Liberation against Entitlement
Conflicting Theologies of Grace and Clashing Populisms
- Ethics, Culture & Social Issues
- Theology
- Publisher: Pickwick Publications (Wipf and Stock)
- Published: 2022
FritzSearch.com earns a commission on purchases made through Bookshop.org links.
Publisher's Description
Christianity and politics cannot and should not be divided. But in times of deep social division, how do Christians make political choices that aim to build a society of justice and peace, where wholeness and unity reign? With special reference to two apparently very different contexts, Brazil and the Czech Republic, this book delves into this question, suggesting that behind a clash of political populisms, there is a deeper theological conflict. Grace, the action of God in the world, is understood by some as material reward for their giving, and thus as an entitlement to goods, financial rewards, or narrow national interests. For others, grace is a gift of God that always goes beyond any attempt to possess it and enables attention to the other, especially the other who is poor, excluded, and oppressed. What this means concretely is discussed through a close reading of Pope Francis's Fratelli Tutti. Another world is possible, and this book sets out a vision of what it will look like.
Endorsements (3)
“Liberation against Entitlement strikes at the heart of the political and religious conflicts of our time. Noble discerns two opposing and incompatible concepts of grace: one that . . . favors a politics of exclusion; the other that proceeds from the free self-giving of divine love, liberating and ‘building a people’ through recognition of the excluded. As an exercise in discernment in times of populism, the book also offers a key to understanding Pope Francis’s theology. An important and timely book!”
“As a Brazilian theologian, I enthusiastically greet this book. First, because of reflecting on the nonnegotiable dream of theology: to articulate reality and grace. Second, because of the successful attempt to bring together the core proposals of Latin American theology and Pope Francis’s magisterium. Third, because of the conviction Tim Noble expresses so strongly that any social transformation has to be accompanied by the work of the Holy Spirit.”
“Noble’s impressive comparative study of divided polities puts the theology of liberation to work for a post-COVID-19, viciously polarized world. Beginning with Karl Marx and concluding with Pope Francis’s Fratelli Tutti, Noble explores a vast terrain. His identification of a tension between theology of liberation and theology of entitlement is an invaluable key for understanding our bewildering context; and for imagining how disheartened societies might become heartened once again.”
See something wrong on this page? Report a problem