{"id":18952,"date":"2022-09-06T08:50:08","date_gmt":"2022-09-06T15:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publictheology\/?p=18952"},"modified":"2023-07-04T20:10:10","modified_gmt":"2023-07-05T03:10:10","slug":"just-sustainable-participatory-and-planetary-common-good-part-five","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publictheology\/2022\/09\/just-sustainable-participatory-and-planetary-common-good-part-five\/","title":{"rendered":"Just, Sustainable, Participatory, and Planetary. Common Good Part Five"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Just, Sustainable, Participatory, and Planetary.<\/h3>\n

PT 3015. Common Good Part Five<\/h3>\n Just, Sustainable, Participatory, and Planetary.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Let\u2019s open with a song. A hymn, actually. Brevard College theologian Mary Louise Bringle<\/a> gave us the lyrics to \u201cCommonwealth is God\u2019s Commandment<\/a>.\u201d Here\u2019s the theme that inspires the point of this Patheos<\/em> post: \u201ccommon good is holy ground.\u201d<\/p>\n Commonwealth is God\u2019s Commandment; common goods are meant to share.<\/p>\n Tables set and doors wide open welcome angels unaware.<\/p>\n Plead for peace of all creation. Pray for a place where grace is found.<\/p>\n Shanti, pax, shalom, maslaha<\/em>: common good is holy ground.<\/p>\n After demythicizing\u2013that is, after myth-busting\u2013the myth of economism, we are now ready to wrap up our series of five posts on the Common Good. Recall the two stones we added to King David\u2019s sling shot when doing battle with Goliath the Giant. The first stone was discourse clarification to make transparent the religious\u2013even mythical\u2013dimension of economism in our culture. Now, the second stone is to construct a worldview with a moral orientation toward the global common good: to envision a just, sustainable [1], participatory, and planetary society.<\/p>\n \u201cOur common good is inextricably bound up in the good of the rest of the planet,\u201d says former U.S. Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich (Reich,\u00a0The Common Good 2018, 29).<\/p>\n The common good I envision is global<\/a>. Elsewhere I have explored the possibility of a galactic common good<\/a>. But, for our purposes here, I\u2019ll be quite satisfied with a planetary common good.<\/p>\n This series has been an exercise in public theology. Public theology, says Toine von den Hoogen<\/a> at Nijmegen University, \u201cis that it is the form of theological investigation which is aimed at the modern media mediated complexes of meaning which arise in the construction of world views and cultural zones from the fusions between religion and culture, religion and economics, and religion and politics\u201d\u00a0(Hoogen 2019, 10). In order to pursue this agenda, I recommend that the public theologian pursue two tasks: discourse clarification<\/em> and worldview construction<\/em><\/a>. After a series of posts of discourse clarification, here I will turn indirectly to worldview construction in terms of the common good.<\/p>\n Politics vs Common Good Governing. Common Good Part One<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Demythicizing the Myth of Economism. Common Good Part Two<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Demythicizing the Myth of Economism. Common Good Part Three<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n What is creation?<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Ecotheology when \u201cit\u2019s time to act\u201d<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Public Theology for the Common Good<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Demythicizing the Myth of Economomism. Common Good Part Four<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Just, Sustainable, Participatory, and Planetary. Common Good Part Five<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n The public theologian seeks to modify if not reorient beliefs held firmly in the church of economism<\/a>. A reformation, maybe? As we have demonstrated in previous posts, the tenets of economism\u2019s belief system<\/a> pit the greed of all against all, precluding solidarity on behalf of the global common good. The public theologian must search out those persons of good will in our world to lift up a vision of a just, sustainable, participatory, and planetary society.<\/p>\n The Anthropocene, Capitalocene, or Econocene?<\/strong><\/h2>\n Here are the symptoms of the global disease described by Rita Sherma<\/a>, Dharma<\/a> scholar at the Graduate Theological Union.<\/p>\n \u201cCatastrophic wildfires across the planet, extreme weather patterns that destroy homes and histories, degraded soil, toxic air, unsafe water and the desecrated beauty of places we have loved are causing climate trauma and eco-anxiety. For those who are acutely aware of the cliff edge on which we stand as a species and as a planetary community, the despair evoked by the magnitude of the disaster is almost unbearable.\u201d (Sherma, 2015, 359)<\/p>\n Sherma and the rest of us know these symptoms: rising global temperature, melting glaciers, species diebacks, oceans beset with floating plastic, nuclear waste spills, and countless eco-calamities. \u201cIf we continue on our present paths, future generations, if there are to be any, are condemned to misery\u201d (H. E. Daly 1989, 21).<\/p>\n TIME 1986. The Future of Earth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n***** ** Those are the symptoms. Would it help in the diagnosis to dub our geological era the Anthropocene<\/em>? With this term we can see that the eco-crisis includes an anthropogenic cause. However, the growing use of the term, anthropocene<\/em>, is meeting with resistance. Critics ask rhetorically, should this term describe an entire geologic period?[2]\n<\/p> ** What are the objections to the term, anthropocene<\/em>? First, it connotes hubris. To name an entire geologic era after ourselves overrates our significance. \u201cIt was just such a anthropocentric worldview that got us into this predicament in the first place,\u201d complain the editors of Scientific American\u00a0<\/em>(Editors 12\/2018). Secondly, \u201c\u2018Anthropocene\u2019 implicitly blames the entire human race for a crisis caused by a relative few.\u201d Conversation about the anthropocene era, thirdly, tends to hold human nature, <\/em>not just polluting human beings, as responsible. This makes little sense to anthropologists, who note that people can make decisions and take actions leading to changed behavior. We are not condemned by our nature to destroy ourselves by polluting ourselves.<\/p>\n ** So, what\u2019s the alternative? Try Capitalocene, <\/em>proposed by Andreas Malm. It was capitalism that developed the \u201ceconomic system predicated on perpetual territorial expansion\u2026.capitalism established global systems of manufacturing and trade that consumed nature at unprecedented rates and is only now bumping against planetary boundaries\u201d\u00a0(Editors 12\/2018).<\/p>\n ** *****Whether anthropocene <\/em>or capitalocene <\/em>or econocene, <\/em>the term matters less than the global crisis facing the present generation. The global environmental crisis is difficult to diagnose because it\u2019s shrouded within the myth of economism. So, if the term, capitalocene<\/em>, demythicizes the myth, we could count it as an accurate diagnosis. With such a diagnosis, could we prescribe a cure?<\/p>\n Two Inconvenient Questions<\/strong><\/h2>\n Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore described the ecological challenge with its counterpane of economism as the \u201cInconvenient Truth<\/a>.\u201d An inconvenient truth is hidden before our very eyes.<\/p>\n Here are two ethical questions hidden beneath the counterpane of the mythically structured religion of economism with its greed creed: (1) should the rich help the poor? (2) does a vision of the common good compel a human response?<\/p>\n Roman Catholic ethicists have long held before our eyes a vision of the common good. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church<\/a> <\/em>\u00a71906, By common good is to be understood \u201cthe sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily.\u201d The common good is inclusive, not exclusive.<\/p>\n But, because economism functions as a myth in contemporary society, economism invisibly admits into public discourse only selected pathways to thinking while excluding others. Like a magician hiding the pea under a walnut shell, the common good is removed from view. These two inconvenient questions are systematically filtered out by the myth of economism.<\/p>\n Should the rich help the poor?<\/strong><\/h3>\n Regarding the first question\u2013should the rich help the poor?\u2014Christians answer with a resounding, \u201cyes.