From Populism to Synodality
Religion | Ethics | Social Trust | Theology
Theological Studies, 2023
Social trust has been compromised locally, nationally, and globally, and very recently more and more social scientists, ethicists, theologians, and civic leaders have highlighted its necessity for the function of social life. This article reviews the ways that social trust has been jeopardized and engages indicators that attempt to find where the trust is most at risk and what the better responses to it might be. It then turns to two collective gatherings, populism and synodality, to consider how we might better respond to these different forms of collective movements or gatherings so as to further the restoration of social trust.
University Ethics in a Time of Threat to Democracy and in Need of Social Trust
Humanitas, 2024
The essay highlights that though universities teach every field of professional ethics (for physicians, nurses, business people, finance, journalism, etc.) the university does not teach any courses for administrators or
Subject: University Ethics, Adjunct Faculty, Ethics, Social Trust.
Social Trust and the Ethics of Our Institutions
Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics, 2022
Social trust is the basic resource for our institutions and is notably maintained by leaders who have what I call a vulnerable style and a vigilant capacity to recognize ethical challenges on the horizon. The essay follows five steps: a meditation on social trust, an introduction to the notion of style, and a proposal for a vulnerable style so as to become collectively capacious for recognition. Then it turns to the two institutions under examination at the 2022 annual meeting of the Society of Christian Ethics (SCE): the church and the academy.
Subject: Religion, Ethics, Social Trust, Theology.