Book Review: The Cambridge Companion to Christian Political Theology

Abstract

The Cambridge Companion to Christian Political Theology. Edited by Craig Hovey and Elizabeth Phillips. Cambridge Companions to Religion Series. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015. xiv + 305 pp. $29.99 (paper).The editors of this volume had daunting task of bringing order to chaotic world of They have succeeded for most part, and they managed to do so in fraction of pages one might expect. The companion focuses on political as focus of Christian theology (p. xi) while giving reader sense of concepts long-term history, its twentieth-century emergence as theological discipline, and many of perspectives it includes today.The beginning of volume is especially strong. The editors argue that three streams have significantly influenced shape of theology-political in Europe, liberative theologies in Latin America and United States, and in United States- and so dedicate first part of volume to exploring each one in tum. In clear prose, rich opening chapter by Jurgen Moltmann describes first long-term history of term political theology and then new theology that arose in Germany in response to atrocities of World War II. As Moltmann and Johann Baptist Metz, both young German soldiers turned postwar theologians, reflected on what role of church should have been during rise of Nazi regime, they shifted from its historic focus on the religion of power of state to theological reflection on church's role within society (p. 9). Ultimately Moltmann offers this as definition of he now holds: a designation for theological reflection on concrete practice of (p. 14).While one form of theolog/ was developing in Germany, another version was being articulated in Latin America. Miguel A. De La Torre invites us into history behind development of what we now call theology. He highlights role of Christian Base Communities in late 1950s, which sought to turn Christian convictions into liberation from communal and individual sins, and importance of economic development conversations spawned by Vatican II, leading to publication of A Theology of Liberation by Gustavo Gutierrez in 1973. De La Torre describes liberation as a spiritual response to everyday sociopolitical realities of oppressed people.... More than simply liberation from sin, personal or corporate, salvation is achieved through consciousnessraising process of learning how oppressive structures prevent abundant life promised by Christ (p. 28). De La Torre also examines how different contexts have led to formation of other versions of liberation from U.S. feminist theologies to black theologies, Hispanic theologies, and Asian American theologies.Hak Joon Lee addresses third main stream of with chapter on public theology, which may be least well-known stream of three, at least by name. While at times I wondered if it was given more prominence within volume than was warranted, term does usefully capture an array of Catholic and Protestant thinkers who believe that Christianity ought to contribute to common good of society and who generally advocate for a constructive role for religious discourse in pluralistic society, neither suppressing religious expressions nor dismissing democratic values such as human rights, tolerance, and equality (p. …