Ecclesiological Investigations Series Editor Gerard Mannion Volume 6 Globalization and the Mission of the Church Other titles in the series: Receiving ‘The Nature and Mission of the Church’ Christian Community Now Comparative Ecclesiology: Critical Investigations Church and Religious ‘Other’ Ecumenical Ecclesiology Globalization and the Mission of the Church ECCLESIOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS Neil J. Ormerod Shane Clifton Published by T&T Clark A Continuum imprint The Tower Building, 11 York Road, London SE1 7NX 80 Maiden Lane, Suite 704, New York, NY 10038 www.continuumbooks.com All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Copyright # Neil J. Ormerod and Shane Clifton, 2009 Neil J. Ormerod and Shane Clifton have asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the Author of this work. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Typeset by Data Standards Limited, Frome, Somerset, UK Printed and bound in Great Britain by the MPG Books Group, Bodmin and King’s Lynn ISBN: 978–0–567–26183–0 Series Editor Gerard Mannion, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Series Editorial Committee Michael Attridge, St Michael’s College, Bradford Hinze, Fordham University, New University of Toronto York Paul Avis, Church House, Westminster, Paul Lakeland, Fairfield University, Editor of Ecclesiology Connecticut, USA Mark Chapman, Ripon Theological Mary McClintock Fulkerson, Duke College, Cuddesdon, Oxfordshire University, USA Paul Collins, University of Chichester Paul Murray, Durham University Peter De Mey, Katholieke Universiteit Gareth Powell, Cardiff University Leuven Anthony Reddie, Queen’s Foundation, Michael Fahey, Boston College, USA Birmingham, UK Fr K M George, Old St Joseph’s Seminary, Gemma Simmonds, Heythrop College, Kottayam, India University of London Kenneth Wilson, University of Chichester Series Editorial Advisory Board Michael Attridge, St Michael’s College, Mark Mason, University of Chichester University of Toronto Michael Montgomery, Chicago Paul Avis, Church House, Westminster Theological Seminary Mark Chapman, Ripon Theological Paul Murray, Durham University College, Cuddesdon, Oxfordshire Timothy Muldoon, Boston College, USA Julie Clague, Glasgow University John O’Brien, Lahore, Pakistan Paul Collins, University of Chichester Neil Ormerod, Australian Catholic Peter De Mey, Katholieke Universiteit University, Sydney Leuven Peter Phan, Georgetown University Michael Fahey, Boston College, USA Gareth Powell, Cardiff University Fr K M George, Old St Joseph’s Seminary, Paul Pulikkan, University of Calicut Kottayam, India Anthony Reddie, Queen’s Foundation, Janette Gray, Jesuit Theological College, Birmingham, UK Parkville, Victoria, Australia Henk de Roest, University of Leiden Roger Haight, Union Theological Gemma Simmonds, Heythrop College, Seminary, New York University of London Nicholas Healy, San Diego University, Jutta Sperber, Church of Peace, Bayreuth California and the University of Rostock, Germany Bradford Hinze, Fordham University, New Gesa Thiessen, Milltown Institute, Dublin York Ola Tjørhom, Stavanger, Norway Paul Lakeland, Fairfield University, Steven Shakespeare, Liverpool Hope Connecticut, USA University, UK Mohan Larbeer, Tamilnadu Theological Steve Summers, University of Chichester Seminary (TTS), Madurai, India Michael Walsh, Heythrop College, Richard Lennan, Western Jesuit London, UK Theological Institute, Boston MA, USA Kenneth Wilson, University of Chichester Gerard Mannion, Katholieke Universiteit Henk Witte, University of Tilburg Leuven Mary McClintock Fulkerson, Duke University, USA CONTENTS Preface viii 1 Globalization and the Churches 1 From monogenism to division to globalization 1 The globalization of Christianity 12 Notes 22 2 A Theology of History 26 Dialectics in history 26 The scale of values 28 Healing and creating in history 38 The scale of values and the mission of the Church 40 Chapter summary 44 Notes 44 3 Globalization and Vital Values 48 Part 1: Global poverty 48 Part 2: Globalization and the environment 65 Notes 72 4 Globalization and Social Values 76 Part 1: Globalization and the family 77 Part 2: Techno-economic globalization 91 Part 3: Globalization and governance 101 Chapter summary 116 Notes 116 5 Culture, Mission and Globalization 123 Culture as multilayered 126 Cultural dimension of globalization 128 Religion and global culture 138 Cultural globalization and the mission of the Church 140 Contents vii Chapter summary 142 Notes 142 6 Virtues in a Globalizing World 146 Globalization – a new moral context 146 A question of virtue 148 Global virtues: a challenge to all religion 161 Global virtues and the mission of the Church 163 Chapter summary 164 Notes 165 7 Religious Values 167 Ecclesiology and ecumenism 171 Inter-religious dialogue and friendship 177 The theological virtues 184 The power of religious values in the example of Pentecostalism 193 Chapter summary 196 Notes 196 Bibliography 200 Index 212 PREFACE ‘Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.’ (Matthew 13.52) Various social, political, economic and cultural commentators are presently arguing that human history is reaching a decisive stage in its development, a stage marked by increased interconnection between peoples, the compression of space and time, a sharing of ideas at unprecedented levels, global trade and finance, and so on. The shorthand word used to encompass these phenomena is ‘globalization’. Some embrace it, others reject it, while still others dispute its existence. But with the abundance of literature and debate that it generates, the topic cannot be ignored.1 Christianity cannot be an idle spectator in this debate. From its inception in the missionary mandate of Jesus (Matthew 28), Christianity has had a global dimension to its mission. It burst through the boundaries of Judaism, eventually to convert the Roman Empire. East and west it expanded its boundaries, sometimes with success, other times with resistance. When European nations became the major colonial powers of the world, Christianity strode the world stage with the colonizers, preaching the gospel and seeking to convert the ‘heathens’. Christianity continues to be implicated in our current global context with talk about a clash of civilizations, or concern about a new ‘crusade’ against Muslim nations. Christianity is not a spectator to globalization but one of its agents, one of the forces at work which have extended interconnection between peoples, shared ideas and promoted social, political and cultural links. Some have even ‘credited’ Christianity with the rise of capitalism in the West. And so we come to the concern of this present work. How should the Christian churches conceive of their mission within the context of a globalizing world? There are multiple responses to our current context that can be identified in theological literature focusing on the plight of the poor, the destruction of the environment, or alterative scenarios which think the churches have nothing specific to add to questions of a political or economic nature, or worse still that the world is doomed anyway so why bother? The Preface ix purpose of the present work is not to provide a complete response to the question of the mission of the Church in a globalizing world, but to establish a framework within which answers may be sought. The usefulness of the framework is illustrated by the light it sheds on the question of globalization and the Church’s mission. An initial illustration of the framework was provided in an essay by one of the authors.2 The present work expands that initial essay into a fuller study. The basis for the framework is to be found in the writings of Bernard Lonergan and Robert Doran who extends Lonergan’s approach and can be found in Chapter 2 of the present work. We do not attempt to justify the framework, merely to illustrate its profound usefulness. The interested reader can turn to the writings of Lonergan and Doran if they seek further justification. Given the more technical nature of that chapter, we would suggest that if a reader is having difficulty with it, move on to Chapter 3 and take up the account from there. In order to expand the original essay it was necessary for both authors to go beyond their normal comfort zone and read in disciplines such as economics, politics and cultural theory, which are not the usual stuff of theology. We do not claim particular expertise in these areas, but the logic of the work demanded that we engage with relevant literature on such topics. We could not hope to be comprehensive in our coverage and of necessity our sources are limited, but nonetheless we hope our discussions and insights are helpful. In such areas in particular we are not seeking to provide definitive answers, but simply to open them up for further conversation. The overall aim is to demonstrate how the framework illuminates the issues and their various interrelationships. If we succeed in this then we shall be satisfied. We should add a word about the partnership this book represents. Catholicism and Pentecostalism might not seem the most natural of partners for a work on the mission of the Church. Neil and Shane first became acquainted when Neil was appointed mentor for Shane’s theological college (Southern Cross College, Sydney) in its entry into the Sydney College of Divinity. Later Neil was involved in the supervision of Shane’s doctoral thesis. Despite their ecclesial differences the relationship grew to one of mutual respect, both as persons of faith and as academics. This present work offered us both the opportunity to collaborate on a work which we both felt would make a significant contribution to the topic. However, in initiating the project the conviction grew in us both that Catholicism and Pentecostalism were natural partners for a project on globalization and the mission of the Church.