Wading Through Many Voices

Toward a Theology of Public Conversation

Edited by Harold Recinos - Contributions by Victor Anderson; Nancy Bedford; Maria Teresa Davila; Gaston Espinosa; Eleazar S. Fernandez; Michelle A. Gonzalez; Luis Leon; Lara Medina; Andrew Sung Park; Harold J. Recinos; Marcia Y. Riggs; David Sanchez; Mark Lewis Taylor; Tink Tinker and Jace Weaver

Wading through Many Voices brings together the voices of Latino/a, African American, Asian American, Native American, and Euro-American scholars to produce a dialogue of public theology: how faith-communities, divided by race, class, ethnicity, and gender, can find a common ground for life together. The authors articulate a multiethnic perspective on public theology that counters the divisive identity politics of U.S. public life with systematic thinking that strengthens the commitment to critically transform social relations in light of a shared vision of public good. The contributors develop a shared public theology that addresses social divisions while offering readers a broad vision to collaborate and struggle for an improved understanding of the common good for our pluralistic society. In light of emerging social issues, the contributors suggest that a fundamental respect for difference is a required first value for living together in a common social and political space.

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 392 • Trim: 6½ x 9½

978-1-4422-0583-3 • Hardback • April 2011 • $111.00 • (£85.00)

978-1-4422-0585-7 • eBook • April 2011 • $105.50 • (£82.00)

Subjects: Religion / Theology, Religion / Comparative Religion

Wading Through Many Voices

Toward a Theology of Public Conversation

Hardback

eBook

Summary

Wading through Many Voices brings together the voices of Latino/a, African American, Asian American, Native American, and Euro-American scholars to produce a dialogue of public theology: how faith-communities, divided by race, class, ethnicity, and gender, can find a common ground for life together. The authors articulate a multiethnic perspective on public theology that counters the divisive identity politics of U.S. public life with systematic thinking that strengthens the commitment to critically transform social relations in light of a shared vision of public good. The contributors develop a shared public theology that addresses social divisions while offering readers a broad vision to collaborate and struggle for an improved understanding of the common good for our pluralistic society. In light of emerging social issues, the contributors suggest that a fundamental respect for difference is a required first value for living together in a common social and political space.

Details

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 392 • Trim: 6½ x 9½

978-1-4422-0583-3 • Hardback • April 2011 • $111.00 • (£85.00)

978-1-4422-0585-7 • eBook • April 2011 • $105.50 • (£82.00)

Subjects: Religion / Theology, Religion / Comparative Religion

Author

Harold Recinos is professor of church and society at Southern Methodist University.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Part I. Theology Becoming Public Discourse
Chapter 1: Expanding Our Academic Publics: Latino/a Theology, Religious Studies, and Latin American Studies
Chapter 2: Escaping the Polarity of Race vs. Gender and Ethnicity
Chapter 3: Global Hegemonic Power, Democracy and the Theological Praxis of the Subaltern Multitude
Chapter 4: The Role of Latino/a Ethics in the Public Square: Upholding and Challenging 'the Good' in a Pluralistic Society
Chapter 5: Pluralist Separatism and Community
Chapter 6: American Prophecy: Cesar Chavez In Light of Martin Luther King and Gandhi
Chapter 7: "Salvation and Transformation": Latino Evangelical Political Activism and the Struggle over Comprehensive Immigration Reform
Chapter 8: Theology of Enhancement: Multiculturality in an Asian American Perspective
Part II. Beyond Only Difference
Chapter 9: Is America Possible? The Land that Never has been: Democratic Hope and Creative Exchange
Chapter 10: Foregrounding Our Apocalyptic Heritage in Hopes of Domesticating It: Creating a Post-Apocalyptic Society in a Plural World
Chapter 11: 'Isn't Life More Than Food?' Migrant Farm Work as a Challenge to Latino/a Public Theology
Chapter 12: Beyond Only Difference: Necropolitics, Racialized Regimes, and US Public Theology
Chapter 13: American Indians, Conquest, the Christian Story, and Invasive Nation-building
Chapter 14: Nepantla Spirituality: An Emancipative Vision for Inclusion
Index
Selected Bibliography

Reviews

Public theologians have something very important to say about and to culture. Unfortunately its voice, more often than not, has been co-opted by political manipulators. This is why Recinos' book, as a corrective, is so important. Wading Through Many Voices moves beyond just one dominant theological voice by bringing into the discourse the often ignored voices residing within marginalized communities. This book effectively brings the voices on the periphery to the center of the public conversation.
— Miguel A. De La Torre, professor of Social Ethics and Latinx Studies, Iliff School of Theology

A public theology for the future must find ways to sustain conversation across the boundaries that now fragment our faiths and divide our politics. Harold Recinos and his colleagues give us a vision of what such a conversation would be like and how it might be encouraged.
— Robin W. Lovin, Cary M. Maguire University Professor of Ethics Emeritus, Southern Methodist University

A stirring performance of the complex solidarity of difference, this conversation models a fresh honesty for 21st century political theology in the USA. The authors, unafraid of the tensions between pluralism and the common good, lead us beyond competing identities into the creativity of a thriving manifold.
— Catherine Keller, Drew University