Beyond the Borders of Baptism: Catholicity, Allegiances, and Lived Identities

Description: People worldwide find themselves part of overlapping communities of identity and belonging--racial, political, cultural, sexual, ideological. Some identities, like brand loyalties, are chosen; some, like class identity, are imposed.

Brief description: Michael L. Budde is professor of Catholic studies and political science, and senior research professor in the Center for World Catholicism and Intercultural Theology (CWCIT) at DePaul University in Chicago. He is the author and editor of numerous books, including Foolishness to Gentiles: Essays on Empire, Nationalism, and Discipleship; The Borders of Baptism: Identities, Allegiances, and the Church; and The (Magic) Kingdom of God: Christianity and Global Culture Industries.

Review Quotes: "Theologians influenced by Stanley Hauerwas are often derisively asked, 'Where is this church of yours?' Budde's book shows that one answer is to look no further than the Catholic Church. As a Protestant theologian, I am often envious of a Church that perennially sits astride national and ethnic boundaries. And, as these eminent theologians make clear, the legacy of Catholicism's resistance to nationalism is not unmixed. It would be enough for this volume to showcase the important work of the Center for World Catholicism at DePaul. These ambitious essays go a good deal further. Their beauty will reshape your view of what the church is and could be."
--Jason Byassee, Butler Chair in Homiletics, Vancouver School of Theology

"In The Borders of Baptism, Michael Budde challenged US Catholics to take seriously the political and practical implications of our usually rote and casual claim--that Jesus is Lord--challenging Catholics to identify the idolatries that shape our lives and to understand the church as our primary location of identity and allegiance. In Beyond the Borders of Baptism, Budde is joined by a chorus of rigorous, theological analysts who explore, challenge, and complexify these claims from diverse global locations, rooting the question in historical contexts and bringing alive the textures of the constant negotiations between the body of Christ and the myriad political and cultural formations in which the church finds herself. This mosaic of analyses elucidates important theoretical questions, provides important examples of ecclesial failure, and converges toward an understanding of these border negotiations as eucharistic--kenotic, exploding tired binaries, and allowing the endlessly creative interruption of God's grace in histories to transform the reified loci we consider natural. Beyond the Borders of Baptism is a must-read for those interested in ecclesiology, Christian formation, and taking discipleship seriously."
--M. Therese Lysaught, Professor, Associate Director, Institute of Pastoral Studies, Neiswanger Institute for Bioethics, Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University Chicago