\u201d Patheos<\/em> columnist, Vance Morgan, reminds us in his 2022 Labor Day post on \u201cJesus and Capitalism<\/a>\u201d that \u201ceverything we have is a gift, and that the only possible response to such generosity is to channel the generosity outward.\u201d[3]\n<\/p> Writing in 1895, pioneer public theologian Abraham Kuyper<\/a> (1837-1920) declared Jesus\u2019 preferential option for the poor. \u201cChrist opposes the social dominance of money, that he seeks to temper sinful inequality, and that he aligns himself not with the great but with the little folk on earth\u201d (Kuyper 2022, 89).<\/p>\n The preferential option for the poor still obtains a century and a quarter later. According to Thomas Crisp<\/a>, \u201caffluence carries in its train substantial obligation to care for the suffering. Pursuit of extravagance, luxury, and frill while others are at serious risk of suffering and death from lack of food, shelter, and medical care is wrong. So too with the love command: according to it, pursuit of extravagance, luxury, and frill while others are at serious risk of suffering and death from lack of food, shelter, and medical care is wrong.\u201d Thomas Crisp, avers Progressive Christian columnist Keith Giles<\/a>, helps in \u201cFinding a Cure for My Affluenza.\u201d<\/p>\n Eco-justice and economic-justice are as interrelated as bees and flowers during pollination. Jacob Thomas<\/a>, editor of India\u2019s Pax Lumina<\/em><\/a>, reminds us that \u201c80 per cent of global carbon emissions, one of the main causes of global warming, is caused by the developed countries of the world. At the same time, the consequences of climate change affect the poor and the marginalized disproportionately and harshly, especially in the short term. In the long run, the future of the planet becomes endangered.\u201d We can expect the global Christian community to stand up for economic justice, can\u2019t we?<\/p>\n The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops clearly embraces an affirmative doctrine in its 1986 pastoral letter on \u201cEconomic Justice<\/a>\u201c: \u00a716 \u201cAll members of society have a special obligation to the poor and vulnerable.\u201d<\/p>\n Is economism actually a religion to be myth-busted?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n In its 1999 social statement, \u201cSufficient, Sustainable Livelihood for All<\/a>,\u201d the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America adds, \u201cThe rich are expected to use wealth to benefit their neighbors who live in poverty here and throughout the world.\u201d In short, this inherent obligation of all society\u2019s members to care for the poor and vulnerable is obfuscated if not obliterated by the myth of economism. In order to ask whether the rich should aid the poor, one must step out of the myth of economism and enter the framework of theology.<\/p>\n When a Christian theologian weighs in, more is at stake than mere equity or justice. Our consciousness of perceiving divine grace in the depth of our materiality is at stake. The material world cannot be reduced to costs and benefits. At bottom, what we exchange in the market is a gift of divine grace. At least according to Edd S. Noell and Steven L.S. Smith<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cFirst and foremost, markets directly promote greedy and immoral behavior by allowing it and letting people profit from it. Markets encourage individuals to think of transactions involving goods, services, customers, and hires as, well, \u201ctransactions\u201d\u2014commodified relationships, occasions for extracting gain from others\u2014when in Christian terms such exchanges are, at bottom, relationships of love and gift, and should be treated as such.\u201d<\/p>\n For the Christian economist<\/a>, our underlying motive for economic justice is rooted in gratitude for divine grace.[4]\n<\/p> Should we lift up a vision of the common good?<\/strong><\/h3>\n <\/a> Common Good video by Duquesne University.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n*********** ** ***********Our second question\u2013does the vision of the common good compel a human response?\u2013is also frustrated by the myth of economism. Again, the U.S. Conference of bishops weighs in.<\/p>\n \n115. The common good may sometimes demand that the right to own be limited by public involvement in the planning or ownership of certain sectors of the economy. Support of private ownership does not mean that anyone has the right to unlimited accumulation of wealth.<\/li>\n125. The Christian vision is based on the conviction that God has destined the human race and all creation for \u201ca kingdom of truth and life, of holiness and grace, of justice, love, and peace.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n*********** ** ***********Or, in the words of Herman Daly and John Cobb, \u201c\u201dthe well-being of a community as a whole is constitutive of each person\u2019s welfare\u201d (H. E. Daly 1989, 164). \u00a0With this presupposition, Cobb makes clear that liberal Christian theology dedicated to the common good requires an alternative economic framework. \u201cLiberal theory tends to use double images of human beings. There is Homo economicus<\/em>, on the one hand, who rationally calculates private economic advantage. Then there is another kind of rationality of public servants <\/em>who are dedicated to the common good\u201d\u00a0(Cobb, Process Theology as Political Theology 1982, 102). On behalf of the common good, the rich should help the poor while caring for the planet.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Planetary Solidarity<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n************* ** Concern for climate justice is urgent. The planet is in peril. Those who are marginalized by the global economy feel the peril first. The seventh president of Ireland and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights from 1997-1992, Mary Therese Winifred Robinson, draws a map of the injustice. \u201cThose suffering the worst effects of climate change: drought-stricken farmers in Uganda, a president struggling to save his sinking island South Pacific Island nation, Honduran women pleading for water. They come from communities that are the least responsible for the pollution warming our planet, yet they are the most affected\u201d (Robinson 2017, 2). Planetary health and human equality, like a Maple tree and a birds\u2019 nest, belong together.<\/p>\n ** *************<\/p>\n Since 1979 the World Council of Churches<\/a> has lifted up a trichromatic vision of a just, sustainable<\/em> and participatory<\/em> society. To this list, I add planetary. <\/em><\/p>\n Professor Heather Eaton<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n The political theologian needs to cultivate planetary solidarity.[11] According to Heather Eaton,<\/a> planetary <\/em>refers to \u201cthis interactive, infinitely dynamic, complex sphere of life that characterizes planet Earth\u2026.The first, and primary, meaning of planetary <\/em>is the biosphere\u201d\u00a0(Eaton 2017, 20). The second meaning of planetary, <\/em>I believe, is that the entire human race constitutes a single community of moral deliberation. Planetary implies solidarity. \u201cSolidarity means active resistance to oppression and constructive efforts for justice and equality\u201d\u00a0(Eaton 2017, 21).<\/p>\n The responsibility of a just, sustainable, participatory, and planetary society is to pave the highway to distributive justice aimed as a vision of the common good. But the free market on its own is unable to do the paving.[5] In short, access to the common good\u2013the high good for all individually and collectively\u2013requires guidance by a government or other center of power apart from the market. If the myth of economism will not permit asking questions regarding the poor or the common good, then public theologians along with other peoples of good will must ask this question within public discourse.<\/p>\n Like trying on a shoe to see if it fits, the public theologian will try on the sin-repentance-renewal model to see if it fits the ecological crisis. We must repent from the sin of economism. This is what the Green Patriarch\u2013His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew \u2013contends in effect. \u201cThe highest pursuit of humanity is not economic enrichment or economic expansion\u2026We cannot live by economic development alone, but we must seek\u2026the values and principles that transcend economic concerns. Once we accept this, the economy becomes a servant of humanity, not its master.\u201d To make the sin of economism visible, we need such a prophetic critique.<\/p>\n A Prophetic Critique of Economism<\/strong><\/h2>\n*************** ** ***************\u00a0<\/strong>When demythicising the myth of economism, we first expose a pair of problems: social injustice combined with lack of responsibility for planetary health.