8 - Solidarity selfhood, and social goods

Summary

INTRODUCTION

A Christian ethical approach to inequality is built upon the theological commitment to the equality of all people before God. Niebuhr and Gutiérrez provide theological and moral arguments for how excessive inequalities obstruct the conditions that guarantee moral equality. How might the basic contours of a Christian ethical approach draw upon, and be expanded by insights from political philosophy and social theory?

Amartya Sen's framework of human capability and functionings offers significant resources for sharpening a Christian ethical approach to socioeconomic life, including inequality. Yet Christian ethicists have paid little in-depth, direct attention to Sen's work. And relatively few engagements between Christian ethics and “human development” or “basic needs” have been offered. Theologians and ethicists have long been in conversation with John Rawls's theory of justice – and more recently, his accounts of political liberalism – but these discussions have not focused on questions of inequality. Likewise, the wide-ranging work of Michael Walzer has gained some attention in religious ethics; his writings could be drawn on to expand Christian ethical approaches to disparities in various spheres of life.

This chapter further develops a Christian ethical approach to inequality within a wider context of socioeconomic life. Toward the end of expanding a Christian approach to issues of equality and inequality three concepts are analyzed in considerable detail: solidarity selfhood, and social goods. The analysis extends the insights developed by Niebuhr and Gutiérrez – and puts them into conversation with perspectives from political philosophy and approaches to economic development.