To Change the World: James Davison Hunter’s “Faithful Presence” Meets Political Theologies on the Margins
In To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World, James D. Hunter offers an alternative to prominent Christian strategies to change the world and the theologies and theories of cultural change that support them. Rather than seeking to change the wo...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Sage Publ.
2013
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| In: |
Theology today
Year: 2013, Volume: 69, Issue: 4, Pages: 511-518 |
| Further subjects: | B
liberation theologies
B political theologies B Cultural Change B feminist theologies B James D. Hunter B Martin Luther King B Jr |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | In To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World, James D. Hunter offers an alternative to prominent Christian strategies to change the world and the theologies and theories of cultural change that support them. Rather than seeking to change the world, a goal Hunter considers misguided, Hunter's proposal for “faithful presence” seeks to honor God by “being fully present” to “each other…to our tasks…within our spheres of influence” (243–247). This review essay places this proposal in conversation with political theologies on the margins, noting important points of convergence and divergence. It argues that engagement with feminist theologies would alleviate a residual church/world dualism that persists in Hunter's reflections on culture; attention to feminist and womanist critiques of redemptive suffering would allow Hunter to more thoroughly embrace his concern for “the least privileged” and the “most disadvantaged” (271); and attention to King would allow Hunter to preserve an appropriate place for politics as Christian praxis. |
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| ISSN: | 2044-2556 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Theology today
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/0020964312463140 |