[6] \u201cOur socio-economic model,\u201d avers Graham Peebles writing for the esotericist journal, Share International, <\/em>\u201cis a decrepit global system propped up by the guardians of the status-quo, who are intellectually bankrupt, have no answers to the issues of the day but, desperate to cling on to power, use all their tools of control to resist change\u201d\u00a0(Peebles 12\/2018, 4). What is missing in what I dub the myth of economism <\/em>is \u201cthe principle of sharing,\u201d argues Peebles. What we need is \u201ca shift\u2026to a sustainable, participatory, and just way of living\u201d\u00a0(Peebles 12\/2018, 5).<\/p>\n When demythicising the myth of economism, we uncover a still deeper problem: idolatry.[7] The market now functions as a substitute god. In Laudato S\u00ed<\/a>, Pope Francis identifies the problem posed by idolatry as he struggles to lead our planet toward a new vision of the common good, a vision of Earth as our common home.<\/p>\n \n56. In the meantime, economic powers continue to justify the current global system where priority tends to be given to speculation and the pursuit of financial gain, which fail to take the context into account, let alone the effects on human dignity and the natural environment. Here we see how environmental deterioration and human and ethical degradation are closely linked. Many people will deny doing anything wrong because distractions constantly dull our consciousness of just how limited and finite our world really is. As a result, \u2018whatever is fragile, like the environment, is defenseless before the interests of a deified market, which become the only rule\u2019.[8]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n*************** ** ***************Standing in the way of a healthy relationship between the human race and Planet Earth is the idol, the deified market.<\/p>\n Isaiah 11. The Peaceable Kingdom. Artist: Edward Hicks<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n*************** ** In their opposition to idolatry, prophets are in the business of projecting a vision of a transformed future which renders judgment against the unrealistic delusions governing the present. Sallie McFague reminds today\u2019s prophet \u201cto suggest some visions of the good life that are not consumer dominated, visions that are just and sustainable\u201d\u00a0(McFague 2008, 95). Such a vision of God\u2019s promised future has been lifted up by the ancient prophet Isaiah in the passage we\u2019ve come to think of as the \u201cPeaceable Kingdom.\u201d<\/p>\n ** ***************Isaiah 11:6-9: The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder\u2019s den. They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. (NRSV)<\/p>\n In his \u201cChurch of Economism and its Discontents<\/a>,\u201d Richard Norgaard similarly envisions a peaceable kingdom in the future, a kingdom which will arrive beyond the transition he is calling for. The success of this reformation of the religion of economism\u2026<\/p>\n Richard Norgaard, University of California at Berkeley<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n*************** ** \u201c\u2026will depend on a diverse collection of efforts, including urging negative population growth, supporting sustainable consumption and degrowth, promoting the commons paradigm, working with religion to foster an ethic for an equitable and sustainable planet; furthering justice, improving the sciences; promoting agroecology; facilitating local markets, encouraging progressive forms of corporate ownership, governance, and practice, and warning of limits, and the possibilities of tipping points.\u201d (Norgaard 2015)<\/p>\n ** The hinge on which the prophetic critique of economism swings is eschatology. God\u2019s eschatological promise becomes the criterion for judging the inadequacy of economistic utopianism. The element of prophetic eschatology is what gives to political theology its critical bite and its hopeful promise for a transformed future. Because of this future orientation, the transformation the prophetic activist seeks will be a new one rather than a return to a previous state.<\/p>\n ** ***************<\/h3>\n Multi-Religious Solidarity<\/h3>\n <\/a> Rita Sherma and Purushottama Bilimoria, eds., \u201cReligion and Sustainability\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Christian prophets,\u00a0Gott sei dank,\u00a0<\/em>are greeted warmly by colleagues and friends around the globe expressing faith borne by a variety of religious traditions. My Berkeley colleagues, Rita Sherma and Purushottama Bilimoria\u2013of whom I\u2019m very proud\u2013have just edited a new volume,\u00a0Religion and Sustainability.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>At the Dharma Center at the Graduate Theological Union, they are assembling and offering resources for the Sustainability 360<\/a> Initiative<\/em>. To be planetary is to be multi-religious.<\/p>\n Professor Rita D. Sherma, GTU<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n What might Christians contribute to the multi-religious partnership? Perhaps the prophetic anticipation of the new creation. On the basis of our vision of the new creation, we an proleptically incarnate the new while still within the old. The founder and former director of the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences (CTNS<\/a>) at the Graduate Theological Union, Robert John Russell<\/a>, lifts up an apocalyptic vision of an eschatological family of life on earth.<\/em> To get there from here, we offer the wider culture a prophetic vision of God\u2019s coming new creation. \u201cProphetic eschatology offers a frame for our renewed commitment to challenging global climate change as a generalization of all those liberation theologies which lift up the oppressed in human society and offer them real hope while challenging their oppressors of all kinds\u201d(Russell, 2022, 355).<\/p>\n From Revoloution to Provolution<\/h3>\n******************* ** *******************Not revolution, <\/em>but rather provolution <\/em>inspires the prophetic Christian public theologian. <\/em>Words that begin with re <\/em>such as revolve <\/em>or reform <\/em>or revive <\/em>all suggest a circular return, a retrieval of something past. Yet, because the eschatological God in whom Christians place their hope creates new things, the novum, <\/em>we can place our hope in a future that is genuinely new. J\u00fcrgen Moltmann replaces revolution <\/em>with provolultion<\/em> so as to anticipate the new that is coming. \u201cIn provolution, the human dream turned forward is combined with the new possibility of the future and begins consciously to direct the course of human history as well as the evolution of nature\u201d\u00a0(J. Moltmann, Religion, Revolution, and the Future 1969, 32). The prophetic political theologian relies on a faith commitment, namely, God\u2019s future is open to what will be new. \u201c\u2018Future\u2019 must mean ontological possibility and anthropological freedom\u201d\u00a0(J. Moltmann, Hope and Planning 1971, Chapter 14).<\/p>\n John Cobb, Claremont School of Theology<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n******************* ** Cobb has less hope than Moltmann, yet he still recognizes the potential for newness and transformation the future provides. \u201cWe stand\u2026before a radically open future with no assurance that our efforts for justice will succeed or even that human history will long continue\u201d\u00a0(Cobb, Process Theology as Political Theology 1982, 78).<\/p>\n ** *******************After demythicizing economism, the prophetic public theologian raises up a vision of a future Planet Earth that is healthy, fecund, and sustainable. Today\u2019s eco-ethicist can place confidence in this future by working backward from a vision of the eschatological kingdom of God where the common good of the cosmos obtains. Here is the way two theological eco-ethicists put it: \u201cChristians are called to live in a way that announces the future kingdom of God, and to model the reality that, at least in part, the kingdom of God is here already, while realizing that it will only be brought about completely by the decisive intervention of Christ\u2019s return\u201d (Spencer 2007, 95).<\/p>\n The Common Good as Middle Axiom<\/strong><\/h3>\n \u00a0<\/strong>On the one end, we approach the problem of economism from faith-active-in-neighbor-love. On the other end, we approach the same problem prophetically from our vision of God\u2019s eschatological kingdom. What we need is a middle axiom that bridges the gap between these two highly generalized anchor points, on the one hand, and to public policy and practical action, on the other. A middle axiom would bridge the eschatological promise that God\u2019s judgment must prevail with the courage we need now to countervail. Although it does not come in axiomatic form, I recommend we use the common good to construct our bridge. Here\u2019s the common good as His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI pens it in Caritas in Veritate<\/em><\/a> (2009).