Professional Documents
Culture Documents
H.
O’Connell.
Compassion:
Loving
Our
Neighbor
in
an
Age
of
Globalization.
New
York:
Orbis
Books,
2009.
This
book
is
a
bit
different
than
many
we
have
reviewed
in
this
course.
I
like
this
book
because
it
looks
at
compassion
through
a
number
of
lenses.
This
includes
philosophical
ethics,
theological
ethics,
political
philosophy
and
political
theology.
It
also
looks
at
American
social
policy
globally
in
the
context
of
compassion
and
applies
principles
of
compassionate
action
in
the
context
of
the
aftermath
of
hurricane
Katrina
in
the
Gulf
coast
area.
Written
from
a
Christian
perspective
and
using
the
parable
of
the
Good
Samaritan
from
the
gospel
of
Luke
as
a
foundational
paradigm,
O’Connell
looks
at
how
we
decide
who
our
‘neighbor’
is
in
a
world
that
is
defined
by
a
global
socioeconomic
and
political
system.
She
describes
how
the
forces
of
globalization
have
in
fact
increased
and
acted
to
perpetuate
massive
social
suffering.
Written
from
the
stance
of
liberation
theology,
“Compassion”
sees
middle
class
North
American
Christians
as
needing
to
look
at
our
contemporary
world
from
the
perspective
of
the
poor
and
marginalized.
This
book
is
based
upon
O’Connell’s
doctoral
dissertation
and
it
is
full
of
interesting
theological
and
philosophical
perspectives
on
the
virtue
of
compassion
as
the
center
of
Western
Christianity.
After
an
introductory
chapter,
O’Connell’s
offers
two
chapters
that
review
the
place
of
compassion
in
the
history
of
philosophical
ethics
and
theological
ethics.
Next
she
looks
in
detail
at
two
key
philosophical
and
theological
figures:
the
philosopher
and
legal
theorist
Martha
Nussbaum
and
the
Roman
Catholic
theologian
Johan
Baptist
Metz.
Nussbaum
is
a
world-‐class
philosopher
and
legal
scholar
who
holds
multiple
academic
appointments
at
the
University
of
Chicago,
in
the
schools
of
divinity
and
law
as
well
as
in
the
philosophy
department.
An
incredible
public
intellectual,
Nussbaum
has
argued
against
the
use
extreme
rationalism
in
law
and
philosophy
and
calls
for
attention
to
be
paid
to
emotion
and
story
telling.
She
uses
the
standard
of
“human
flourishing”
to
evaluate
the
success
of
socioeconomic
systems.
In
this
context,
her
magnum
opus
is
“Upheavals
of
Emotion.”
Metz
is
a
major
European
Roman
Catholic
theologian
who
is
a
key
figure
in
political
theology.
The
chapter
on
the
Metz’
theology
underscores
the
need
for
dramatic
social
transformation
when
looking
at
the
contemporary
global
context
and
looks
to
memory,
narrative
and
social
solidarity
as
important
components
for
doing
theology.
Both
Nussbaum
and
Metz
offer
solid,
insightful
intellectual
foundations
for
the
significance
of
compassion
for
all
of
us
in
the
context
of
the
incredible
human
and
environmental
suffering
that
has
been
created
as
a
byproduct
of
globalization.
After
offering
an
excellent
review
of
past
and
contemporary
intellectual
and
religious
grounding
for
the
concept
of
compassion,
she
applies
this
perspective
in
examining
the
Katrina
catastrophe.
We
can
easily
apply
McConnell’s
work
to
the
present
day:
the
nuclear
disaster
in
Japan;
the
political
upheavals
in
the
Middle
East;
and
the
political
and
economic
conflict
of
2011
in
the
United
States.
This
book
is
not
an
easy
read.
However,
O’Connell
brings
together
a
number
of
key
philosophical
and
theological
thinkers
and
points
to
key
discussions
relevant
to
compassion
in
their
work.
For
students
thinking
of
further
developing
their
work
with
compassion
in
a
more
formal
context,
for
example
in
theological
writing,
this
book
is
an
invaluable
source
that
I
highly
recommend.
Its
concluding
chapter
also
offers
an
interesting
application
of
a
compassionate
perspective
in
a
concrete
example
of
tragedy
in
the
context
of
globalization
and
the
rather
poor
response
of
North
American
religious
communities
to
this
tragedy.