Griffin New Book

[xmasdale]

David Ray Griffin has just sent us this about his new book. Would anyone like to do a review of it?

Noel.


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Just Out.



The American Empire and the Commonwealth of God:
A Political, Economic, Religious Statement

By David Ray Griffin, John B. Cobb Jr., Richard Falk, & Catherine Keller



Book Description

Four distinguished scholars here level a powerful critique of the rapid expansion of the emerging American empire and its oppressive and destructive political, military, and economic policies. Arguing that a global Pax Americana is internationally disastrous, the authors demonstrate how America’s imperialism inevitably leads to rampant irreversible ecological devastation, expanding military force for imperialistic purposes, and a grossly inequitable distribution of goods—-all leading to the diminished well-being of human communities. These four prophetic voices—-three Christians, one Jew—-persuasively indict the American empire as being diametrically opposed to divine values and powerful enough to threaten the purposes of God.



REVIEWS

Publishers Weekly

What do you get when you put three theologians together with an attorney? Not a joke, but a deadly serious, academic analysis of our nation, its past and its future. This collection of nine essays addresses the ideological and practical evidence and consequences of what the authors see as an often disguised imperial agenda inherent in the founding and development of the United States. The authors, besides sharing the conviction that the United States "is seeking to become the world's first borderless empire" whose imperialist policies constitute "the primary threat to the survival of the human species," share an affinity for the philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead. While they object to imperialism on "political, economic and ecological grounds" as well as on "religious-spiritual-moral grounds," they spend most of the book making their secular statement; only the last three essays speak directly of religion. Keller's contribution contains a particularly interesting "debate" between the people she calls "Bush-Doctrine Idealists and the great idol-smasher John Calvin." Students of American history, government and political science, will feel quite at home within these pages, but nonacademics may need to dust off their college texts to remember the particulars of, say, the Marshall Plan. (June)

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Harvey Cox, Hollis Professor of Divinity, Harvard Divinity School
"This is an enormously urgent and important book. It builds on the finest new biblical scholarship in viewing the scriptural setting of the reign of God against empire and suggests how all the religious traditions can---and must---contribute to an unprecedented civilizational transformation. I plan to use it in my own teaching and to commend it to everyone I know."


Rosemary Radford Ruether, Carpenter Professor of Feminist Theology, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley
“In this timely and important book, these four authors relentlessly analyze the political, economic, and historical issues with the construction of American empire and unmask the idolatry of its religious justifications. But they also envision alternatives to American empire in global relations and ways to imagine a more just and sustainable global society.”



Joseph C. Hough Jr., President and William E. Dodge Professor of Social Ethics, Union Theological Seminary, New York

"Three outstanding theologians and one of the world’s leading experts on international policy issues have joined forces to deliver a scathing critique of the aims, policies, impact, and pretensions of the American Empire. While their criticisms may be familiar to some readers, it is their alternative futures that offer such a practical and morally compelling alternative to the disaster that looms ahead. Anyone concerned about the future of American world leadership must read this book.”



Table of Contents



Preface

PART I THE NATURE OF THE AMERICAN EMPIRE

1. America’s Non-Accidental, Non-Benign Empire
David Ray Griffin

2. Imperialism in American Economic Policy
John B. Cobb Jr.

3. Slouching toward a Fascist World Order
Richard Falk


PART II ALTERNATIVES TO THE AMERICAN EMPIRE

4. Renouncing Wars of Choice: Toward a Geopolitics of Nonviolence
Richard Falk

5. Democratizing the Economic Order
John B. Cobb Jr.

6. Global Empire or Global Democracy: The Present Choice
David Ray Griffin


PART III RELIGIOUS REFLECTIONS

7. Omnipotence and Preemption
Catherine Keller

8. Commonwealth and Empire
John B. Cobb Jr.

9. Resurrection and Empire
David Ray Griffin

Notes

Available at Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/product-description/0664230091/ref=d p_proddesc_0/103-8142988-0768628?%5Fencoding=UTF8&n=283155)