Willis Jenkins

This is a deeply admirable a book. It is marked by an irenic and open-hearted breadth of vision which is quietly hopeful even in the face of questions which lead many of us to a kind of moral paralysis and exasperation, if not despair. More than simply a meditation on the implications for moral communities of questions about 'sustainability', this is, in some ways, a renegotiation of the very basis of moral reflection, partly within communities of faith (specifically Christian ones), but - more importantly - between faith communities and our neighbours and conversation partners from other traditions or disciplines of expertise. It models how we can listen to multiple voices with an ear for common ground in spite of the discord which we think we hear at first; and there are few people whom Willis Jenkins wishes to exclude - although casino-style marketeers and John Milbank do test his will.
How shall we weigh up the differing (and sometimes conflicting) claims of sustainability and social justice - between the wellbeing of 'the earth' and the wellbeing of 'the poor'? How shall we weigh up the differing claims of ecological models and economic models of what it means to be 'sustainable' in the first place? What about the fraught relations between ethics (and specifically religious ethics) and 'science'? In a world, or worlds, in which enormous pressures exist on us to be polarized against each other, and to retreat into the security and comfort of our own private integrities, Willis Jenkins wants us to be open to plurality and dissonance and to the possibility of learning something useful and new even from people about whose integrity we are sceptical. He does not mind that we do not share identical presuppositions; he does not mind that definitions (and our motives) are slippery; he does not mind that most of what we say - and in relation to the emergence of ecological crisis this is as true of scientific knowledge every bit as much as it is true of religious belief - is self-evidently provisional. Or, if he minds these things, he does not let that obstruct his clear-sighted description of the way in which these things are so. Let us rather live in the real world, and learn what we can about responsible practice, and about the nurture of habits of mercy, simplicity, and of justice and kindness. In this sense it is a book, very explicitly, of 'anti-theory': it is about the pragmatic and adaptable nurture of patterns of habit and reflection which have the most chance of helping us face what already manifests itself as unrecoverable climate change, and which might help us live with the uncertainties of what this requires of us if we are to hand over to our children and to 'the future' a world of which they, too, might be able to make moral sense.
In terms of religious or 'cosmological' frameworks for interpreting ourselves in this phase of Mother Earth's life (and Willis Jenkins thinks that it would be constructive for rich and learned white men to learn particularly from women and people of other ethnicities for whom the image of Mother Earth might seem more obvious: the discussion of this kind of imagery reminded me particularly of Gloria Schaab's description of God as 'midwife'), this means, specifically, a shift of emphasis from a theology of 'dominion' over the earth to one of 'stewardship' within it. This example neatly encapsulates the way in which Willis Jenkins sees religious tradition itself as something which is intrinsically adaptable: and it is his plea, in effect, that rather than trying to draw up grand schemes by which we will determine the best way to 'solve the problem', we will, rather, learn more modestly, more humbly, to look within our existing cultures for what we can adapt towards better rather than worse outcomes in a context which by its very nature is uncertain, unmeasurable, and in a constant state of change.
It is not a surprise that among his heroes are some of the base communities in Latin America, meditating on the intersection between real-life economics and study of the Bible. It is no surprise that he sees 'plutocratic capitalism' and a fossil-fuel based pattern of life as things which are properly described as 'idols', fed insatiably by the 'sacrifice' of our own wellbeing and especially that of our children and of the future. What might help us identify and understand this state of affairs more effectively? What might inculcate within us a stance of moral responsibility and 'repentance'? Is it reasonable for us even to hope for the mercy and forgiveness of future generations in response to the spoiled planet which appears to be the inheritance which we will leave them?
This is a sober, and sobering, book - but it is not gloomy: it is not hectoring; and in his discussion of the options which might be open to us, Willis Jenkins is realistic and humane. In the face of all its questions, the book has the mood not of exhortation, but of invitation; and the final reflections on a kind of ascetic and liturgical discipline of hospitality towards the poor as we join with all of the creatures and ecosystems of the earth in a song of jubilation to God seem to me to reflect quite closely the themes of Pope Francis' new Encyclical, 'Laudato Si'. I commend this book, and the grace and clarity with which it is written and entrusted to us; and although it is formidable, I am enormously grateful for it, moved and encouraged that my own small gestures of poverty and simplicity are not in vain.

[Gloria Schaab's book, 'The Creative Suffering of the Triune God: An Evolutionary Theology' is published by OUP, 2010, ISBN 9780199792245. In it she explores the way in which, in and through a panentheistic sense of the world, we might constructively think of God who shares in our 'suffering' and in that of the Creation and its 'birth-pangs'; and some of the images which she uses to describe our relationship with the earth as interpreters, lovers, trustees, and 'co-explorers with God' complement Willis Jenkins' own book - and not only its obviously womanist sections.]… (plus d'informations)

Contents: Notes on appropriation and reciprocity : prompts from Bonhoeffer and King's communitarian ethic / Emilie M. Townes -- King and Bonhoeffer as Protestant saints : the use and misuse of contested legacies / Stephen R. Haynes -- Bonhoeffer, King, and feminism : problems and possibilities / Rachel Muers -- Political order, political violence, and ethical limits / Jean Bethke Elshtain -- Life worthy of life : the social ecologies of Bonhoeffer and King / Larry L. Rasmussen -- Theology and the problem of racism / Josiah U. Young III -- Bonhoeffer, King, and themes in Catholic social thought / M. Shawn Copeland -- Church, world, and Christian charity / Timothy P. Jackson -- The cross and its victims : Bonhoeffer, King, and martyrdom / Craig J. Slane -- Bonhoeffer on the road to King : "Turning from the phraseological to the real" / Charles Marsh -- Interpreting pastors as activists / Richard W. Wills Sr. -- Preaching and prophetic witness / Raphael Gamaliel Warnock -- Embodying redemption : King and the engagement of social sin / Stephen G. Ray Jr. -- Culture in Bonhoeffer and King : Deweyan naturalism in action / Andre C. Willis -- Peacemaking / Glen H. Stassen -- Spiritualities of justice, peace, and freedom for the oppressed / Geffrey B. Kelly -- Overhearing resonances : Jesus and ethics in King and Bonhoeffer / Gary M. Simpson -- Reconciliation as worshiping community / Michael Battle -- Conclusion : Christian social ethics after Bonhoeffer and King / Willis Jenkins… (plus d'informations)