The Gifting God A Trinitarian Ethics of Excess

by Webb, Stephen H.

• ISBN13: 9780195102550
• ISBN10: 019510255X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1996-04-18
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Theories of generosity, or gift giving, are becoming increasingly important in recent work in philosophy and religion. Stephen Webb seeks to build on this renewed interest by surveying a distinctively modern and postmodern approach to the issue of generosity, and then developing a theological framework for it. He contends that in many ways society has become suspicious of charity and generosity. This cynicism has led to quick and easy judgments, that, in turn, have led to a new orthodoxy with its own troubling consequences. Webb believes that we need to recover the generosity that our culture obscures behind this monologue on self-interest, and that theology, as a form of critical thought, can play a helpful role. Throughout the book, Webb argues for a theory of giving that is other-oriented without being self-negating. He maintains that the generosity of God's grace, properly understood, can reorient our own idea of the gift and must be correlated to our own practices of exchange and reciprocity.

Author Biography

Stephen H. Webb is Associate Professor of Religion and Philosophy at Wabash College.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Giving and Thinking	p. 3
The Return of the Gift	p. 13
Between Excess and Exchange	p. 14
Style and Function	p. 16
The Gift of Marcel Mauss	p. 32
Marshall Sahlins and the Recovery of Abundance	p. 36
Pierre Bourdieu and the Total Critique of Giving	p. 39
Richard Titmus and the Social Utility of Giving	p. 41
Lewis Hyde and the Community of the Gifted	p. 43
Squandering	p. 47
Against Gratitude	p. 49
Emerson and the Denial of Debt	p. 55
Nietzsche and Self-Giving	p. 58
Derrida and the End (lessness) of Giving	p. 67
The Theo-Economics of God	p. 83
Giving the Given Gift	p. 84
Calvin and the Labor of Gratitude	p. 94
Karl Barth and God's Freedom	p. 98
Charles Hartshorne and God's Reciprocity	p. 104
Sallie McFague and God's Embodiment	p. 108
Mark C. Taylor and God's Radical Immanence	p. 111
Peter C. Hodgson and God's Persuasive Dialectics	p. 116
How Giving Works	p. 123
Giving and Being	p. 129
Giving and Saving	p. 133
God the Giver	p. 139
God the Given	p. 141
God the Giving	p. 146
Notes	p. 159
Index	p. 190
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