This book is a critique and commentary on globalisation from a theological perspective. Drawing on the works of theologians such as Augustine, Rahner, Luther, Newbigin, Moe-Lobeda, McFague, Jesnon, Wainwright, de Chardin, McCaughey, and Kung, the author critiques globalisation and those who espouse it, defend and promote it. For Gill, globalisation 'is an economic phenomenon with political ramifications whereby economic and political aspects of the world become predicated of the whole world itself. Central to it is a spirit of competition, by which the world is globalised and results in a sense of one globe.' For the author, following Milbank, the response to globalisation needs to be a theological one based on the new city of God; the Kingdom of God. The author is a Minister of the Word in the Uniting Church in Australia who studied theology in Melbourne and undertook post-graduate studies in Boston, USA

Globalization is the buzzword of the moment. But what exactly does it mean? Is globalization primarily a force for good or a force for evil? In this excellent volume deriving from events organized by the Capitalism Project at the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity, experienced businesspeople, academics, and theologians explore the contours of a Christian response to the rise of globalization. Although the authors represent a variety of perspectives, all agree that ethical and economic concerns cannot and should not be separated. In bearing witness to the insights of biblical theology, the realities of the contemporary world, and the full spectrum of opinions about the issue of globalization, this book opens up fresh areas for reflection and makes a highly significant and stimulating contribution to the current debate about it. Contributors: Timothy Gorringe Brian Griffiths David Held Peter Heslam Clive Mather Cynthia Moe-Loebeda Ann Pettifor Michael Schluter Michael Taylor Jim Wallis Michael Woolcock

A theological reading of globalization and a global reading of theology. This book offers a rigorously critical, and yet inspiring, vision of justice as an integral part of Christian spirituality in our complex, globalized world. At the same time, Daniel Groody's analysis draws on the conviction that faith and spirituality have an integral role in the struggle to achieve a more just social order.

This book considers in detail the key drivers of globalization, its contemporary shape, and its implications for world mission. It also looks at the impact of globalization on different contemporary issues affecting mission such as ethnicity, the environment, and global health as well as globalization's effect on more traditional "missionary" questions of the world religions, contextualization, theology, and the church. One World or Many? is written by a variety of authors from all over the world. This book was published in partnership with the World Evangelical Alliance.

This 2000 book analyses the revival of charismatic Protestant Christianity as an example of globalization. Simon Coleman shows that, along with many social movements, these religious conservatives are negotiating their own interpretations of global and postmodern processes. They are constructing an evangelical arena of action and meaning within the liminal, chaotic space of the global. The book examines globalization not only as a social process, but also as an embodied practice involving forms of language and ritualized movement. Charismatic Christianity is presented through its material culture - art, architecture and consumer products - as well as its rhetoric and theology. The book provides an account of the incorporation of electronic media such as television, videos and the Internet into Christian worship. Issues relating to the conduct of fieldwork in contexts of globalization are raised in an account which is also a major ethnography of a Faith ministry.

In his exploration of the interaction between religion and worldwide social and cultural change, the author examines the major theories of global change and discusses the ways in which such change impinges on contemporary religious practice, meaning and influence. Beyer explores some of the key issues in understanding the shape of religion today, including religion as culture and as social system, pure and applied religion, privatized and publicly influential religion, and liberal versus conservative religions. He goes on to apply these issues to five contemporary illustrative cases: the American Christian Right; Liberation Theology movements in Latin America; the Islamic Revolution in Iran; Zionists in Israel; and religiou

Theology can trumpet fresh views of globalization

Internationally recognized scholars offer a groundbreaking look at the powerful force of globalization and what it means for the church.

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 globalization—with its promises of a common culture, a common currency, and a common government—offers 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 life—economics (Mammon), political science (Mars), psychology and sexuality (Eros), the mass media and the arts (Muses), and religion—that 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.

Various social, political, economic and cultural commentators are presently arguing that human history is reaching a decisive stage in its development, a stage marked by increased interconnection between peoples, the compression of space and time, a sharing of ideas at unprecedented levels, global trade and finance, and so on. The shorthand word used to encompass these phenomena is "globalization". Some embrace it, others reject it, while still others dispute its existence. But with the abundance of literature and debate that it generates, the topic cannot be ignored. From its inception in the missionary mandate of Jesus (Matthew 28), Christianity has had a global dimension to its mission. Christianity is not a spectator to globalization but one of its agents, one of the forces at work which have extended interconnection between peoples, shared ideas and promoted social, political and cultural links. The purpose of the present work is not to provide a complete response to the question of the mission of the church in a globalizing world, but to establish a framework within which answers may be sought. Grounded in the writings of Bernard Lonergan and Robert Doran, it develops a theology of history and addresses the churches response to the impact of globalization on vital, social, cultural, personal and religious values. The project brings together the perspectives of Catholicism and Pentecostalism, the former providing a depth of wisdom and tradition, the latter drawing on the insight of a newly emerging movement that has taken root in every continent with remarkable energy and enthusiasm.