Inequality and Christian Ethics

This 2000 book provides a moral and empirical analysis of contemporary social and economic inequality.

Douglas A. Hicks (Author)

9780521787543, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 18 September 2000

310 pages
21.6 x 14 x 1.6 cm, 0.37 kg

'… wide-ranging and carefully argued … This book makes a valuable contribution to the debate.' The Heythrop Journal

Inequality and Christian Ethics, first published in 2000, provides a moral and empirical analysis of contemporary social and economic inequality. Drawing on Christian social ethics, political philosophy, and development economics, the book seeks to create an interdisciplinary conversation that illuminates not only the contemporary realities and trends of inequality, but their moral significance as well. It is necessary to examine and understand inequality in various forms - which the book maps out - including disparity in income, education, and health as well as differentials based on race, ethnicity, gender, and nationality. The book draws in particular on the theological ethics of Gustavo Gutiérrez and H. Richard Niebuhr to provide a Christian ethical approach to inequality and well-being. It considers the 'capability approach' set forth by Amartya Sen, Nobel laureate in economics. Sen's framework helps Christians and other persons to add specificity to what the commitment to 'equality before God' would demand in social and economic relations.

Part I. Contextualizing Inequality: 1. Introduction: inequality matters
2. Inequality of what?: interdisciplinary perspectives
3. International contexts of inequality
4. Inequalities in the United States
Part II. Constructing a Christian Ethical Approach: 5. Christian ethics and theology in a pluralistic society
6. Equality before God and the thought of H. Richard Niebuhr
7. Equality before God and the thought of Gustavo Gutiérrez
8. Solidarity, selfhood, and social goods
Part III. Transforming Discourse, Persons, and Societies: 9. Expanding public discourse on inequality
10. An application: inequalities and human development
11. Conclusion: implications for inequality and Christian ethics.

Subject Areas: Christian theology [HRCM]