Ian S. Markham 
A Theology of Engagement [PDF ebook] 

This ground-breaking book challenges readers to rethink the divide between liberal and orthodox approaches which characterises Christianity today.

* Provides an alternative to the liberal / orthodox divide in contemporary Christianity.

* Defends Christianity’s engagement with non-Christian traditions.

* Includes important discussion of theological method.

* Illustrated with case studies involving human rights, interfaith tolerance, economics, and ethics.

Table of Content

Acknowledgments viii

Introduction 1

1 Engagement: What it is and Why it Matters 7

2 Augustine’s Theological Methodology 30

3 Assimilation, Resistance, and Overhearing 48

4 Assimilation: Engagement with Human Rights 62

5 Resistance: The Heresy of State Sovereignty and the Religious Imperative for Intervention to Defend
Human Rights 71

6 Assimilation: The Importance of the Black and Feminist Perspectives 86

7 Overhearing: Clash of Discourses – Secular in the West Against the Secular in India 109

8 Overhearing: Thinking about Hinduism, Inclusivity, and Toleration 123

9 Assimilation: Christianity and the Consensus around Capitalism 138

10 Assimilation and Overhearing: Rethinking Globalization – Bediuzzaman Said Nursi’s Risale-I Nur, Hardt, and Negri 147

11 Keith Ward: An Engaged Theologian 159

12 Engaging with the Pope: Engagement yet Not Engagement 168

13 The Shape of an Engaged Theology 191

Conclusion 208

Notes 210

References 235

Index 245

About the author

Ian S. Markham is Dean of Hartford Seminary, Connecticut and Professor of Theology and Ethics. He is the author of numerous books, including Plurality and Christian Ethics (1994) and Truth and the Reality of God (1999). For Blackwell Publishing he has edited A World Religions Reader (second edition, 1999) and Encountering Religion (2000). He is the editor of Conversations in Religion and Theology.