Ethnography as Christian Theology and Ethics

An excellent addition to your library. This combination of case studies and methodology is very well edited. Unfortunately, it does not deal with the important ethnographic work in Europe. All references are American in origin which misses the importance of habitat in its reflections.

Great resource.

In this book, Christian Scharen, a professor of worship and practical theology at Luther Seminary, and Aana Marie Vigen, a professor of social ethics at Loyola University in Chicago, have brought together a group of Christian ethicists and theologians from Catholic and Protestant traditions to consider how the practice and theory of ethnography intersects with Christian theology and ethics. Carefully laying out the theoretical and practical issues of ethnography, alongside diverse and careful ethnographic data, this book calms my trepidation while raising the excitement for this novel and fruitful use of ethnography as a context for Christian theology and ethics. By crossing traditional disciplinary lines, this book opens up normative questions of analysis that should be read in theology, anthropology, and by anyone interested in the ways people live out faith in diverse contexts. The book opens with a forward by professor of theology Mary McClintock Fulkerson that succinctly states a key strength of the volume. "[Ethnography as Christian Theology and Ethics] surfaces the value-oriented dimensions of social scientific research and the intersections between social science, both quantitative and qualitative, and the `theological.' Furthermore, it illustrates rather than simply asserts their resonances and similarities." (p. xiii, emphasis in original) The editors begin with four chapters to define and explain the idea of ethnography. In a powerful example of why it can be thrilling to see one's discipline described by those outside its conventional orbit, this section that provides one of the most succinct and compelling apologies for ethnographic methods I have read anywhere. Writing to audiences across disciplines, the editors assume that many readers will be unfamiliar with the history, theory, and development of ethnography. The first chapter, "What is Ethnography?" opens the book by tracing the historical and contemporary epistemological assumptions and assertions of ethnography. The next three chapters move into recent developments in practical theology and Christian ethics, in particular noting where ethnography has come into the theological and ethical project. Together, the four chapters link ethnographic epistemology to the work of theology and ethics in a compelling and accessible way. Following the introductory chapters, the editors provide seven "exemplars," chapters illustrating how ethicists and theologians working in various Christian traditions employ ethnography in constructing and representing theology. The seven chapters reflect a variety of contexts in which the authors worked: African-American congregations in the United States, HIV positive people in urban Chicago and Kenya, Oregon communities debating the morality of physician assisted suicide, street children in Nairobi, Kenya, indigenous communities in Southern Mexico, refugee settlements and other communities among the Acoli of Northern Uganda, and a homeless shelter in Atlanta. These are primarily reflections by the authors on how they used ethnographic methods, or came to understand their work as ethnography in the cause of theology or faithful witness. At the same time, several authors also provide fascinating accounts of social life, history, and narrative that illustrate the power of anthropology and theology to come together in understandings of other worlds. In every exemplar, and in the editors' own reflections on fieldwork, the contributors succeed in drawing out far more of the complexity from ethnographic method than have those theologians most critical of social science. At the same time, I should note that not all the exemplars displayed the kind of methodological rigor I hoped for. Several were largely "ethnography by interview," or stints of three weeks in a particular field site. In these cases, while certainly appropriate to speak of qualitative methods, it is questionable whether the term "ethnography" is quite the right label for the work. Two of the exemplar chapters stood out, however: Todd Whitmore's work among the Acoli and Andrea Vincini's chapter covering his extended time among indigenous communities of Chiapas, Mexico both beautifully conveyed the complexity and dynamism of prolonged field work. This is not to minimize the "nativist" ethnography and interview techniques exemplified in several of the other chapters, but in a work such as this, in which ethnographic field work is foregrounded for theory and theology in the church, it was gratifying to see those chapters representing the mainstay of ethnographic methods. Personally, I look forward to using this book in courses on ethnographic method and theory in my Christian college setting. It is unique among works bringing together ethnography and theology in a theoretically and theologically sophisticated way. I can certainly imagine Christian ethicists and practical theologians finding this book a terrific boon to the literature, spurring their students to consider the lived realities of religion, not simply as the precursor to theology, but as the site of theology itself.

