Globalization, Spirituality, and Justice: Navigating the Path to Peace (review)

Teaching Review¹

With the weight of global inequality and poverty pressing in upon human beings and the environment, words of hope motivate many toward life-practices that provide sustenance and thriving for all. Daniel G. Groody calls forth such hope with his map of a journey toward social and economic justice in a global village. He does so by examining a span of theological sub-disciplines as sources of reflection to address the impact Christianity can have on globalization; in turn, he also discusses the influence of globalization on the evolution of Christian theological thinking.

In the first chapter, Groody begins by outlining the stark reality of world economic disparity, setting the stage for assessment of "inner space," the human heart, as the place where conversion must occur for the world to change (10). Forces acting on the human heart determine how humanity shapes society and likewise, forces acting on society influence the state of the human heart (11). Groody claims that theological reflection about the injustices of globalized poverty must start with the human heart's deepening understanding of communion as right-relationship among all people. He names the theological imperative for Christian reflection: justice, both internal and external. Internal justice is God's work within us, external justice is our response to God's grace. Reordering the hearts of people toward a justice-orientation manifests itself as making visible the heart of God.

The subsequent eight chapters align around Groody's purpose, developing an epistemological and hermeneutical shift in our spiritual and theological work toward full justice on a globalizing planet. His survey of biblical and historical narratives sets the stage for a "pass-over" from life-defining narratives based on empire and idolatry to the life-defining narrative of gospel, service to the poor and the discarded (Chapters Two and Three). Further, attention to Catholic social teaching as well as to world religions taking their places in the new world order bestow upon global citizens the heart to develop a common global ethic that shows solidarity with the poor. According to Groody, the concern for a just world has potential to provide a unifying principle around which world religions gather as a diverse group of faith-bearers at common table (Chapters Four and Five). Groody reinforces the hermeneutic of justice-seeking hearts by turning to five modern "icons of justice" in Chapter Six. At this point in the book, he describes how persons of faith such as Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Dorothy Day, Mother Teresa, and Oscar Romero, to name a few, lived the ideals of justice and mercy daily, even if such an incarnation of justice hastened some of their deaths. These "icons" still exhibit for us an option of sacrificial living, which embodies acts of mercy and changes systems of explicit or implicit discrimination perpetuating the existence of subaltern groups. Many of the iconic life-stories lead us forward to the next chapter, where a variety of liberative theologies help us reread the central categories of faith from the perspective of the poor or marginalized (189). Orthopraxis, putting into practice the perceived will of God, provides functional methods by which Christians aim to become instrumental in the transformation of present and future through the liberation of the poor and the oppressed. According to Groody's reading of liberation theologians, Christians cannot claim Christianity without commitment to the poor, or more accurately, honoring and working toward a "preferential option for the poor" (194).

Groody's theological reflection continues in Chapter Eight as he narrows his discussion from liberation theology as a focused method of orthopraxis to a specific act of orthopraxis, the Eucharist. This practice provides space where difference and division become reconciled for a time in the midst of celebration of right relationships with each other and with God. This relational connection at table erases privilege, celebrates community, and calls Christians to participate in God's transformative work in the world...