<\/p>\n \n7. To love someone is to desire that person\u2019s good and to take effective steps to secure it. Besides the good of the individual, there is a good that is linked to living in society: the common good. It is the good of all of us, made up of individuals, families and intermediate groups who together constitute society. It is a good that is sought not for its own sake, but for the people who belong to the social community and who can only really and effectively pursue their good within it. To desire the common good <\/em>and strive towards it\u00a0is a requirement of justice and charity<\/em>.\u201d[9][10]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n********************* ** Christians can thank the non-Christian thinker, Cicero, for prompting the idea of the common good for a republic such as Rome: \u201ca people is not any collection of human beings brought together in any sort of way, but an assemblage of people in large numbers associated in agreement with respect to justice and a partnership for the common good\u201d (Cicero, De republica<\/em> 1, 25, 39).<\/p>\n ** *********************Four centuries later, Augustine turned Cicero\u2019s concept of the common good into a middle axiom to connect the City of God with the cities we actually live in. A true republic \u201ccannot be governed without the most absolute justice,\u201d writes Augustine in The City of God. <\/em>Because justice has never reigned in Rome, Rome has never been a republic in the full sense of the term. \u201cThe fact is, true justice has no existence save in that republic whose founder and ruler is Jesus Christ\u201d\u00a0(Augustine n.d., II.21).<\/p>\n What legacy does Augustine leave us? On the one hand, it is reasonable to expect a high functioning society could be oriented around justice and perhaps even love while, on the other hand, it would be too much to expect that such a society would itself constitute the kingdom of God. \u201cFollowing this definition,\u201d comments David Hollenbach<\/a>, \u201cthe quality of the life of a people will be directly proportional to the qualities of the loves they share in common. Societies united by great and noble loves and dedicated to high standards of justice will be superior to those with lower goals and cultural values\u201d\u00a0(Hollenbach 1989, 83).<\/p>\n \u201cPeaceable Kingdom with Two Olives.\u201d Will Bullas Studio.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n********************* ** Hollanbach builds the bridge with the middle axiom we\u2019re looking for when he describes the healthy tension between a pluralistic society and the common good it shares. \u201cOne can draw principles that support the legitimacy, indeed the necessity, of institutional pluralism. None of the concrete forms of human community in history, be they familial, associational, economic, political, or religious, are capable of embodying the summum bonum<\/em>, the full human good. Only the kingdom of God can do that. This theological affirmation has a political correlate. None of these historical forms of community can exhaust the temporal, this-worldly common good either. The historically achievable common good will demand that the pluriformity of human community be respected, and such respect should be institutionalized politically, legally, and economically\u201d\u00a0(Hollenbach 1989, 93). In short, our vision of the eschatological kingdom of God stands before us as a beacon, guiding us toward the common good even if today and tomorrow we fail to realize it in its fullness.<\/p>\n ** *********************One knotty problem that persists for us is the connection between cultural pluriformity and social unity.[11] More. Social harmony must include not only human pluriformity but the biosphere as well. Christine Fire Henze reminds us that the common good requires inclusion of our entire planet. \u201cFeminist economics seeks to accurately and justly relate care and market economies; ecological economics works to connect market and natural economies by reframing market theory and practice in light of the finitude, noncommodifiability, or nonsubstitutability (by capital or technology) of land, biota, biosphere, and natural resources\u201d (Hinze 3\/2011, 168). Then, \u201chere Catholic commitments to solidarity with the poor and a decent livelihood for all complement the commitments of ecological economists\u201d (Hinze 3\/2011, 169).[9] Solidarity with the poor and the planet becomes a proleptic manifestation in the present of the eschatological justice promised by God.<\/p>\n Formulating a middle axiom between an eschatological vision and practical possibilities prompts Lutherans to follow with a plan of action wherein the church becomes a cultural and, indirectly, an economic leaven in the larger social loaf. Here\u2019s what we find in the ELCA Social Statement, Economic Life<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n We commit ourselves as a church to<\/em>: \u2022 hire without discriminating on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, age, disabilities, sexual orientation, or genetic factors; \u2022 compensate all people we call or employ at an amount sufficient for them to live in dignity; \u2022 provide adequate pension and health benefits, safe and healthy work conditions, sufficient periods of rest, vacation, and sabbatical, and family-friendly work schedules; \u2022 cultivate participatory workplaces, support the right of employees to organize for the sake of better working conditions and to engage in collective bargaining, and refrain from intentionally undercutting union organizing activities, or from permanently replacing striking workers.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Such policies represent a finite proleptic or anticipatory participation today in the future promised by God.<\/p>\n A Reformation for the Religion of Economism<\/strong><\/h3>\n The spoils of our spiritual war are a just, sustainable, participatory, and planetary society oriented around the common good<\/a>. Or, as Indian theologian Kuruvilla Pandikatu, inspired by Pope Francis\u2019\u00a0Fratelli Tutti<\/a>,\u00a0<\/em>puts it:\u00a0\u201cHope for a just, egalitarian, and love-filled world! A morally just world! A world of care, concern, and compassion, especially for the weak and vulnerable!\u201d (Pandikattu 2022, 181). That\u2019s the public theologian\u2019s vision.\u00a0What stands between us and this vision is the shadow of a Goliath, namely, the myth of economism.<\/p>\n World Heart by Madi, Indonesia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n*********************** ** When loading our sling to fight the giant whose rhetoric diverts our attention away from the threat of planetary self-obliteration, must we choose between either economics or ecology for allies? Why not both? According to John Cobb, it appears at first that we must choose. But, then, he suggests we might get both. \u201cMore and more people have been blaming climate disasters and other ecological problems on capitalism itself. For corporate leaders to continue to support persons who reject the scientific consensus that greenhouse gases are a major factor in climate change adds fuel to the fire of anti-capitalism. It is in the interest of the financial elite to show the world that a response to this crisis, narrowly defined, can be consistent with capitalism\u201d\u00a0(Cobb, Preface 2015, iii).Despite the apparent rift between the market and the planet, Cobb nevertheless offers a glimmer of hope that a reformation within economism might expand our present myth to include the health of the planet\u2019s biosphere. Perhaps both economics\u2013reformed economics\u2013and ecology could ally with the common good.<\/p>\n ** David Brooks, author of The Road to Character <\/em>and The Second Mountain, <\/em>like Cobb does not advocate the revolutionary overthrow of capitalism. Rather, the mature individual should work to supplement our economic system with compassion and community.<\/p>\n ** \u201cThe relationalist doesn\u2019t walk away from the capitalist meritocracy, the systems of mainstream life. But she balances that worldview with a countervailing ethos that supplements, corrects, and enobles\u201d\u00a0(Brooks 2019, 304).<\/p>\n ** Regardless of whether Cobb and Brooks are right, we must still ask: how should the prophetic activist initiate resistance to the religious myth of economism? Before we fire the revolutionary shots, we need to get clear on the analysis. Richard Norgaard has provided us with a protean metaphor for analyzing economism as a religion in need of reformation. We immediately feel the threat in Norgaard\u2019s point: the economic mind-set is so powerful that traditional moral thinking is dwarfed and squashed and even discarded. Economism is not only a force in the world but also within our soul.