The Gifting God: A Trinitarian Ethics of Excess / Edition 1

by Stephen H. Webb

Overview

Theories of generosity, or gift giving, are becoming increasingly important in recent work in philosophy and religion. Stephen Webb seeks to build on this renewed interest by surveying a distinctively modern and postmodern approach to the issue of generosity, and then developing a theological framework for it. He contends that in many ways society has become suspicious of charity and generosity. This cynicism has led to quick and easy judgments, that, in turn, have led to a new orthodoxy with its own troubling consequences. Webb believes that we need to recover the generosity that our culture obscures behind this monologue on self-interest, and that theology, as a form of critical thought, can play a helpful role. Throughout the book, Webb argues for a theory of giving that is other-oriented without being self-negating. He maintains that the generosity of God's grace, properly understood, can reorient our own idea of the gift and must be correlated to our own practices of exchange and reciprocity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195102550
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	04/18/1996
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	200
Product dimensions:	8.59(w) x 5.78(h) x 0.82(d)
Lexile:	1330L (what's this?)

About the Author

Wabash College

Table of Contents

	Introduction: Giving and Thinking	3
1.	The Return of the Gift	13
	Between Excess and Exchange	14
	Style and Function	16
	The Gift of Marcel Mauss	32
	Marshall Sahlins and the Recovery of Abundance	36
	Pierre Bourdieu and the Total Critique of Giving	39
	Richard Titmus and the Social Utility of Giving	41
	Lewis Hyde and the Community of the Gifted	43
2.	Squandering	47
	Against Gratitude	49
	Emerson and the Denial of Debt	55
	Nietzsche and Self-Giving	58
	Derrida and the End (lessness) of Giving	67
3.	The Theo-Economics of God	83
	Giving the Given Gift	84
	Calvin and the Labor of Gratitude	94
	Karl Barth and God's Freedom	98
	Charles Hartshorne and God's Reciprocity	104
	Sallie McFague and God's Embodiment	108
	Mark C. Taylor and God's Radical Immanence	111
	Peter C. Hodgson and God's Persuasive Dialectics	116
4.	How Giving Works	123
	Giving and Being	129
	Giving and Saving	133
	God the Giver	139
	God the Given	141
	God the Giving	146
	Notes	159
	Index	190

Editorial Reviews

"Stephen Webb's The Gifting God is a creative and important work of constructive, rhetorical theology...The Gifting God is an engaging and generous work, a gift worth passing along."—Encounter

"Stephen Webb's The Gifting God is an insightful and broad study of the contemporary debates about the possibilities and limits of giving and generosity...I would recommend this book as a map for anyone interested in contemporary theology, philosophy, and social theory."—The Cresset

From the Publisher