God and the Goods: Global Economy in a Civilizational Perspective.

Abstract

In the face of growing poverty, environmental destruction and social disintegration - a global crisis whose roots are spiritual and moral - what insights does the social teaching of the Christian churches have to offer? What challenges does globalisation imply for Christianity? How might Christianity join other faith communities in working towards the transformation of a world in crisis? These are the critical and challenging questions posed in this book. The social thinking of the Christian churches - articulated throughout the 20th century in encyclicals, ecumenical texts and other documents - offers a wealth of resources for understanding economic issues and stimulating commitment towards change, emphasising the priority of the human over the economic, resistance to economic determinism, concepts of justice and the common good. Yet in the face of the three-fold global crisis of deepening poverty, environmental destruction and social disintegration, the voice of the churches seems increasingly muted and the churches' social thinking appears to have little impact. How might Christianity draw the rich resources for civilizational change within its own tradition and elsewhere to suggest new modes of global co-existence and a new commitment to transformation?