March 2001 -- P. L. Redditt * Blurb from reviewer *
"This fine volume will provoke much needed debate about the meaning, the perils, and the possibilities of globalization. At a moment when so many are celebrating the triumph of economic globalization under market auspices, it is good that the distinguished scholars in this volume are helping us to take stock of the phenomenon and to refract its many contentious and contingent features." -- Jean Bethke Elshtain, Laura Spellman Rockefeller * Blurb from reviewer *
God and Globalization represents a notable series and offers an excellent opportunity of Christian theologians and scholars of religion alike to engage in conversation, listen, and respond critically one to another. By making this meeting possible, we remain Professor Max L. Stackhouse (the main editor of the series) in great debt." -Archaevs Journal * Blurb from reviewer *
"One of the most significant contributions of the volumes by Stackhouse et al. is the inquiry into how religion in various forms is-and should be-an actor in globalization." -- Douglas A. Hicks * Christian Century *
"A project of this magnitude and scope has broad interdisciplinary appeal. These volumes could easily serve as texts for an introductory course in theological ethics or as a resource for clergy in helping faith communities decipher their mission in our ever-changing world. The strength of these two volumes is their ability to integrate many perspectives, not only from the various academic disciplines, but from a diversity of ethnic, cultural, and religious backgrounds. This valuable series of books, by interjecting complex interdisciplinary analyses of globalization that are rooted in people's deepest moral and religious commitments, promises a genuinely public theology and global ethic that respects a plurality of perspectives without surrendering to radical pluralism."--Rubn Rosario Rodriguez, Princeton Theological Seminary, Koinonia, Vol. XIII.2, Fall 2001 -- Rubn Rosario Rodriguez * Koinonia Journal *
"[The perspective of this volume] enables us to test the questions raised in terms of their fragility or durability, asking where glocalized [a cross between globalization and homogenization ('the McDonaldization of the world')]ethics are being forged and articulated and to what effect. Overall, this first volume in the series passes the mantle to the next generation of public theologians." - Katie Day, Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, USA -- K. Day * Lutheran Theology Southern Seminary *
"This unusually clear and unified collection provides and excellent resource, for discerning the risk and promise of globalization."--John K. Downey, Gonzaga University, Theological Studies -- John K. Downey, Gonzaga University * Theological Studies *

Author Bio

Max L. Stackhouse is Rimmer and Ruth de Vries Professor of Reformed Theology and Public Life Emeritus at Princeton Theological Seminary and coordinating editor of the God and Globalization series.