Religion and Humane Global Governance

197 Pages·2001·18.634 MB·English

by  Richard Falk (auth.)

Religion and Humane Global Governance

Religion and Humane Global
Governance
Richard Falk
RELIGION AND HUMANE GLOBAL GOVERNANCE
Copyright © Richard Falk, 200l.
Softcover reprint ofthe hardcover Ist edition 2001 978-0-312-23337-2
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reprodueed in any manner
whatsoever without written permission exeept in the ease of brief quotations embod
ied in eritieal articles or reviews.
First published 2001 by
PALGRAVETM
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010 and
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, England RG21 6XS.
Companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave is the new global publishing imprint of St Martin's Press LLC Seholarly and
Referenee Division and Palgrave Publishers Ltd (formerly Maemillan Press Ltd).
ISBN 978-1-349-62977-0 ISBN 978-1-349-62975-6 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-62975-6
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publieation Data
Falk, Riehard A.
Religion and humane global governanee / Richard Falk.
p.em.
Includes index.
1. Religion and international affairs. 2. Globalization-Religious aspects. I. Tide.
BL65.I55 .F35 2001
291.1'787-<1c21
00-068845
Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd.
First Edition: June 2001
109 8 76543 2 1
Transferred to Digital Printing 2011
Für Kekuni Blaisdell
James Douglass
Chandra Muzaffar
tireless süjourners
of diverse faith,
V1Slonanes,
exemplary citizen pilgrims

Contents
Acknowledgments IX
Introduction 1
1. The Religious Foundations of Humane Global
Governance 13
2. Secularism in an Era of Globalization 35
3. The Monotheistic Religions and Globalization 61
4. Religion and Politics: Verging on the Postmodern 77
5. Politically Engaged Spirituality in an Emerging
Global Civil Society 101
6. Hans Küng's Crusade: Framing aGlobai Ethic 123
7. Gandhi's Legacy for World Order 143
8. Our Millennial Challenge 157
Notes 167
Index 187

Acknowledgments
This book, more than most, benefits from friendships, direct experi
ence, and a process of non-academic reflection. I have been deeply
influenced over the years by varying degrees of encounter with a
range of faith traditions. In important respects this process started
when I was an undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania and
had the benefit of several demanding courses with an inspired and
brilliant teacher of religious thought, Edwin E. Aubrey. Later, while
at Yale Law School, I made a rather intensive study of Indian law
and religion, having the benefit of work with Professor F. S. C.
Northrop, whose book The Meeting of East and West left an
enduring imprint on my imagination. During these years I went so
far in this direction as to spend more time trying to learn Sanskrit
than on any of my law subjects.
Later, while a graduate law student at Harvard in the late
1950s, I attended three courses of Paul Tillich, and had the oppor
tunity to read Martin Buber, Karl ]aspers, and Selren Kierkegaard.
As a resuIt, my approach to politics and law never altogether feit
comfortable with either the ethics or epistemology of scientific
humanism, and even less so with the prevailing orthodoxy of politi
cal realism. This volume seeks to express a receptivity to religious
and spiritual perspectives without turning a blind eye toward
extremist forms of belief that have done so much to give religion a
bad name in both secular circles, and even more so, among those
who are at once devout and inclusive.
I wish, especially, to acknowledge the three individuals to
whom I have dedicated my book: Kekuni Blaisdell, ]ames Douglass,
and Chandra Muzaffar. I have been privileged to work with each of
these exceptional human beings, and to be ar witness to the depth of
their religious and spiritual commitments, as weil as to their perse
vering struggle for justice and peace often in the face of daunting
obstacles. Each has been an exemplary leader, rooted in faith and