<\/p>\n ** ***********************The problem within economism which cries out for reform is found in both its form and substance. The amoral form of economism is found in the categories it imposes on our thinking, on our false consciousness: everything becomes subjected to cost-benefit categories, thereby marginalizing the tender values of intimacy, caring, sharing, and building. Similarly, the amoral substance of economism fosters just the opposite of what the Christian religion advocates: greed instead of charity, individual freedom without responsibility for the common good, anarchy without unity. If economism is in fact a religion, then it needs at least a reformation if not a supersession.<\/p>\n Conclusion<\/h2>\n myth grunge stamp. myth round vintage stamp<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n************************* ** After having said this, in my judgment, the term myth <\/em>more accurately describes what Norgaard is talking about. With the term myth <\/em>I refer to a conceptual set, a set of presuppositions which frame the suppositions of a theoretical or existential scheme. The myth frames data that reinforces an assumed worldview, perspective, or ideology. According to this definition, a myth is not a story per se. Rather, it\u2019s a commitment held at the level of presupposition rather than stated. The myth of economism has become the myth of the America Dream, the myth of the worldwide media, the myth within which national and international questions are formulated and decisions are made.<\/p>\n ** What the public theologian\u2013in this case, the critical theologian of culture engaged in discourse clarification\u2013needs to do is demythicise.[12] In common parlance this is known as myth-busting. <\/em>Recall how Rudolph Bultmann employed a similar term when referring to biblical exegesis. \u201cIts [de-mythologizing<\/em>] aim is not to eliminate the mythological statements but to interpret them. It is a method of hermeneutics\u201d (Bultmann 1958, 18). Rather than demythologize scripture, I recommend we demythologize economism. That is, we should identify the existential meaning along with the dimension of ultimacy presupposed in economism\u2019s doctrines. Then, we should demythicize<\/em> economism. We should so shock modern consciousness that the myth of economism becomes transparent to its own lack of moral foundation. By taking away its mythical status, we would deprive it of its sacral power.[12] First, we demythologize economism. Second, we demythicize economism.<\/p>\n ** Public theologians along with ethicists of all stripes should marshal their respective insights to separate out the idolatrous religion of economism from those other cultural mythologemes of neighbor-love. The secular religion of economism is ready for reformation, perhaps even supersession.<\/p>\n ** Our society needs economic theory, to be sure; but we don\u2019t need a pseudo-religion parading as a scientifically validated economic policy. This is to say, the church\u2019s prophetic task is to take the myth apart, examine its pieces, select what is salvageable, and then re-contextualize all of this within a healthier worldview that draws its meaning from a vision of the common good. This would constitute the reformation of economism, for Earth\u2019s sake.<\/p>\n ** Perhaps we could close with some words of assurance once penned by John Cobb. \u201cIn conclusion\u2026be faithful, affirm life, have confidence, stand fast in a Christian vision of reality, enter more deeply into Christian existence, be assured\u201d\u00a0(Cobb, Liberal Christianity at the Crossroads 1973, 97).<\/p>\n ** *************************\u2593<\/p>\n Ted Peters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Ted Peters pursues Public Theology <\/em>at the intersection of science, religion, ethics, and public policy. Peters is an emeritus professor at the Graduate Theological Union<\/a>, where he co-edits the journal, Theology and Science<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>on behalf of the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences<\/a>, in Berkeley, California, USA. His book, God in Cosmic History<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>traces the rise of the Axial religions 2500 years ago. He previously authored Playing God?<\/em><\/a> Genetic Determinism and Human Freedom? <\/em>(Routledge, 2nd<\/sup> ed., 2002) as well as Science, Theology, and Ethics<\/em><\/a> (Ashgate 2003). He is editor of AI and IA: Utopia or Extinction?<\/em><\/a> (ATF 2019). Along with Arvin Gouw and Brian Patrick Green, he co-edited the new book, Religious Transhumanism and Its Critics<\/em><\/a> hot off the press (Roman and Littlefield\/Lexington, 2022). Soon he will publish The Voice of Christian Public Theology <\/em>(ATF 2022). See his website: TedsTimelyTake.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n This fictional spy thriller, Cyrus Twelve<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>follows the twists and turns of a transhumanist plot.<\/p>\n \u2593<\/p>\n Notes<\/strong><\/p>\n[1] What does \u2018sustainable\u2019 mean? It refers to\u00a0\u201cdevelopment that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs\u201d (World, 1987).\n \u00a0<\/p>\n[2] Anthropogenic evil <\/em>is \u201cevil that arises indirectly through the growth in human populations, industrialization and the economy, leading to the production of pollutant wastes which then have devastating impacts on other species and on human populations through processes such as climate change and habitat destruction\u201d (Deane-Drummond 2008, 116)\n \u00a0<\/p>\n[3] Asking the rich to help the poor is heresy in America\u2019s economism. Among the emerging industrial and especially post-industrial states, the U.S. stands out as the paradigm of economic inequality. This is due to political efforts on the part of the wealthy classes during the Ronald Reagan administration in the 1980s which emphasized dropping government regulations on business and breaking the back of labor unions. \u201cThe U.S. has the highest level of economic inequality among developed countries. It has the world\u2019s greatest per capita health expenditures yet the lowest life expectancy among comparable countries\u201d (Stiglitz 11\/2018, 57).\n \u00a0<\/p>\n[4] Dare we speak of a Christian<\/em> economic theory? It is not written in stone that the field of economics must be secular, says Enrico Beltrami.<\/a> \u201cScholars are so used to assume the primacy of the secular disciplines over the religious ones to forget that such a primacy is, in effect, far from being written in stone.\u201d\n \u00a0<\/p>\n[5] Economists approach this problem with the term, The tragedy of the commons,<\/em><\/a> referring to \u201can economic problem in which every individual tries to reap the greatest benefit from a given resource. As the demand for the resource overwhelms the supply, every individual who consumes an additional unit directly harms others who can no longer enjoy the benefits.\u201d The concept of the common good implies more than what is assumed to be merely a scarce commodity unevenly distributed.\n \u00a0<\/p>\n[6] \u201cEconomic Justice.\u201d The complementary watchwords are justice <\/em>and sustainability. <\/em>The first, justice, <\/em>includes care for the poor, according to Roman Catholic ethicist Alison Benders. \u201cMeasuring justice in a community means examining the lives of the poorest and most marginalized from their perspective\u201d\u00a0(Benders 2015, xvii). Justice is then connected to planetary sustainability. \u201cJust as the absence of acknowledgment of community in economic theory has led to the destruction of human community in economic practice, so also the neglect of the physical world in economic theory has led to its degradation in economic<\/em> practice\u201d\u00a0(H. E. Daly 1989, 190).The second, sustainability, <\/em>requires intentional planning that learns from ecomimesis, from imitating nature. \u201cEcomimesis is a design paradigm that uses the earth as a template. Its goal is to design a human community so that its ways of life do not interfere with nature\u2019s inherent ability to sustain life in the earth\u2019s biosphere and minimize disruptions to nature\u2019s ecosystems. Its primary goals are to re-establish ecosystem stability, preserve regional biodiversity and habitats through continuity of functions and connectivity, and conserve, repair, and improve existing ecosystems\u201d\u00a0(Woo 2018, 747).