Reconstructing the Common Good - Paperback

by Gary J. Dorrien (Author)

This landmark study in the history and theory of modern Christian socialism examines the work of such major figures as Rauschenbusch, Tillich, Moltmann, Gutierrez, and Miguez Bonino. Dorrien argues that these theologians provide a singular context for addressing questions of freedom and totalitarianism, sacralization and democratization, individual autonomy and the common good. He focuses on the differing conceptions of the common good that these major theorists have propounded, and explicates as well their theological arguments on the relationship between the Kingdom of God and projects of historical praxis. With a new Preface addressing the tumultuous events in Eastern Europe, Reconstructing the Common Good develops and sustains a forceful argument for the continuing relevance of a decentralized, pluralistic, democratic form of socialism.

Author Biography

Gary J. Dorrien is the Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Social Ethics at Union Theological Seminary and Professor of Religion at Columbia University. An Episcopal priest, he was previously the Parfet Distinguished Professor at Kalamazoo College, where he taught for eighteen years and also served as Dean of Stetson Chapel. He is also the author of Logic and Consciousness and The Democratic Socialist Vision.