Liberation against Entitlement: Conflicting Theologies of Grace and Clashing Populisms
Ebook
Overview
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.
“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!”
—Martin Kirschner, Catholic University of
Eichstätt-Ingolstadt
“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.”
—Maria Clara Bingemer, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de
Janeiro
“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.”
—Michael Kirwan SJ, Loyola Institute, Trinity College
Dublin
- Title: Liberation against Entitlement: Conflicting Theologies of Grace and Clashing Populisms
- Author: Tim Noble
- Publisher: Pickwick Publications
- Print Publication Date: 2022
- Logos Release Date: 2022
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781666713084, 9781666713077, 9781666713060, 1666713082, 1666713074, 1666713066
- Resource ID: LLS:9781666713084
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-29T19:52:25Z
Tim Noble is associate professor of missiology in the
Protestant Theological Faculty of Charles University in Prague. He
is the author of The Poor in Liberation
Theology (2013) and Mission from the
Perspective of the Other (2018) and numerous articles on
mission, liberation theology, and theology and culture.