Capital and the kingdom

Timothy Gorringe's experiences in grassroots organizations for social change in India and as scholar and chaplain at Oxford University infuse this eloquent exploration of social, biblical, and philosophical considerations of the nature and purpose of ethical discourse. Starting from the premise that ethics is a conversation whereby humanity chooses its common path, Capital and the Kingdom forcefully addresses the question of what constitutes an ethic "for life" in the post-Cold War era. Gorringe uses as a thematic framework the Deuteronomic admonition, "therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live," (Deut. 30:19). Capital and the Kingdom demonstrates that the ethic which "chooses life" encompasses a great deal more than any single issue the phrase may suggest. In Part I, Gorringe explores the biblical basis for this ethic as well as a range of questions it raises for the individual, for society, even for non-human creation. At the heart of this exploration is this question: can there be ethical consensus or a universal ground for ethics in an age of moral relativism? Part II of Capital and the Kingdom turns to particular structures on which an ethic of life may be brought to bear. These structures include the concept and organization of work, leisure and human fulfillment; the theory and practice of economics; the definition and expression of human equality. Part III builds on the foundations laid in the first two parts, addressing contemporary issues of particular concern to those concerned with an ethic of life: the persistence and pervasiveness of poverty, the moral void of contemporary management theory and practice, the inequality that necessitates resistance and solidarity, the idea of wages and equal pay, the concept of private versus community property, and finally, the destitution and fate of the earth.