CHARITY, HOMELESSNESS, AND THE DOCTRINE OF CREATION A thesis submitted to the University of Manchester for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Humanities 2016 CHARLES S. C. PEMBERTON SCHOOL OF ARTS, LANGUAGES AND CULTURES 2 Contents Page Chapter One: Introduction……………………………………………………….……...10 A Brief Introduction to Political Theology…………………………………………...…...10 Homelessness, Charity, and Theology: The State of the Art…...………………….….......18 „Charity‟…………………………………………………………………………………...20 „Homelessness‟…………………………………………………………………………….24 Placing this Thesis…………………………………………………………………………27 A Working Definition of Neoliberalism……………………………………….………..…33 The Duality of Charity……………………………………………….…...……….…….....36 Structure of the Thesis……………………………………………………………....……..38 PART ONE………………………………………………………………………………..39 Chapter Two: Gutiérrez, Charity and Creation………………………………….……39 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………..39 Method and Creation: Exodus, Church Tradition, Praxis, Experience ………..........……41 Creation and Liberation in Three Parts: Order, Personhood, Charity…………...….….....53 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………….......60 Chapter Three: Liberation Theology and Civil Society…………………………….…62 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………..62 What is Civil Society? ………………………………………………………..............…...63 Liberation Theology‟s Civil Turn…………………………………………………………71 Whose Theology, Which Politics? ……………………………………………………..…82 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………83 Chapter Four: Milbank and Civil Society……………………………………….....…..86 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………….….86 3 A Problem both Discursive and Practical………………………………………….....…...89 Towards Participation – Univocal and Analogical Charity…………………………..……95 Tragic State…………………………………………………………………….……...….102 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………..……103 Chapter Five: Milbank’s Doctrine of Creation…………………………….…………105 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………105 Creation………………………………………………………………………………..…107 Order: Ecclesiology…………………………………………………………....…………109 Intermediary Institutions…………………………………………………………………112 Personhood.........................…………………………………………………………....…115 Interpersonal: Gift……………………………………………………………………..…119 Surin on Analogical Ontology……………………………………………………………122 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………..…124 Conclusion to Part One…………………………………………………………………126 PART TWO……………………………………………………………………………..129 Chapter Six: Discourse, Hegemony, and Antagonism; On Theological Methodology...129 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………129 Hegemony…………………………………………………………………………......…132 British Neoliberal Discourse………………………………………………………..……135 Discourse, Metaphor, Theology………………………………………………………….139 God the Master Signifier……………………………………………………………....…141 Spiral……………………………………………………………………....…….....….…146 Conclusion………………………………………………………….……………...……..148 Chapter Seven: Duality of Charity……………………………………………...….....151 Introduction…………………………………………………………………….………..151 4 From Civil Society to the State……………………………………………..………....…152 Transformation, Social Exclusion and Neoliberal Volunteering……………..……......…161 Charity and Selfless Service, on the Interpersonal………………………………...….….167 Conclusion. …………………………………………………………………………...….174 Chapter Eight: Creation and Charity………………………………….………...……177 Introduction……………………………………………………………………...………177 Ex Nihilo Order……………………………………………………………………..……179 Imago Dei Personhood………………………………………………………...….…..…186 Giving, Receiving, and Forgiving………………………………………………………..193 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………….....…195 Chapter Nine: Conclusion………..………………………………………………….…197 Reviewing Integral Liberation ………………………………………………….….……199 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………….205 Word Count: 79,990 5 Abstract This thesis explores Gustavo Gutiérrez‟s and John Milbank‟s articulations of the doctrine of creation, with a view to developing a criterion that can be used to inform our understanding and evaluation of Christian charities that address homelessness and operate in contemporary British civil society. Milbank and Gutiérrez‟s works both ask questions of the peace or life that can be instituted through charitable practices. They also develop, from the doctrine of creation, their own theological accounts of social and political orders, normative anthropologies, and accounts of the interpersonal. For both Milbank and Gutiérrez, the doctrine of creation maintains a paradox: the internality and externality of the created world in relation to God. Part One of this thesis explores these respective accounts of charity and creation, noting the strengths and limitations of each position. Part One ends with a qualified endorsement of Gutiérrez‟s theology and defends