The Ethics of Identity and World Christianity

David Ngong

doi:10.7832/45-3-166

Abstract

In describing the nature of Christian ethics in America before some recent interventions, Stanley Hauerwas notes that the subject of Christian ethics in America was and is America rather than the Church. He finds this disturbing because it seems to marginalize distinctively Christian moral formation. This critique raises the question of the nature of Christian identity. What should Christian identity in America, Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America, etc. be? This question becomes especially urgent with the rise of world Christianity which takes for granted the idea that Christians who live in different contexts perform the Christian faith differently because of said context. This paper argues that while the variety that exists in world Christianity is made necessary by the context in which world Christianity developed, when taken to extremes, it may, among other things, lead to ecclesial apartheid.

Highlights

In describing the nature of Christian ethics in America before and after the intervention of ethicists like John Howard Yoder, Stanley Hauerwas (2015:74) notes that the subject matter of “Christian ethics in America was first and foremost America,” especially seen through the prism of liberal democracy
Rather than promoting liberal democracy which is characterized by a moral vacuum, Hauerwas (2015:182) insists, Christian ethics should focus on the centrality of the church in forming people who live virtuous lives that would fill “the moral emptiness at the heart of liberalism.”2 Read against the background of H
The Ethics of Identity and World Christianity251 claim raises the question of Christian identity, Christian moral identity, in the context of America’s liberal democratic values

Summary

Introduction

In describing the nature of Christian ethics in America before and after the intervention of ethicists like John Howard Yoder, Stanley Hauerwas (2015:74) notes that the subject matter of “Christian ethics in America was first and foremost America,” especially seen through the prism of liberal democracy. The Ethics of Identity and World Christianity251 claim raises the question of Christian identity, Christian moral identity, in the context of America’s liberal democratic values. Hauerwas here raises the question of how Christian identity should be defined in the context of America: should Christian identity in America be defined by America’s vision of itself as a liberal democracy or by the vision of the peace of God contained in the gospel of Jesus Christ and proclaimed by the church? This paper questions the emphasis placed on local Christian identities, arguing that if not properly balanced by the fact that all people (including Christians) are basically the same, sharing a common humanity, it may engender a global form of Christian apartheid. The paper will first describe what world Christianity is, give reasons for the focus on the local rather than the universal, and problematize the emphasis on the local in the construction of Christian identity in the global context

What is World Christianity?

The Question of Identity in World Christianity

Conclusion