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I began this book by arguing that wrestling is the lifeblood of Christian ethics – in historical practice, if not in all Christian theology. Wrestling focuses our attention on the tensions regarding how Christians understand and define the common good, given their interpretation of religious teachings and practices for their sociopolitical context. Wrestling begs the question of what must be done, and what is possible, though Christians (like secularists and those who adhere to other religions) often assume the qualifier “in our world; by us.” Wrestling is part of popular casuistry – it is how people make sense of their ethical commitments to act in the world, given their interpretation of their sociopolitical context and their ideas about what the common good should be. In the Christian ethical genealogy presented in this book, the contextual nature of the common good also shapes conceptions of evil and sin, providing the foundation for Christian ethical wrestling about what to do and how to act. In other words, out of the constitutive nature of popular casuistry and sociopolitical context, specific ethical questions arise regarding what the common good is and how it is to be achieved.
Contrary to charges of religious “dogma,” Christian actors in international politics often wrestle with the lack of a clear path in determining what to do and how to act, especially in situations of violence and when encountering otherness. Lynch argues that it is crucial to recognise the ethical precarity of decision-making and acting. This book contextualizes and examines ethical struggles and justifications that key figures and movements gave during the early modern period of missionary activity in the Americas; in the interwar debates about how to act vis-à-vis fascism, economic oppression and colonialism in a “secular” world; in liberation theology's debates about the use of violence against oppression and bloodshed; and in contemporary Christian humanitarian negotiations of religious pluralism and challenges to the assumptions of western Christianity. Lynch explores how the wrestling with God that took place in each of these periods reveals ethical tensions that continue to impact both Christianity and international relations.
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