\n \u00a0<\/p>\n[7] In addition to the idolatry of the market, ecowomanist theologians identify the basic force at work to destroy our ecosphere as domination. The same impetus to domination at work in colonialism and white supremacy is at work in the domination of earth. Melanie L. Harris: \u201cRather than using normative paradigms or pathways of environmental activism, such as the dominant social, exploitative capitalist, romantic environmental, <\/em>or new environmental <\/em>paradigms\u2026[ecowomanism] problematizes the conceptual base of these paradigms, based on their reliance on normative assumptions of white privilege, and exposes how the history of white supremacy is woven into the conceptual frame of ecological colonialism\u201d\u00a0(Harris 2017, 46).\n \u00a0<\/p>\n[8] Pope Francis, Laudato S\u00ed. <\/em>\u00a0Laudato S\u00ed \u00a0\u00a0<\/em>has a \u201cnumber of blind spots,\u201d contends Hindu theologian Rita Sherma. Pope Francis \u201crefrains from speaking of the injustice of androcentrism that is the cause of the near absence of one half of the human species from leadership in religion, politics, and economics\u201d\u00a0(Sherma 2015, 360). Andrew Sung Park concurs: \u201cthis encyclical is silent on the issue of sexism\u201d\u00a0(Park 2015, 72).\n \u00a0<\/p>\n[9] Bernard Laurent fears that the pontiff falls short of defending the common good because he inadequately analyzes the injustices endemic to existing economic institutions.\u00a0 \u201cBy framing the problem\u00a0as he does, Benedict turns the Church\u2019s focus away from the interplay of structural forces and gives primacy, as never before, to individual responsibility\u201d\u00a0(Laurent 9\/2015, 515).\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Professor Celia Deane-Drummond<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n[10] Sustainable economics <\/em>challenges the market system as such, \u201cby making production decisions not on the basis of market or consumer demand, but on the basis of the rate at which resources could be replenished\u201d\u00a0(Deane-Drummond 2008, 21).\n************************* ** *************************\u00a0<\/p>\n Professor Shawn Copeland<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n[11] Theologian Shawn Copeland addresses the difficulty of solidarity within plurality. \u201cSolidarity is a task realized by human subjects through, with, and in community\u201d (Copeland 2005, 115). Yet, we need solidarity on a planetary scale. Grace Ji-Sun Kim and Hilda B. Koster recognize this need. \u201cSolidarity expresses a realization and analysis of inequalities and patterns of injustice, and a commitment to social change to remedy these inequalities. As a theological concept, solidarity refers to the (Catholic) notion of koinonia <\/em>(the communion of saints). It is about building stronger communities where power is shared and relationships are formed\u201d\u00a0(Kim 2017, 6).\n************************* ** *************************\u00a0<\/p>\n[12] I prefer the modern method of \u201cdemythologizing\u201d over the postmodern method of \u201cdeconstruction,\u201d because the latter limits itself to exposing power interests while avoiding the existential meanings uncovered by demythologizing. I believe Paul Chung gets me right when he notes, \u201cPeters\u2019 approach to a postmodern holism is differentiated from postmodern deconstructionism in the fashion of Jacques Derrida. Rather, holistic postmodernism aims at recovering meaning, not its deconstruction or dissolution\u201d (Chung 2016, 131).\n References<\/h1>\n*************************** ** Augustine.\u00a0 City of God.<\/em><\/p>\n ** Benders, Alison. 2015. Just Prayer.<\/em> Collegeville MN: Liturgical Press.<\/p>\n ** Birch, Charles, and John Cobb. 1981. The Liberation of Life.<\/em> Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press.<\/p>\n ** Brooks, David. 2019. The Second Mountain.<\/em> New York: Random House.<\/p>\n ** Bultmann, Rudolf. 1958. Jesus Christ and Mythology.<\/em> New York: Charles Scribner\u2019s Sons.<\/p>\n ** Chung, Paul. 2016. Postcolonial Public Theology: Faith, Scientific Rationality, and Prophetic Dialogue.<\/em> Eugene OR: Cascade Books.<\/p>\n ** Cobb, John. 1973. Liberal Christianity at the Crossroads.<\/em> Louisville KY: Westminster John Knox.<\/p>\n ** Cobb, John. 2015. \u201cPreface.\u201d In For Our Common Home: Process-Relational Responses to Laudato Si<\/em>, by eds John Cobb and Ignacio Casteura, i-viii. Anoka MN: Process Century Press.<\/p>\n ** \u2014. 1982. Process Theology as Political Theology.<\/em> Louisville KY: Westminster John Knox.<\/p>\n ** \u2014. 2010. Spiritual Bankruptcy: A Call to Prophetic Action.<\/em> Nashville TN: Abingdon.<\/p>\n ** \u2014. 1999. The Earthist Challenge to Economism: A Theological Critique of the World Bank.<\/em> New York: St. Martin\u2019s Press.<\/p>\n ** Copeland, Shawn. 2005. \u201cBody, Race, and Being.\u201d In Constructive Theology<\/em>, by eds Serene Jones and Paul Lakeland, 97-116. Minneapolis MN: Fortress Press.<\/p>\n ** Daly, Herman E. and John Cobb, Jr. 1989. For the Common Good: Redirecting the Economy Toward Community.<\/em> Boston: Beacon Press.<\/p>\n ** Daly, Herman. 1988. \u201cThe Steady-state Economy: Postmodern Alternative to Growthmania.\u201d In Spirituality and Society: Postmodern Visions<\/em>, by ed David Ray Griffin, 107-122. Albany NY: SUNY.<\/p>\n ** Deane-Drummond, Celia. 2008. Eco-Theology.<\/em> London: Darton, Longman, and Todd.<\/p>\n ** Doran, Chris. 2017. Hope in the Age of Climate Change.<\/em> Eugene OR: Cascade.<\/p>\n ** Dorrien, Gary. 4\/11\/2011. \u201cNo Common Good.\u201d The Christian Century 128:8<\/em> 22-25.<\/p>\n ** Eaton, Heather. 2017. \u201cAn Earth-Centric Theological Framing for Planetary Solidarity.\u201d In Planetary Solidarity: Global Women\u2019s Voices on Christian Doctrine and Climate Change<\/em>, by eds Grace Ji-Sun Kim and Hilda B Koster, 19-34. Minneapolis MN: Fortress Press.<\/p>\n ** Editors. 12\/2018. \u201cRethinking the Anthropocene.\u201d Scientific American 319:6<\/em> 10.<\/p>\n ** ELCA. 2011. Genetics, Faith, and Responsibility.<\/em> http:\/\/download.elca.org\/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository\/GeneticsSS.pdf?_ga=1.54478571.232821864.1462997417 (accessed 11\/1\/2016), Chicago: Social Statement.<\/p>\n ** Griffin, David. 1988. \u201cIntroduction.\u201d In Spirituality and Society<\/em>, by ed David Ray Griffin, 1-32. Albany NY: SUNY.<\/p>\n ** Harris, Melanie. 2017. Ecowomanism: African American Women and Earth-Honoring Faiths.<\/em> Maryknoll NY: Orbis.<\/p>\n ** Hinze, Christine Firer. 3\/2011. \u201cEconomic Recession, Work, and Solidarity.\u201d Theological Studies 72:1<\/em> 150-169.<\/p>\n ** Hollenbach, David. 1989. \u201cThe Common Good Revisited.\u201d Theological Studies 50:1<\/em> 70-94.<\/p>\n ** Hoogen, Toine von den. 2019. Public Theology and Institutional Economics.<\/em> Cambridge UK: Cambridge Scholars Press.<\/p>\n ** Kim, Grace Ji-Sun, and Hilda Koster. 2017. \u201cIntroduction.\u201d In Planetary Solidarity: Women\u2019s Voices<\/em>, by eds Grace Ji-Sun Kim and Hilda B Koster, 1-18. Minneapolis MN:: Fortress Press.<\/p>\n ** Kuyper, Abraham, 2022.\u00a0On Charity and Justice: Collected Works in Public Theology. <\/em>Bellingham WA: Lexham.<\/p>\n ** Laurent, Bernard. 9\/2015. \u201cCaritas in Veritate as a Social Encyclical.\u201d Theological Studies 71:3<\/em> 515-544.<\/p>\n ** Leopold, Aldo. 1946, 1986. Sand Country Almanac, Special Commemorative Edition.<\/em> Oxford: Oxford University Press.<\/p>\n ** Longwood, Merle. 1973. \u201cThe Common Good: An Ethical Framework for Evaluating Environmental Issues.\u201d Theological Studies 34:3<\/em> 468-480.<\/p>\n ** Luther, Martin. 1955-1986. Luther\u2019s Works, American Edition, 55 Volumes.<\/em> St. Louis and Minneapolis: Concordia and Fortress.<\/p>\n ** May, William F. 2011. Testing the National Covenant: Fears and Appetites in American Politics.<\/em> Washington DC: Georgetown University Press.<\/p>\n ** McFague, Sallie. 2008. A New Climate for Theology.<\/em> Minneapolis MN: Fortress.<\/p>\n ** Merchant, Carolyn. 1980. The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology and the Scientific Revolution.<\/em> New York: Harper.<\/p>\n ** Moe-Lobeda, Cynthia. 2013.\u00a0Resisting Structural Evil: Love as Ecological-Economic Vocation.\u00a0<\/em>Minneapolis MN: Fortress.<\/p>\n ** Moltmann, J\u00fcrgen. 1971. Hope and Planning.<\/em> New York: Harper.<\/p>\n ** Moltmann, J\u0171rgen. 1990. On Human Dignity.<\/em> Maryknoll NY: Orbis.<\/p>\n ** Moltmann, J\u00fcrgen. 1969. Religion, Revolution, and the Future.<\/em> New York: Scribners.<\/p>\n ** Norgaard, Richard. 2015. The Church of Economism and Its Discontents.<\/em> Online Post, ), http:\/\/www.greattransition.org\/publication\/the-church-of-economism-and-itsdiscontents .<\/p>\n ** Pandikattu, Kuruvilla, 2022. \u201cEthics of Hope.