Book Review: Global Justice, Christology and Christian Ethics

Abstract

Global Justice, Christology and Christian Ethics. By Lisa Sowie Cahill. New Studies in Christian Ethics. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2013. xiv + 314 pp. $104.99 (cloth).This thoroughgoing book carefully builds an argument that a Christian ethic of global justice must be rooted in Christology. Cahill notes that, with mixed trepidation and courage, she set out question convictions about Christ, church, and politics, while hoping for a productive critique (p. 28). As if that were not a full project, she seeks to give biblical and logical reasons for Christian commitment justice, show why action is necessarily a criterion of authentic Christian theology, and give ground for Christian hope that change in violent structures really is possible (p. 1). All in all, Global Justice, Christology and Christian Ethics successfully meets these challenges and is well worth the reader's careful attention.Foregrounding what is at stake, Cahill provides a full account of sin and evil. In discussing this reality, she begins with creation, exploring biblical narratives such as the fall and that of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar. She reads these stories carefully and critically. Finally, she turns Job. After examining Gods response Job, she notes that to be in relation God is be in relation with one another, which is the central message of the creation narrative (p. 73).The several chapters on Christology would serve well as a collegiate or graduate level primer. She begins by arguing that the biblical narratives of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection shape Christian ethics, and that his ministry provides content salvation. As a result, Cahill carefully situates Jesus of Nazareth in his historical context, noting that he was an apocalyptic prophet for the reign of God who was particularly inclusive of the poor, women, and Gentiles. Next, Cahill seeks reconcile Word and Spirit Christologies, showing their essential connection and validation in the practical Christian life (p. 132). She then shows how these theories are both compat- ible and mutually informative, which creates a picture of Jesus Christ who is both Word-incarnate and animated by the Spirit. This section also includes an analysis of the teachings of the Councils of Nicaea and Chalcedon. Noting that Nicaea and Chalcedon accept paradox, she suggests that multiplicity is the only true answer in Christology. Her arguments for holding multiple Christologies in tension-as well as her similar argument about soteriologies-are an important contribution. …