Spanning the continents, three internationally respected theologians demonstrate how the thought and legacy of Martin Luther can serve in an ecumenical and interfaith context as a resource for a radical critique of global economics and culture. Lutheran Christianity originated in its own era of economic and cultural crisis. One of the great misinterpretations of Martin Luther has considered his heritage as fundamentally reactionary, seeking to preserve the political status quo. Instead, set free by the biblical message of liberation, this book wields Luther's theology to engage the reality of poverty, hunger, oppression, and ecological degradation caused by an imperial capitalism as the most urgent theological issues in the contemporary world. The volume demonstrates the liberating possibilities of theology done out of a biblical and Lutheran perspective for the economic and cultural crises facing the church in the present century.

In this volume, an attempt is undertaken to highlight the genesis, progress, and transformation of the Asian contextual theology of minjung, introducing its historical point of departure, its development, and its transformation in light of younger Korean and Korean American scholars' endeavors. In this regard, the new Asian contextual theology, which is emerging, strives to integrate both minjung and the wisdom of World Religions into its own framework and direction, assuming the character of a public theology and remaining humble and open before God's mystery, while featuring its association with minjung in a holistic way.

"War and Social Welfare: Reconstruction after Conflict" addresses the issues of rebuilding social assistance and pension programs in the wake of war. Arguing that post-conflict reconstruction missions need to pay greater attention to comprehensive social policy formation, the book makes normative and functional claims that social welfare programs articulate the core aspects of citizenship. "War and Social Welfare "uses the case of Kosovo to examine the interaction of international and local political actors in their efforts to rebuild social assistance and pension programs after the 1999 NATO airstrikes. Based extensive field research, as well as the author's experience as a humanitarian field officer in Kosovo in 1999 and 2000, "War and Social Welfare "looks closely at the design and implementation of social policy at both the national and local level.

This book presents a heuristic and critical study of comparative theology in engagement with phenomenological methodology and sociological inquiry. It elucidates a postcolonial study of religion in the context of multiple modernities.

This book deals with the aftermath of the enlightenment and its legacy in the political, social, and racial context. It discusses the incomplete project of modernity in terms of social contract theory, racial justice issues, and political theology in the postcolonial context. Hermeneutical realism and cultural linguistic inquiry become substantial features in elaborating postcolonial political theology and its ethical stance against the colonization of lifeworld and its pathologies. A study of critical theory and political theology is of a reconstructive character in seeking to relocate critical theory and political ethics in the context of alternative modernities at the level of postcolonial theory.

Postcolonial Public Theology is a tour de force, a study in theological reflection in conversation with the most compelling intellectual discourses of our time that offers prophetic challenge to the hegemony of economic globalisation. While evolutionary science searches for an ethically responsible practice of rationality, and inter-religious engagement forces Christians to grapple with the realities of cultural hybridity, Postcolonial Public Theology makes the case for public theology to turn toward postcolonial imagination, demonstrating a fresh rethinking of the public and global issues that continue to emerge in the aftermath of colonialism. Paul S. Chung provides students and scholars with a fascinating framework for imagining a polycentric Christianity as well as for discussing the continuing importance of Christian theology in the public arena.

In his creative and original book, Paul S. Chung interprets Karl Barth as a theologian of divine action. Chung appreciates Barth s dogmatic theology as both contextual and irregular, and he retrieves neglected aspects of Barth s thought. The book clarifies Barth s early interest in social and political thought. It also explores the political dimension in his later dogmatic writings, particularly in relation to his theology of Israel and issues of theologia naturalis and religious pluralism. Barth s theology can only properly be understood through his social commitment, and Chung, drawing together German and Anglo-Saxon theology shows how Barth s political ideas relate to his theology. Chung portrays Karl Barth as a radical theologian with a convincing aptitude. I personally appreciate the kinship this independent reading has with my own footsteps, identifying Barth as a resisting theologian.

