Liberating the Future: God, Mammon, and Theology

by Joerg Rieger

Overview

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

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780800631437
Publisher:	Augsburg Fortress, Publishers
Publication date:	11/04/1998
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.50(d)

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).

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