In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Beyond Apathy: A Theology for Bystanders by Elisabeth T. Vasko, and: The Limits of Hospitality by Jessica WrobleskiKathryn Lilla CoxBeyond Apathy: A Theology for Bystanders Elisabeth T. Vasko Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2015. 269pp. $29.00The Limits of Hospitality Jessica Wrobleski Collegevile, MN: Liturgical Press: A Michael Glazier Book, 2012. 168pp. $19.95At first glance it might seem as if these two books do not belong together since moving (...) beyond apathy requires engaged action, and accepting the limits of hospitality focuses attention on how we step back from particular actions. However, both Vasko and Wrobleski challenge their readers to reconsider how interaction with other people, coupled with honest reflection, stretches the contours of our comfort zones, ultimately leading to conversion, a richer embrace of each other’s humanity, and discipleship practices. Together the works require the reader to grapple with how our apathy not only is culpable as a sin of omission but also functions as another form of inhospitality. In recognizing our various sins, including apathy, how do we practice hospitality for the self while seeking forgiveness and reconciliation?Methodologically, both Vasko and Wrobleski use experience—theirs and others’—in a nuanced, engaging manner. They use narratives to illustrate theory or to prompt critical self-reflection in the context of faith. Their self-revelation is neither overdone nor naïve. Rather, both demonstrate how faith seeks understanding whereby the tradition can help make sense of lived experience, and how experiences at times require theological reconstruction of doctrine in order for the tradition to speak words of hope, salvation, and love in new contexts. Both Vasko and Wrobleski advocate, albeit with different styles, that discipleship requires an honest assessment of contemporary reality while looking toward the future, attending to evidence of an eschatological inbreaking of the kingdom. Together their works bridge the all-too-often divided arenas of theoretical study and religious practice by exploring theological claims and perspectives not their own, as well as prayer and other practices that help correct biases and ideologies.More specifically, Vasko wants to analyze why humans “repeatedly bypass opportunities for resisting violence” (9). Her decision to focus on the “category of bystander” helps her “disrupt the victim-perpetrator and oppressor-oppressed binaries and the hierarchical dualism often accompanying it” (14). This disruption of binary frameworks for considering violence and sin, both between two [End Page 215] individuals or two communities, provides a new consideration of how individuals and communities participate in structural sin, and a compelling assessment of why we are culpable for sins of omission. Vasko advances conversations about white privilege and complicity in structures of sin by considering the question of inaction when confronted with injustice. Why are we bystanders, and how can we move beyond bystander status toward solidarity in the pursuit of justice, especially as it relates to our participation in violence around bullying, racism, sexism, and LGBTQ discrimination? Her theological analysis of the bystander weaves together and demonstrates the interconnectedness of Christology, atonement theory, sin/grace, theological anthropology, and scripture. She demonstrates the importance of drawing on the social sciences for insight into structures and communal norms of behavior as well as strategies for fostering change. While grappling with a tough topic, Vasko ultimately provides a roadmap for acknowledging apathy and beginning the process of moving beyond it, even as some will disagree with the end goal of moving beyond apathy.Wrobleski, too, explores privilege, although in a more understated manner through the category of hospitality. She investigates the limits, along with “the virtues and conditions necessary to sustain the practice of hospitality over time and in diverse circumstance” (ix). It is in the exploration of providing hospitality where the question of privilege arises: Who can offer hospitality? Do we have the means to offer it? What is the risk of hospitality? What form does hospitality take and how does one extend welcome that honors and recognizes the inherent dignity of all people despite different life circumstances? These questions are considered in a richly complex and nuanced way in chapter 4, “The Limits of Security.”Wrobleski explores the communal dimensions of hospitality through narratives of various communities—her own, Catholic Worker houses, and... (shrink)

This essay considers whether the model of conscience operative in Christian ethics, what I call the “reflexive conscience,” is adequate to meet the global moral challenges we face today, problems such as gun violence, climate change, and the Zika virus. Drawing primarily on the work of Willis Jenkins, I argue that conscience has not yet caught up to the scale and interconnectedness of our global moral challenges. A truly “engaged conscience” must be focused not primarily on the self but on (...) the other, and must be active. I conclude by turning to Elisabeth Vasko’s criticisms of the victim/perpetrator binary to suggest that conscience must call us to greater responsibility for the systemic injustices in which particular moral challenges are embedded. (shrink)

This essay considers whether the model of conscience operative in Christian ethics, what I call the “reflexive conscience,” is adequate to meet the global moral challenges we face today, problems such as gun violence, climate change, and the Zika virus. Drawing primarily on the work of Willis Jenkins, I argue that conscience has not yet caught up to the scale and interconnectedness of our global moral challenges. A truly “engaged conscience” must be focused not primarily on the self but on (...) the other, and must be active. I conclude by turning to Elisabeth Vasko’s criticisms of the victim/perpetrator binary to suggest that conscience must call us to greater responsibility for the systemic injustices in which particular moral challenges are embedded. (shrink)

Több politikatudománnyal foglalkozó kötettel jelentkezett már Szabó Márton, aki eddigi kutatásait összegezve, egy alternatív szemléletű politikatudomány szemléletébe és kutatásába kívánja bevezetni olvasóit. Célja, hogy bizonyítsa: a politika reális valóságában meghatározó módon jelen van az egyének nyilvános és közös értelmezése és diskurzusa. Hogy a politika ezért nem tekinthető pusztán csak objektív rendszernek, hanem emberek által teremtett és értelmezett valóság. A szerző ezen szemlélet jegyében hét nagyobb egységben mutatja be a politika minden fontos területét, kezdve a politikai tények összetett természetével, folytatva a (...) politikai cselekvések és megismerési módok sajátosságaival. Külön vizsgálja az intézményi kereteket, a politika szereplőit, a politikai ügyeket. Kritikailag elemzi az empirikus politikatudományi kutatás meghatározó területeit, végül a politikatudomány sokféleségével foglalkozik. A vaskos kötetet forrás- és irodalomjegyzék zárja. (shrink)

A Filozófia Intézet keretében működő Lukács Archívumot három évtizedig vezető Sziklai László a marxista filozófus és esztéta életművével foglalkozó írásait gyűjtötte egybe ebben a vaskos kötetben. Nyitótanulmányában az archívum megalakulásának és működésének történetét idézi meg a, továbbiakban három ciklusba rendezve foglakozik a marxizmushoz eljutó ifjú Lukáccsal; a filozófus moszkvai éveinek politikai és filozófiai fejleményeivel; végül a kései Lukáccsal, 1956 utáni magyarországi helyzetével, valamint utóéletével és emlékezetével. A részben az egyes műveket kommentáló, részben Lukács pályafutásának és életének fordulatait értékelő írásokból kirajzolódik (...) a jelentős huszadik századi filozófiai életmű szinte teljessége. A szerző három évtizedes munkásságáról is számot adó kötetet két, a nemzetiszocializmussal foglalkozó írása egészíti ki. A kiadványt a nagyobb filozófiai gyűjteményekben érdemes elhelyezni. (shrink)