Theology Today - Vol 45, No.3 - October 1988 - BOOK REVIEW - Public Theology and Political Economy: Christian Stewardship in Modern Society

372 - Public Theology and Political Economy: Christian Stewardship in Modern Society

Public Theology and Political Economy: Christian Stewardship in Modern Society

By Max L. Stackhouse

Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 1987. 177 Pp. $8.95.

This volume, by the Professor of Christian Social Ethics and Stewardship at the Andover Newton Theological School, seeks to do several interrelated things. As a part of the Library of Christian Stewardship, sponsored by the National Council of Churches' Commission on Stewardship, it attempts to set a wider social and economic context for Christian understanding of stewardship. It reminds us that the doctrine of stewardship raises all of the important economic questions facing human society.

But Stackhouse also seeks to articulate an understanding of "public. theology" and its complex basis of authority. He defends the public and

373 - Public Theology and Political Economy: Christian Stewardship in Modern Society

not purely confessional vocation of theology, treating theology as intellectually accountable beyond as well as within the faith community. He understands the authority underlying a proper statement of public theology to be something like the United Methodist "quadrilateral," which is based upon the mutual interrelationships of Scripture, tradition, experience, and reason. Grounded in this quadrilateral, public theology also participates in public discourse, with important effects upon public life, public institutions, and power relationships. In an intriguing discussion of piety and power, he notes that "the new fanaticisms of the right and the left ... are struggling for control over the piety of the people." For "both fundamentalists and liberationists know, better than most ecumenically oriented believers, that this is a decisive arena for the shape of power."

In discussing political economy, Stackhouse argues that the economic corporation is a uniquely Western phenomenon whose possibility was dependent upon biblical religion-an argument deeply influenced by the familiar Weberian tradition, but articulated here in a creative way. In his judgment, much recent Christian economic ethics, in its preoccupation with problems of justice in distribution, has neglected the theological analysis of the corporation and its relationship to production. And, against the various proposals of socialism, Stackhouse warns that "political domination of economic life" may well lead to "controls over all aspects of society" and the destruction of "economic viability."

Clearly, Stackhouse has several agenda in mind, leading him to probe beyond the popular connotations of his subtitle. Nevertheless, he brings considerable weight to the discussion throughout. If the "mix" is not wholly integrated-and I am not sure it is-the end result retains considerable value as an exploration of historical roots of contemporary economic and political life and a grappling with theological connections.

I heartily agree with his understanding of public theology and concur with its warnings about the profound dangers of fanaticisms and sectarianisms in our time. I am not equally convinced that recent literature on political economy, including church statements and pastorals, err by emphasizing the distributive aspect of economics more than the productive. Most such writing acknowledges the importance of production, though perhaps more often this is simply assumed. But such writings do well to emphasize the problems of distribution, for these are fundamental to the interrelationships of people in every society. Could one seriously argue, in the case of the United States, that our fundamental moral problems are more in the inadequacy of our production than in the injustice of our systems of distribution? Could one not even argue that justice in distribution contributes to energy and efficiency in production? And is it not too early to write the epitaph for socialism, or to argue that creative and democratic forms of political control over economic life are not possible?

These questions, and others I might want to raise, do not diminish my

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appreciation for this book as a solid contribution to the growing body of literature on Christian faith and economics.

J. PHILIP WOGAMAN

Wesley Theological Seminary
Washington, D. C.