the utility of the criterion he deploys in his work to judge the task of theology and praxis of the church: integral liberation. The second part of this thesis progresses in three steps. First, I put forward a theological methodology which is attentive to the logic of theo-political language and our current neoliberal socio-political order. I argue that it is prudent to think of political theology as a counter-hegemonic discourse, and in dialogue with Ernesto Laclau and Chantel Mouffe, Francis Schüssler Fiorenza and Gutiérrez, I explore and endorse political theology as spiral in character. I go on to extend Laclau and Mouffe‟s analysis of neoliberalism by developing and defending the hypothesis: „charities are dual‟. By engaging with the work of Frank Prochaska, this section argues that charities are both religious and political, as well as being both internal and external to the state apparatus. Furthermore, I contend that charities constitute and ameliorate the social exclusion attributed to homelessness, and that selfless giving, under the current circumstances, is internal to a process of volunteer self-making. By attending to the dualities of homelessness charities, this part of the thesis sets charities in their current context and proposes an elective affinity between current charitable practices and the hegemony of neoliberalism. At the end of the thesis, I return to the doctrine of creation and ask how attention to this doctrinal locus can help us to move homelessness charities beyond their dependence on the existence of homeless people, and their embeddedness in our current neoliberal arrangement. I argue that charities, and civil society more broadly, have an important role to play in envisioning and establishing a theo-politics of common life. To do so, I contend that we need to articulate a robust account of the role of the state, must defend human rights, nurture egalitarian and non-hierarchical charitable practices, be attentive to what the homeless can teach charities and volunteers about our current order, and reform aspects of charitable law. In each of these cases, I defend a paradoxical politics of integral liberation. In summary, this thesis aims to make an original contribution to the growing body of literature that explores homelessness and theology by coordinating the paradox of creation, the duality of charity, and the double truths of neoliberalism. 6 Declaration No portion of the work referred to in the thesis has been submitted in support of an application for another degree or qualification of this or any other university or other institute of learning. 7 Copyright Statement i. The author of this thesis (including any appendices and/or schedules to this thesis) owns certain copyright or related rights in it (the “Copyright”) and he has given The University of Manchester certain rights to use such Copyright, including for administrative purposes. ii. Copies of this thesis, either in full or in extracts and whether in hard or electronic copy, may be made only in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as amended) and regulations issued under it or, where appropriate, in accordance with licensing agreements which the University has from time to time. This page must form part of any such copies made. iii. The ownership of certain Copyright, patents, designs, trade marks and other intellectual property (the “Intellectual Property”) and any reproductions of copyright works in the thesis, for example graphs and tables (“Reproductions”), which may be described in this thesis, may not be owned by the author and may be owned by third parties. Such Intellectual Property and Reproductions cannot and must not be made available for use without the prior written permission of the owner(s) of the relevant Intellectual Property and/or Reproductions. iv. Further information on the conditions under which disclosure, publication and commercialisation of this thesis, the Copyright and any Intellectual Property and/or Reproductions described in it may take place is available in the University IP Policy (see http://documents.manchester.ac.uk/DocuInfo.aspx?DocID=487), in any relevant Thesis restriction declarations deposited in the University Library, The University Library‟s regulations (see http://www.manchester.ac.uk/library/aboutus/regulations) and in The University‟s policy on Presentation of Theses. 8 Acknowledgements My thanks must first go to the Lincoln Theological Institute, particularly to its director, Professor Peter Scott. This thesis is the direct the result of their generous contributions, namely: the Mark Gibbs and Henry Lucas awards for doctoral research, which I was fortunate to win at the beginning of the 2011 academic year. Secondly, to all those others at the University of Manchester, who, over the course of six years, have listened to me mope and put up