Magisterial in scope and scrupulous in its investigation and attribution of sources, "Church and Ethical Responsibility in the Midst of World Economy" is a detailed examination of the history of capitalism, its defenders and its critics, with the aim of developing a theological critique of both the material and spiritual failures of the modern global economy. Professor Chung traces the development of capitalism from the sixteenth century onwards, how it shaped and was shaped in turn by European colonialism and Enlightment ideas of the Social Contract. He examines the strengths and weaknesses of the Marxist critique of industrial capitalism, and analyses the rise of globalism as a form of economic imperialism underpinned by the ideology of neoliberalism. Although Chung acknowledges the role played by the Christian churches in promoting and defending the capitalist ethos, he points to the existence of theologically-grounded alternative visions of a fairer, more responsible world economy, and defends the view that the promotion of economic justice is a key part of the prophetic ministry of the Church. "Church and Ethical Responsibility in the Midst of World Economy" will take its place as an important document in the ongoing ecumenical debate over economic justice, challenging those who are comfortably complacent about our global economic system and unwilling to be disturbed. Paul S. Chung is Associate Professor at Luther Seminary, St Paul, Minnesota. His books related to a prophetic theology of God's mission, transcultural hermeneutics, and justice in the public sphere include "The Cave and the Butterfly" (2010) and "The Hermeneutical Self and an Ethical Difference" (published by James Clarke & Co, 2013), among others. "Chung creatively constructs a usable theological tradition to challenge the assumption of the economic status quo as our inevitable future, integrating inter-religious and cross-disciplinary resources in the struggle. How can the ecumenical church serve as leaven for imagining and implementing alternatives to global business as usual?" Craig L. Nessan, Academic Dean and Professor of Contextual Theology, Wartburg Theological Seminary.

'Martin Luther and Buddhism: Aesthetics of Suffering' carefully traces the historical and theological context of Luther's breakthrough in terms of articulating justi?cation and justice in connection to the Word of God and divine suffering. Chung critically and constructively engages in dialogue with Luther, and with later interpreters of Luther such as Barth and Moltmann, placing the Reformer in dialogue not only with Asian spirituality and religions but also with an emerging global theology of religions. "After reading, I decided to recommend all students and anyone interested in theology in Europe, America, and Asia urgently and repeatedly to read it." - Jurgen Moltmann, Professor Emeritus, University of Tubingen, Germany "Dr. Chung is engaged in a deeply theological re?ection about Buddhism and Protestantism. His work is original and profound." - John B. Cobb Jr., Ingraham Professor Emeritus, Claremont School of Theology "Of all the 'turns' in Luther studies, the turn to Asia, so eloquently and powerfully heralded by Paul Chung, might end up being the most signi?cant one both ecumenically and theologically. As a scholar fully conversant with both the best of Western and Asian traditions, Dr. Chung is uniquely quali?ed to help us read not only in Buddhist context but also in a wider contextual and global horizon. This is the direction of international systematic-hermeneutical theology for the third millennium " - Veli-Matti Karkkainen, Professor of Systematic Theology, Fuller Theological Seminary, and Docent of Ecumenics, University of Helsinki "The book 'Martin Luther and Buddhism' by Paul Chung is a fascinating attempt to develop an emancipatory theology of religions in the Asian context of poverty and suffering as well as of religious plurality." - Ulrich Duchrow, Professor of Systematic Theology, University of Heidelberg "Bringing together Luther's theology with Buddhist understanding as embedded in Asian culture is a huge challenge. Dr. Chung takes on this challenge with a far-ranging breadth of knowledge and creative insight, especially for interfaith dialogue." - Karen L. Bloomquist, Director, Theology and Studies, Lutheran World Federation, and Adjunct Professor of Theological Ethics, Wartburg Theological Seminary PAUL S. CHUNG is Assistant Professor of Lutheran Witness and World Christianity at Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa.