Reality, Grief, Hope: Excerpt 2

We continue our anticipatory series for the upcoming book entitled Reality, Grief, Hope: Three Urgent Prophetic Tasks, which will be released Feb. 7 by Eerdmans. (Pre-order from Eerdmans here or Amazon here.) As a reminder, this next month we’ll be featuring excerpts from the book, culminating with a chance to win a free copy and a discount to purchase the book.

Excerpt 2: Exceptionalism

(Posted with permission from Eerdmans)

…exceptionalism as autonomy comes to violate the two great commandments of love of God and love of neighbor. Exceptionalism imagines divine guarantees, so that one need not answer to the divine will. The resultant entitlement depends upon insensitivity to the need or even the presence of the neighbor. The disregard of both God and neighbor permits a predatory society to seem normal and acceptable. And because it is situated in such an ideology, that “normal” predation comes to be beyond criticism.

The prophetic tradition, moreover, imagines an alliance of God and neighbor against such acquisitive exploitation, so that there is no possibility of loving God without loving neighbor.