A "must have" for anyone interested in Christian Ethnography! Just be very careful about delivery time. It won't be 5 days more like 5 weeks. If you need it sooner buy the book from Kindle.

An excellent addition to your library. This combination of case studies and methodology is very well edited. Unfortunately, it does not deal with the important ethnographic work in Europe. All references are American in origin which misses the importance of habitat in its reflections.

In this book, Christian Scharen, a professor of worship and practical theology at Luther Seminary, and Aana Marie Vigen, a professor of social ethics at Loyola University in Chicago, have brought together a group of Christian ethicists and theologians from Catholic and Protestant traditions to consider how the practice and theory of ethnography intersects with Christian theology and ethics. Carefully laying out the theoretical and practical issues of ethnography, alongside diverse and careful ethnographic data, this book calms my trepidation while raising the excitement for this novel and fruitful use of ethnography as a context for Christian theology and ethics. By crossing traditional disciplinary lines, this book opens up normative questions of analysis that should be read in theology, anthropology, and by anyone interested in the ways people live out faith in diverse contexts. The book opens with a forward by professor of theology Mary McClintock Fulkerson that succinctly states a key strength of the volume. "[Ethnography as Christian Theology and Ethics] surfaces the value-oriented dimensions of social scientific research and the intersections between social science, both quantitative and qualitative, and the `theological.' Furthermore, it illustrates rather than simply asserts their resonances and similarities." (p. xiii, emphasis in original) The editors begin with four chapters to define and explain the idea of ethnography. In a powerful example of why it can be thrilling to see one's discipline described by those outside its conventional orbit, this section that provides one of the most succinct and compelling apologies for ethnographic methods I have read anywhere. Writing to audiences across disciplines, the editors assume that many readers will be unfamiliar with the history, theory, and development of ethnography. The first chapter, "What is Ethnography?" opens the book by tracing the historical and contemporary epistemological assumptions and assertions of ethnography. The next three chapters move into recent developments in practical theology and Christian ethics, in particular noting where ethnography has come into the theological and ethical project. Together, the four chapters link ethnographic epistemology to the work of theology and ethics in a compelling and accessible way. Following the introductory chapters, the editors provide seven "exemplars," chapters illustrating how ethicists and theologians working in various Christian traditions employ ethnography in constructing and representing theology. The seven chapters reflect a variety of contexts in which the authors worked: African-American congregations in the United States, HIV positive people in urban Chicago and Kenya, Oregon communities debating the morality of physician assisted suicide, street children in Nairobi, Kenya, indigenous communities in Southern Mexico, refugee settlements and other communities among the Acoli of Northern Uganda, and a homeless shelter in Atlanta. These are primarily reflections by the authors on how they used ethnographic methods, or came to understand their work as ethnography in the cause of theology or faithful witness. At the same time, several authors also provide fascinating accounts of social life, history, and narrative that illustrate the power of anthropology and theology to come together in understandings of other worlds. In every exemplar, and in the editors' own reflections on fieldwork, the contributors succeed in drawing out far more of the complexity from ethnographic method than have those theologians most critical of social science. At the same time, I should note that not all the exemplars displayed the kind of methodological rigor I hoped for. Several were largely "ethnography by interview," or stints of three weeks in a particular field site. In these cases, while certainly appropriate to speak of qualitative methods, it is questionable whether the term "ethnography" is quite the right label for the work. Two of the exemplar chapters stood out, however: Todd Whitmore's work among the Acoli and Andrea Vincini's chapter covering his extended time among indigenous communities of Chiapas, Mexico both beautifully conveyed the complexity and dynamism of prolonged field work. This is not to minimize the "nativist" ethnography and interview techniques exemplified in several of the other chapters, but in a work such as this, in which ethnographic field work is foregrounded for theory and theology in the church, it was gratifying to see those chapters representing the mainstay of ethnographic methods. Personally, I look forward to using this book in courses on ethnographic method and theory in my Christian college setting. It is unique among works bringing together ethnography and theology in a theoretically and theologically sophisticated way. I can certainly imagine Christian ethicists and practical theologians finding this book a terrific boon to the literature, spurring their students to consider the lived realities of religion, not simply as the precursor to theology, but as the site of theology itself.