Doing Christian Ethics From The Margins

Miguel De La Torre opens up Christian ethics to the rich diversity found among those who are often excluded from academic and Eurocentric ethical considerations. This book seeks to help students realize that because the gospel message itself was proclaimed to the marginalized peoples of Judea, the people who occupy the same disenfranchised spaces in our contemporary cultures are the ones who hold the interpretive key to understanding that gospel message. The binding effects of power and privilege (institutional or not) can be overcome by a justice-based ethics that avails itself of the perspectives and experiences of those on the margins. -- Provided by publisher.

In this revised edition of an established classroom text, De La Torre furthers his argument that the pain and suffering of people who have been marginalized continues to inform a perspective that holds a greater grasp of reality than those who are more privileged by power and profit. He continues the method of theory and case studies from earlier editions, updating the cases for the 3rd edition. In Part IV, the chapter entitled "Private Property" that appeared in the 2nd edition has been removed in the 3rd edition. Also in that part, the chapters on affirmative action and sexism have been re-ordered so that the chapter entitled "Affirmative Action" is the last chapter before the conclusion. In the 3rd edition, there is a fuller conclusion than the 2nd edition's epilogue.

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 María Isasi-Díaz, Robyn Henderson-Espinoza, and many others.

This book brings to the fore the difficult realities of racism and the sexual violation of women. Traci West argues for a liberative method of Christian social ethics in which the discussion begins not with generic philosophical concepts but in the concrete realities of the lives of the socially and economically marginalized.

In this excellent outline of Christian ethics, Robin W. Lovin achieves a balance between the questions and issues which form the core of the study of ethics and the life situations from which those questions arise. Eschewing a sectarian approach which dismisses other understandings of the moral life, Lovin nonetheless lays claim to a specifically Christian understanding of ethics. He begins with basic Christian convictions about the reality of God and human redemption and weaves these convictions into the fabric of moral concerns that are widely shared in contemporary society. He takes note of the problems that arise when Christians try to act on or enforce their convictions in a pluralistic society and recognizes the variety of theological and moral beliefs that are held within the Christian community, as well as in the wider society.

A basic guide to reading the Bible from the perspective of the poor, oppressed, and marginalized. This readable and provocative introduction to hermeneutics emphasizes how issues of race, class, and gender influence our reading and understanding. Reading the Bible from the Margins begins where other texts fail to go: with the perspectives of those who society ignores. De La Torre shows how traditional or standard ways of approaching the Bible can be unacceptable to those who are discriminated against, and that the insights and understandings of biblical texts from the margins are enriching and valuable to all readers.

Among the topics treated are: Christian ethics as community ethics Charting the moral life Elements of character formation Character and social structure Decision making The nature and role of biblical authority Uses of Scripture in Christian ethics

This book will attempt to explore faith-based responses to unending injustices by embracing the reality of hopelessness. It rejects the pontifications of some salvation history that move the faithful toward an eschatological promise that, when looking back at history, makes sense of all Christian-led brutalities, mayhem, and carnage. To embrace hopelessness moves away from a middle-class privilege that assumes all is going to work out in the end. By upsetting the norm, an opportunity might arise that can lead us to a more just situation, although such acts of defiance usually lead to crucifixion. Hopelessness is what leads to radical liberative praxis.