Assimilation and Otherness: the Theological Significance of Négritude

This article argues that otherness is a root concept in Christian theology, functioning as such in Christology and the doctrines of the Trinity, creation, sanctification and consummation. Recent philosophical and theological treatments of otherness or alterity have, however, focused on its problematic aspects, its link to ills such as racism, sexism and genocide. The thought of the Senegalese statesman and poet Léopold Sédar Senghor (1906–2001) is proposed as an aid in mediating between the tradition's conceptions of otherness and contemporary debates and contexts, illuminating root concepts which have not been recognized as such, their systematic interconnectedness and their enduring relevance.     

IN SEARCH OF THE KINGDOM: THE SOCIAL GOSPEL,SETTLEMENT SOCIOLOGY,AND THE SCIENCE OF REFORM IN AMERICA'S PROGRESSIVE ERA

This critical narrative history examines the development of sociology in the United States during what has come to be labeled as the Progressive Era, roughly the years from the 1890s to World War I. Despite the label, this era was defined as much by social problems associated with industrialization, urbanization, and immigration as by the growth of its cities and the wealth of its capitalists. We explore the roots of American sociology in the transition of protestant theology from Calvinism to its reformation in the social gospel, the simultaneous development of settlement houses, and the “creation” of sociology as the science of reform.