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A compelling vision—before it's too lateIn this splendidly crafted work, McFague argues for theology as an ethical imperative for all thinking Christians: Responsible discipleship today entails disciplined religious reflection. Moreover, theology matters: Without serious reflection on their worldview, ultimate commitments, and lifestyle, North American Christians cannot hope to contribute to ensuring the "good life" for people or the planet. To live differently we must think differently.McFague's has therefore written primer in theology. It helps Christians assess their own religious story in light of the larger Christian tradition and the felt needs of the planet. At once an apology for an ecologically driven theology and a model for how theology itself might be expressed, her work is expressly crafted to bring people into the practice of religious reflection as a form of responsible Christian practice in the world. McFague shows the reader how articulating one's personal religious story and credo can lead directly into contextual analysis, unfolding of theological concepts, and forms of Christian practice.In lucid prose she offers creative discussions of revelation, the reigning economic worldview (and its ecological alternative), and how a planetary theology might approach classical areas of God and the world, Christ and salvation, and life in the Spirit. Enticing readers into serious self-assessment and creative commitment, McFague's new work encourages and models a theological practice that "gives glory to God by loving the world."… (more)
This was one of the most exciting works of theology I have read in some time. McFague seems to spend a great deal of time doing theology on the edge. by that I mean that her theology searches for new models, new metaphors, new understandings, instead of regurgitating the orthodoxy of tradition. In this specific work she spends a great deal of time on the task of thinking and doing theology which I found very engaging. She launches a not-so-subtle criticism of modern American Christianity which is largely therapeutic and self-serving, and finally introduces the idea of doing Liberation theology in the North American Context. We must be liberated from the consumer culture that we do not even realize we live in, and the results of which contribute to poverty around the world and the destruction of creation. A ground-breaking classic. ( )
For many years I have taught a course on religious autobiography; it was the first course I taught, and I am still teachings it. Why? Because I am very interested in people who try to live their faith, who have what I would call a "working theology," a set of deeply held beliefs that actually function in their personal and public lives. Augustine, John Woolman, Sojourner Truth, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Dorothy Day, and Martin Luther King Jr. are a few of these people. Each of them struggled to discern God's action in and through their lives and then to express that reality in everything they did. Their theologies became embodied in themselves; as disciples of Christ they became mini-incarnations of God's love. . . They are intimations of what it means to be "fully alive," living life life from, toward, and with God.
Augustine wrote that God is the beloved, the lover, and love itself. If so, then who are we and what is the world? Where do we fit in? If God is the One who is love and the One who loves, as well as defining love, what is left for us? If the source of all reality is love and this source is the goal, agent, and definition of reality, then how does one talk about the world at all? What does it mean to say "God and the world"?
A compelling vision—before it's too lateIn this splendidly crafted work, McFague argues for theology as an ethical imperative for all thinking Christians: Responsible discipleship today entails disciplined religious reflection. Moreover, theology matters: Without serious reflection on their worldview, ultimate commitments, and lifestyle, North American Christians cannot hope to contribute to ensuring the "good life" for people or the planet. To live differently we must think differently.McFague's has therefore written primer in theology. It helps Christians assess their own religious story in light of the larger Christian tradition and the felt needs of the planet. At once an apology for an ecologically driven theology and a model for how theology itself might be expressed, her work is expressly crafted to bring people into the practice of religious reflection as a form of responsible Christian practice in the world. McFague shows the reader how articulating one's personal religious story and credo can lead directly into contextual analysis, unfolding of theological concepts, and forms of Christian practice.In lucid prose she offers creative discussions of revelation, the reigning economic worldview (and its ecological alternative), and how a planetary theology might approach classical areas of God and the world, Christ and salvation, and life in the Spirit. Enticing readers into serious self-assessment and creative commitment, McFague's new work encourages and models a theological practice that "gives glory to God by loving the world."
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