Christian Political Economic Ethics, Latino/A Religiosity, and Postcoloniality
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University of Denver Digital Commons @ DU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies 1-1-2011 Decolonizing Moral Visions: Christian Political Economic Ethics, Latino/a Religiosity, and Postcoloniality Rodolfo J. Hernandez-Diaz University of Denver Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd Part of the Latina/o Studies Commons Recommended Citation Hernandez-Diaz, Rodolfo J., "Decolonizing Moral Visions: Christian Political Economic Ethics, Latino/a Religiosity, and Postcoloniality" (2011). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 824. https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/824 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies at Digital Commons @ DU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ DU. For more information, please contact [email protected],[email protected]. DECOLONIZING MORAL VISIONS: CHRISTIAN POLITICAL ECONOMIC ETHICS, LATINO/A RELIGIOSITY, AND POSTCOLONIALITY A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the University of Denver and the Iliff School of Theology Joint PhD Program University of Denver In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy by Rodolfo J. Hernández-Díaz November 2011 Advisor: Miguel A. De La Torre © Copyright by Rodolfo J. Hernández-Díaz 2011 All Rights Reserved Author: Rodolfo J. Hernández-Díaz Title: DECOLONIZING MORAL VISIONS: CHRISTIAN POLITICAL ECONOMIC ETHICS, LATINO/A RELIGIOSITY, AND POSTCOLONIALITY Advisor: Miguel A. De La Torre Degree Date: November 2011 ABSTRACT This dissertation examines moral visions of the political economy of mainstream Christian social ethics through a liberationist and postcolonial analysis of the work of three leading political economic ethicists, Daniel Finn, Max Stackhouse, and Philip Wogaman. Constrained by their subject position within modernity/coloniality and a commitment to a neoclassical understanding of the political economy, mainstream Christian ethicists have stopped short of condemning the inextricable complicity of the capitalist political economy to colonialism and its racist, patriarchal, and oppressive power relations. This dissertation argues that the moral visions of mainstream Christian social ethicists must be decolonized and points to Latina/o thinking and heterodox economic thought as two starting points for such a decolonization of the moral imaginary. The project makes contributions to both Christian social ethics and Latina/o religious cultural studies. It contributes to Christian social ethics by examining the underlying commitment to neoclassical economic thought of mainstream Christian social ethics, deploying postcolonial hermeneutics to construct ethical frameworks that move beyond collusion with colonialism and complicity with empire, and offering a more careful analysis of political economy than is generally found within the liberationist strand of Christian social ethics. In applying the insights of Latina/o thinking to political economic ethics, it contributes to Latina/o religious cultural studies by moving beyond the stagnated discussions of identity politics, self- determination, and minority rights. It also contributes to the field by empowering Latina/o ii religious cultural scholars to engage in non-capitalist economic theorizing by providing new analytical tools to combat the hegemonic conceptualization of capitalism as co-terminus with the political economy. Mainstream Christian moral visions of the political economy must be decolonized to remain Christian and moral. Christian social ethics must draw on economic analyses that acknowledge the exploitative record of capitalism and its inextricable complicity with the modern/colonial complex. It must also avoid the hegemonic suppression of subjugated knowledges by theorizing from multiple places at once, taking on a subaltern perspective in addition to its unavoidably modern/colonial perspective. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author would like to express his sincere thanks to the members of his committee, Miguel A. De La Torre, George DeMartino, and Luís D. León, for their invaluable guidance, which has made this project stronger than it otherwise would have been. Many others helped in the completion of this dissertation. In particular, the author would like to thank Aaron Conley, Ben Sanders III, Heike Peckruhn, and rest of the Ethics Doctoral Seminar Group in the Joint Doctoral Program (JDP) for reading previous drafts, even the less coherent ones. The author would also like to thank Maegan Daigle, Sarah Fleming, J. P. Richardson, and Sara Swenson, whose proficient and generous editing towards the end of the project greatly improved the readability of the manuscript. A special thanks also to Eu Kit Lim and J. J. Ivaska for their encouragement, support, and for pushing the author to think more clearly Finally, and importantly, the author whishes to express his love and gratitude to Rachel Y. Lei for her generosity and patience during the long months of drafting and revising and for helping to sharpen the ideas and improve the arguments contained herein by listening and responding with wit, wisdom, and grace. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction: Situating Myself ......................................................................................................... 1 Growing up in Miami, Cuba ................................................................................................ 2 An Education in Economics ................................................................................................. 3 A Fuller Gospel: Christian Social Ethics of Corporate Life ................................................... 5 Working with Workers at CLUE .......................................................................................... 6 Theology and Economics Reexamined: Postcolonialism and Economic Heterodoxy ......... 7 Chapter 1: Christian Political Economic Ethics From a Latina/o and Postcolonial Perspective ..... 10 Defining the Topic: The Problem, Research Questions, and Thesis ................................. 10 Theoretical and Methodological Concerns ....................................................................... 15 The Social Embeddedness of Ethical Systems and the Moral Imagination ......... 15 Core Theoretical Concepts ................................................................................................ 17 Decolonizing ......................................................................................................... 17 Moral Visions ....................................................................................................... 20 Political Economy ................................................................................................. 22 Nature and Scope of the Project....................................................................................... 27 Outline of the Dissertation ............................................................................................... 28 Chapter 2: Mainstream Christian Ethics of the Political Economy ................................................ 31 Envisioning a Moral Political Economy ............................................................................. 31 Finn’s Trade and Free Markets, Correctly Understood .................................................... 34 Stackhouse’s Metaphysical-Moral System ....................................................................... 46 Wogaman Democratization as Social Ethic ...................................................................... 56 Concluding Assessment .................................................................................................... 76 Chapter 3: Implications of Latina/o Thinking for Christian Ethics of the Political Economy ......... 80 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 80 First Movement: Social Location and the Moral Imagination .......................................... 86 Linking Social Location and Moral Imagination ................................................... 86 Privilege, Oppression, and the Moral Imagination .............................................. 91 Niebuhrian Realism as Limitation ........................................................................ 95 Second Movement: Parameters of Latina/o Thinking ...................................................... 97 ¿Existe un Pensamiento Latino/a? ....................................................................... 97 Praxis and Lived Experience ................................................................................. 99 A Non-Essentialized Approach: A Lesson from Latina/o Identity Debates ........ 100 The Postmodern Case for Latina/o Thinking ..................................................... 102 Third Movement: Thinking Beyond Identity Politics ...................................................... 104 Noninnocent Reading of History ........................................................................ 105 The European “I” and Latina/o Thinking............................................................ 106 Latina/o Thinking’s Postexilic Moments ............................................................ 108 Fourth Movement: Decolonizing Praxis and Lived Experience....................................... 114 Brief Genealogy of Praxis ................................................................................... 114