Solidarity of Others in a Divided World

The globalization of the world brings together different groups into common space and produces a twofold dialectic, the dialectic of differentiation in which we are made increasingly aware of differences in nationality, culture, religion, ethnicity, gender, class, and language, and the dialectic of interdependence in which we are compelled to find a way of living together despite our differences. The central challenge of the globalizing world is how to manage and transform this twofold, antithetical dialectic of simultaneous differentiation and interdependence into a solidarity of others. The task of contemporary Christian theology is to interpret this demand of the new kairos in light of its biblical and theological tradition and provide a conceptually coherent, systematic mediation between the context of globalization and the demand of its inherited faith. The Christian tradition provides abundant resources worth retrieving for this theological purpose: the example of the historical Jesus in his solidarity with the marginalized others of society, his crucifixion and resurrection as signs of his solidarity in suffering and hope, the triune God as a communion of three persons in their difference, the incarnation as solidarity of the human and divine in their radical difference. Using the paradigm of 'solidarity of others' as the central theme of theology, it is possible and appropriate to renew the doctrine of the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of solidarity and recapture the inspiring and illuminating potential of the classical, authentically Christian metaphor of the 'body of Christ' as embodiment of this solidarity.

Anselm Kyongsuk Min is Professor of Religion at Claremont Graduate University.