Sacraments of Liberation
The Poor, Creation, and the Church's Prophetic Call
Will be published approx. on 22. October 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
256 pages
978-1-64065-894-3 (ISBN)
Description
How Sacrament and Ritual can become a site of resistance and ecological renewal.
Sacraments of Liberation argues that the sacraments are central to addressing the intertwined crises of poverty and ecological degradation. Grounded in the "preferential option for the poor"-a phrase popularized by the Liberation Theologists and echoed by Pope Francis-this book presents sacraments as transformative practices that move the Church from abstract theological spaces to the embodied realities of particular places where justice and restoration occur.
Responding to economic and ecological crises, this work integrates theological insights from aforementioned liberation theology, early church monk and theologian Maxim the Confessor, and the Orthodox theologian Sergei Bulgakov with Edward Casey's philosophical critique of modernity's abstraction of space. It presents sacramental life as an alternative to the commodification of land, labor, and life under global capitalism. Rather than reducing the sacraments to mere symbols, it insists that their embodied practice restores community and creation.
Through theological reflection and practical application, Sacraments of Liberation demonstrates how the Church's sacramental life reclaims sacred places of justice and care, offering hope and tangible pathways for healing humanity and the earth.
Sacraments of Liberation argues that the sacraments are central to addressing the intertwined crises of poverty and ecological degradation. Grounded in the "preferential option for the poor"-a phrase popularized by the Liberation Theologists and echoed by Pope Francis-this book presents sacraments as transformative practices that move the Church from abstract theological spaces to the embodied realities of particular places where justice and restoration occur.
Responding to economic and ecological crises, this work integrates theological insights from aforementioned liberation theology, early church monk and theologian Maxim the Confessor, and the Orthodox theologian Sergei Bulgakov with Edward Casey's philosophical critique of modernity's abstraction of space. It presents sacramental life as an alternative to the commodification of land, labor, and life under global capitalism. Rather than reducing the sacraments to mere symbols, it insists that their embodied practice restores community and creation.
Through theological reflection and practical application, Sacraments of Liberation demonstrates how the Church's sacramental life reclaims sacred places of justice and care, offering hope and tangible pathways for healing humanity and the earth.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-64065-894-3 (9781640658943)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Henry Walter Spaulding is editorial manager for the Center for Barth Studies at Princeton Theological Seminary. He also serves as an adjunct professor of Christian ethics at Ashland University, Ashland Theological Seminary, George Fox University, and Indiana Wesleyan University. He got his M.Div. from Duke Divinity School and his D.Phil. from Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary. He is the author of several books including Iconoclastic Sex: Christian Sexual Ethics and Human Trafficking and the forthcoming Between Two Gileads with Cascade. He has published several articles in journals such as the Wesleyan Theological Journal, Review and Expositor, and Literary Imagination. He is also pastor at Hope United Methodist Church. Spaulding lives in Columbus, Ohio.