A Theological Reflection on Torture and Democracy |
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| Authors: | Kelly Denton‐Borhaug |
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| Institution: | For the last three years Kelly Denton‐Borhaug has held the position of Assistant Professor of Religion at a small liberal arts college on the east coast, Moravian College in Bethlehem, PA. She is ordained in the ELCA and her educational background includes an MDiv from Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary and a Ph.D from the Graduate Theological Union in Interdisciplinary Studies (Systematic Theology and Ethics). Much of her current teaching and research centers on Christian images and understandings of salvation, feminist theology and ethics, ethics and war. Currently Dr. Denton‐Borhaug is working on a book exploring the intersection between Christian understandings of sacrifice and sacrificial ideology in “war‐culture.” Its provisional title is: The Ultimate Sacrifice: Deadly Links Between Christian Salvation and U.S. War‐Culture. |
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| Abstract: | Abstract : First, I summarize the major findings of a new comprehensive resource, Torture and Democracy, by Darius Rejali, as corrective for the current state of confusion and concealment in United States with regard to the persistence of torture. Second, I respond theologically to the insights from this scholarship through a) reflection on victims of torture as ‘nonpersons’ in light of theological anthropology, and through exploring the role of Christians in the public square, and b) addressing the problem of sacrificialism. |
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| Keywords: | torture sacrifice theological anthropology memory democracy |
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