The Gryphon's Lair

A belated hello...a busy life has kept me from fully participating in this forum so far, but happily I expect that to change.

"The Future of Globalization," an article by Christian ethicist Rebecca Todd Peters, presents a scathing critique of two ideological approaches to globalization: neo-liberalism and the development community and offers earthism and postcolonialism as two alternative approaches.

She's got my blood running faster than it has in a while, describing the ways in which "the current path of globalization can only succeed on the backs of a substantial constituency of low-skill, low-wage workers" (129). The paragraph that spoke most deeply to my desire to think and live faithfully follows; its assumption that justice is to be pursued by church communities reminds me of conversations I've had with people whose church communities expressly do not believe that:

The sins of overconsumption, indifference, and greed are so subtly woven into the fabric of our culture, and even our religion, that we often overlook or ignore them. These sins are manifested in both our individual and our communal behavior as families, communities, and nations. To the extent that our faith encourages us to focus on our intentional and overt sinful behavior at the expense of a deeper probing of the meaning of sin, we are encouraged to ignore what I believe to be the most egregious expression of sin for the globalized elite of our world. That sin is our unexamined participation in globalized systems of oppression that are killing life and destroying God's creation. Within the Christian context, it is important to name our complicity in economic globalization 'sin' because this naming holds a powerful force in our tradition. In calling Christian communities of faith to accountability, it is essential that church communities and their individual members begin to see themselves as morally responsible for participating in the transformation of globalization" (127, emphasis mine).