\u201d\u00a0Ethics, Sustainability and Fratelli Tutti: Towards a Just and Viable World Order Inspired by Pope Francis.\u00a0<\/em>Ed., Kuruvilla Pandikattu. London: Ethics International Press, 164-182.<\/p>\n ** Park, Andrew Sung. 2015. \u201cA Bright Hope for the Depressed Globe.\u201d In For Our Common Home: Process-Relational Responses to Laudato Si<\/em>, by eds John Cobb and Ignacio Casteura, 69-73. Anoka MN: Process Century Press.<\/p>\n ** Peebles, Graham. 12\/2018. \u201cSharing is the key to a new economic and democratic order.\u201d Share International 37:10<\/em> 4-5.<\/p>\n ** Peters, Ted. 2017. \u201cAnticipating the Renewal of Earth: Theology and Science in Laudato Si.\u201d Interface Theology 1:2<\/em> 31-44.<\/p>\n ** ***************************\u2014. 2017. God in Cosmic History: Where Science and Big History Meet Religion.<\/em> Winona MN: Anselm Academic ISBN 978-1-59982-813-8.<\/p>\n \u2013. 2017. \u201cDemythologizing the Myth of Economism.\u201d Journal of Lutheran Ethics. <\/em>https:\/\/www.elca.org\/JLE\/Articles\/1211<\/a> .<\/em><\/p>\n \u2014. 2nd Ed, 2003. Playing God? Genetic Determinism and Human Freedom.<\/em> London and New York: Routledge ISBN0-415-94248-0-415-94249-7.<\/p>\n Peters, Ted. 2018. \u201cPublic Theology: Its Pastoral, Apologetic, Scientific, Politial, and Prophetic Tasks.\u201d International Journal of Public Theology 12:2<\/em> 153-177; https:\/\/brill.com\/abstract\/journals\/ijpt\/12\/1\/ijpt.12.issue-1.xml.<\/p>\n Peters, Ted. 2018. \u201cToward a Galactic Common Good.\u201d In The Palgrave Handbook of Philosophy and Public Policy<\/em>, by ed David Boonin, 827-843. New York: Macmillan Palgrave.<\/p>\n Reich, Robert, 2018. The Common Good<\/em>. New York: Vintage.<\/p>\n Robinson, Mary. 2017. Climate Justice.<\/em> London: Bloomsbury.<\/p>\n Russell, Robert John. 2022. \u201cThe Eschatological Family of Life on Earth: A Christian Response to Global Climate Change.\u201d\u00a0Religion and Sustainability: Interreligious Resources, Interdisciplinary Responses.\u00a0<\/em>Eds., Rita D. Sherma and Purushottama Bilimoria. Switzerland: Springer; 3534-369.<\/p>\n Sachs, Jonathan. 2015. Not in God\u2019s Name: Conflicting Religious Violence.<\/em> New York: Schocken Books.<\/p>\n Schaefer, James. 2005. \u201cValuing Earth Intrinsically and Instrumentally.\u201d Theological Studies 66:4<\/em> 783-814.<\/p>\n Schmitt, Carl. 2007. The Concept of the Political.<\/em> Chicago: University of Chicago Press.<\/p>\n Sherma, Rita. 2015. \u201cA Hindu Response.\u201d In For Our Common Home: Process-Relational Responses to Laudato Si<\/em>, by eds John Cobb and Ignacio Casteura. Anoka MN: Process Century Press; 358-367.<\/p>\n Sherma, Rita, and Purushottama Bilimoria. 2022.\u00a0Religion and Sustainability: Interreligious Resources, Interdisciplinary Responses. <\/em>Switzerland: Springer.<\/p>\n Slessarev-Jamir, Helene. 2011. Prophetic Activism: Progressive Religious Justice Movements in Contemporary America.<\/em> New York: New York University Press.<\/p>\n Spencer, Nick, and Robert White. 2007. Christianity, Climate Change, and Sustainable Living.<\/em> London: SPCK.<\/p>\n Stiglitz, Joseph. 11\/2018. \u201cA Rigged Economy.\u201d Scientific American 319:5<\/em> 56-71.<\/p>\n Sugirtharajah, RS. 2012. Exploring Postcolonial Biblical Criticism.<\/em> Oxford UK: Oxford University Press.<\/p>\n Taylor, Charles. 2007. A Secular Age.<\/em> Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.<\/p>\n Tracy, David. 1981. The Analogical Imagination.<\/em> New York: Crossroad.<\/p>\n Tucker, Mary Evelyn. 2015. \u201cClimate Change Brings Moral Change.\u201d In For Our Common Home: Process-Related Responses to Laudato Si<\/em>, by eds John B Cobb and Ignacio Casteura, 187-189. Anoka MN: Process Century Press.<\/p>\n Woo, Lillian. 2018. \u201cThe Pope\u2019s Encyclical in Dialogue with Economimesis: A Design Model for Conservation Stewardship.\u201d Anglican Theological Review 100:4<\/em> 745-766.<\/p>\n World Commission on Environment and Development. 1987. Our Common Future.\u00a0<\/em>Oxford: Oxford University Press.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We need to be guided by a vision of the global common good that will take us beyond the exclusivism of the church of economism to a just, sustainable, participatory, and planetary society.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4597,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[144,437,146,150,92,434,97,20,100,98,19,10],"tags":[781,787,796,670,700,703,820,775,715,784,814,667,712,1096,790,805,799,808,694,697,802,811,793,778,823],"class_list":["post-18952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-catholic","category-ethics","category-evangelical","category-general-christian","category-hermeneutics","category-lutheran","category-progressive-christian","category-public-theology","category-racial-justice","category-social-justice","category-systematic-theology","category-religious-exemption","tag-anthropocene","tag-catechism-of-the-catholic-church","tag-celia-deane-drummond","tag-common-good","tag-demythicization","tag-demythologizing","tag-discourse-clarification","tag-ecoethics","tag-ecology","tag-econocene","tag-economic-justice","tag-economism","tag-ecotheology","tag-ethics","tag-evangelical-lutheran-church-in-america","tag-fratelli-tutti","tag-keith-giles","tag-laudato-si","tag-myth","tag-myth-busting","tag-oliver-crisp","tag-pope-francis","tag-shawn-copeland","tag-world-council-of-churches","tag-worldview-construction"],"yoast_head":"\nJust, Sustainable, Participatory, and Planetary. Common Good Part Five Common Good<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We need to be guided by a vision of the global common good that will take us beyond the exclusivism of the church of economism to a just, sustainable, participatory, and planetary society. We need to be guided by a vision of the global common good that will take us beyond the exclusivism of the church of economism to a just, sustainable, participatory, and planetary society.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publictheology\/2022\/09\/just-sustainable-participatory-and-planetary-common-good-part-five\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Just, Sustainable, Participatory, and Planetary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We need to be guided by a vision of the global common good that will take us beyond the exclusivism of the church of economism to a just, sustainable, participatory, and planetary society.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publictheology\/2022\/09\/just-sustainable-participatory-and-planetary-common-good-part-five\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Public Theology\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Ted-Peters-1083541758385507\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-09-06T15:50:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-07-05T03:10:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1442\/2022\/07\/Earth-Day-Earth-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"691\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ted Peters\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Just, Sustainable, Participatory, and Planetary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"We need to be guided by a vision of the global common good that will take us beyond the exclusivism of the church of economism to a just, sustainable, participatory, and planetary society.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1442\/2022\/07\/Earth-Day-Earth-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ted Peters\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"38 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publictheology\/2022\/09\/just-sustainable-participatory-and-planetary-common-good-part-five\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publictheology\/2022\/09\/just-sustainable-participatory-and-planetary-common-good-part-five\/\",\"name\":\"Just, Sustainable, Participatory, and Planetary. Common Good Part Five Common Good\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publictheology\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-09-06T15:50:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-07-05T03:10:10+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publictheology\/#\/schema\/person\/05733dcb47bd04e4c8cebb870a65c698\"},\"description\":\"We need to be guided by a vision of the global common good that will take us beyond the exclusivism of the church of economism to a just, sustainable, participatory, and planetary society. We need to be guided by a vision of the global common good that will take us beyond the exclusivism of the church of economism to a just, sustainable, participatory, and planetary society.