Do No Harm : Social Sin and Christian Responsibility

by Ray, Stephen G., Jr.

• ISBN13: 9780800634971
• ISBN10: 0800634977
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-12-01
• Publisher: Fortress Pr

Summary

Examines the downside of the catergory of social sin. Especially in theologians use of destructive stereotypes that keep Christians from realizing and engaging in the social evils of our time -- racism and anti-semitism.

Author Biography

Stephen G. Ray, Jr. is Assistant Professor of Theology and Philosophy at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Introduction	xiii
The Sins of Sin-Talk	1	(36)
The Character of Sin--Talk	1	(6)
Stone Her! Sin--Talk and the Drama of the Welfare Queen	7	(5)
Deadly Consequences: Sin--Talk, Sexual Orientation, and AIDS	12	(3)
Resisting Dangerous Assumptions	15	(6)
Mind Pictures: Paying Attention to Discursive Realities	21	(4)
Definitely Not the Way It's Supposed to Be!	25	(8)
Summary	33	(4)
Created by God, Constructed by Sin: Niebuhr's Dilemma	37	(38)
The Contours of Niebuhr's Problem	38	(4)
The Heart of the Problem: Incongruent Descriptions of Sin	42	(2)
Signifying the Negro	44	(26)
Differentiation from the Feminist Critique	70	(2)
Summary	72	(3)
Difference as Defilement: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Jewish Question	75	(22)
The Church and the Jewish Question: A Limited Response	76	(2)
The Mechanics of Utopia	78	(4)
Misreading Culture	82	(10)
The Multivalence of Difference	92	(3)
Summary	95	(2)
Wisdom from the Tradition: A Recovery of the Reformers' Discourse of Sin	97	(24)
A Distinctly Protestant Dilemma	97	(5)
Augustine's Doctrine of Sin	102	(6)
The Principle of Participation	108	(6)
How Can a Crooked Man Know That He Is Bent?	114	(4)
Summary	118	(3)
Redeeming Sin-Talk	121	(16)
Rules of Engagement: Constructive Approaches to Sin--Talk	129	(5)
The Final Statement: Do No Harm!	134	(3)
Notes	137	(24)
Selected Bibliography	161