About this item
In Christ and the Common Life Luke Bretherton provides an introduction to historical and contemporary theological reflection on politics and opens up a compelling vision for a Christian commitment to democracy. In dialogue with Scripture and various traditions, Bretherton examines the dynamic relationship between who we are in relation to God and who we are as moral and political animals. He addresses fundamental political questions about poverty and injustice, forming a common life with strangers, and constructively transforming asymmetries of power. And through his analysis of debates concerning, among other things, race, class, economics, the environment, and interfaith relations, he develops an innovative political theology of democracy as a way through which Christians can speak and act faithfully within our current context.
About the Author
Luke Bretherton was born and grew up in London. His experience working with a variety of faith-based NGOs, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe, and involvement in political initiatives raised questions that led him to become an academic. He is currently Professor of Theological Ethics and a Senior Fellow of the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University. Before joining Duke, he taught at King's College London, where he was Reader in Theology & Politics and Convener of the Faith & Public Policy Forum. Author of a number of books and numerous academic articles, he also writes in the media (including The Guardian, The Times, The Washington Post, and ABC Religion and Ethics) on topics related to faith and politics.His first book, Hospitality as Holiness: Christian Witness Amid Moral Diversity (Routledge/Ashgate, 2006) , explores the theological responses to moral diversity in critical dialogue with Alasdair MacIntyre's moral philosophy. It develops a constructive, theological response to the issues identified via the motif of "hospitality" and uses euthanasia and the hospice movement as a case study through which to examine the implications of this response. The second book, Christianity & Contemporary Politics: The Conditions and Possibilities of Faithful Witness (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010) , which won the 2013 Michael Ramsey Prize for Theological Writing, analyzes the church's involvement in social welfare provision, community organizing, the treatment of refugees, and fair trade in order to develop an inductive account of what just and loving forms of social and political engagement entail. The third book, Resurrecting Democracy: Faith, Citizenship and the Politics of a Common Life (Cambridge University Press, 2015) , grew out of a four-year ethnographic study of a multifaith community organizing initiative. It assesses the intersections between Christianity, radical democracy, globalization, secularity, responses to poverty, and patterns of interfaith relations. His latest book, Christ and the Common Life: Political Theology and the Case for Democracy (Eerdmans, 2019) provides an introduction to the history of and contemporary reflection on the relationship between Christianity and politics. And through addressing questions about poverty and injustice, forming a common life with strangers, and handling power, it develops an innovative political theology of democracy.