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publictheology\/2022\/09\/just-sustainable-participatory-and-planetary-common-good-part-five\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publictheology\/2022\/09\/just-sustainable-participatory-and-planetary-common-good-part-five\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publictheology\/2022\/09\/just-sustainable-participatory-and-planetary-common-good-part-five\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publictheology\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Just, Sustainable, Participatory, and Planetary. Common Good Part Five\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publictheology\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publictheology\/\",\"name\":\"Public Theology\",\"description\":\"Public Theology is conceived in the church, critically tested in the academy, and meshed with the wider culture for the sake of the wider culture.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publictheology\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publictheology\/#\/schema\/person\/05733dcb47bd04e4c8cebb870a65c698\",\"name\":\"Ted Peters\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publictheology\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9d560cb4007bb6e697a09e341761f730?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9d560cb4007bb6e697a09e341761f730?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ted Peters\"},\"description\":\"Ted Peters is a pastor, professor, and author of both fiction and nonfiction. He is emeritus professor of systematic theology and ethics at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary and the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. He co-edits the journal, Theology and Science at the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences. His fictional thrillers feature an inner-city pastor, Leona Foxx, who courageously challenges the structures of political domination that are buttressed by the latest in science and technology.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/tedstimelytake.com\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Ted-Peters-1083541758385507\/\",\"http:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/profile\/view?id=110214525&trk=tab_pro\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCsOmZFCJWcKXExhbHZsmJTg\",\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ted_Peters_(theologian)\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publictheology\/author\/tpeters\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Just, Sustainable, Participatory, and Planetary. Common Good Part Five Common Good","description":"We need to be guided by a vision of the global common good that will take us beyond the exclusivism of the church of economism to a just, sustainable, participatory, and planetary society. We need to be guided by a vision of the global common good that will take us beyond the exclusivism of the church of economism to a just, sustainable, participatory, and planetary society.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publictheology\/2022\/09\/just-sustainable-participatory-and-planetary-common-good-part-five\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Just, Sustainable, Participatory, and Planetary","og_description":"We need to be guided by a vision of the global common good that will take us beyond the exclusivism of the church of economism to a just, sustainable, participatory, and planetary society.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publictheology\/2022\/09\/just-sustainable-participatory-and-planetary-common-good-part-five\/","og_site_name":"Public Theology","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Ted-Peters-1083541758385507\/","article_published_time":"2022-09-06T15:50:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-07-05T03:10:10+00:00","og_image":[{"width":768,"height":691,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1442\/2022\/07\/Earth-Day-Earth-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Ted Peters","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Just, Sustainable, Participatory, and Planetary","twitter_description":"We need to be guided by a vision of the global common good that will take us beyond the exclusivism of the church of economism to a just, sustainable, participatory, and planetary society.","twitter_image":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1442\/2022\/07\/Earth-Day-Earth-scaled.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ted Peters","Est. reading time":"38 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publictheology\/2022\/09\/just-sustainable-participatory-and-planetary-common-good-part-five\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publictheology\/2022\/09\/just-sustainable-participatory-and-planetary-common-good-part-five\/","name":"Just, Sustainable, Participatory, and Planetary. Common Good Part Five Common Good","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publictheology\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-09-06T15:50:08+00:00","dateModified":"2023-07-05T03:10:10+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publictheology\/#\/schema\/person\/05733dcb47bd04e4c8cebb870a65c698"},"description":"We need to be guided by a vision of the global common good that will take us beyond the exclusivism of the church of economism to a just, sustainable, participatory, and planetary society. We need to be guided by a vision of the global common good that will take us beyond the exclusivism of the church of economism to a just, sustainable, participatory, and planetary society.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publictheology\/2022\/09\/just-sustainable-participatory-and-planetary-common-good-part-five\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publictheology\/2022\/09\/just-sustainable-participatory-and-planetary-common-good-part-five\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publictheology\/2022\/09\/just-sustainable-participatory-and-planetary-common-good-part-five\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publictheology\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Just, Sustainable, Participatory, and Planetary. Common Good Part Five"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publictheology\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publictheology\/","name":"Public Theology","description":"Public Theology is conceived in the church, critically tested in the academy, and meshed with the wider culture for the sake of the wider culture.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publictheology\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publictheology\/#\/schema\/person\/05733dcb47bd04e4c8cebb870a65c698","name":"Ted Peters","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publictheology\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9d560cb4007bb6e697a09e341761f730?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9d560cb4007bb6e697a09e341761f730?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Ted Peters"},"description":"Ted Peters is a pastor, professor, and author of both fiction and nonfiction. He is emeritus professor of systematic theology and ethics at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary and the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. He co-edits the journal, Theology and Science at the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences. His fictional thrillers feature an inner-city pastor, Leona Foxx, who courageously challenges the structures of political domination that are buttressed by the latest in science and technology.","sameAs":["https:\/\/tedstimelytake.com","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Ted-Peters-1083541758385507\/","http:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/profile\/view?id=110214525&trk=tab_pro","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCsOmZFCJWcKXExhbHZsmJTg","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ted_Peters_(theologian)"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publictheology\/author\/tpeters\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publictheology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publictheology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publictheology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publictheology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4597"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publictheology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publictheology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18952\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publictheology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publictheology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publictheology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}