James Cone and Thomas Sowell tower as African American intellectuals who have influenced ideas
around the world for decades on issues such as poverty and justice. Although Thomas Sowell
writes as a secular economist his views harmonize more genuinely with classical Christian
social thought than do the liberation theology of James Cone. In the traditional black church
theology and economics have always been partners in pursuing the means of liberation for
African Americans. This is the first book to put a black economist and a black theologian into
direct dialogue with one another in order to distill the strengths of each discipline thus
providing a long-term vision for the economic sustainability of the black community. The
implications of the Protestant teaching of sphere sovereignty and the Roman Catholic principle
of subsidiarity inform the disciplines of theology economics and political philosophy to cast
a new vision for black liberation serving religious and political theorists alike. A
provocative dynamism emerges because Cone and Sowell maintain alternative and competing visions
that engage classical Christian theology in different ways. This book offers the opportunity
for a new trajectory of dialogue between theologians and political economists about poverty
human dignity and justice in ways previously unexplored. The Political Economy of Liberation
is an invaluable resource in courses in African American studies race and religion political
economy social ethics Christianity and society Christian social thought social justice and
theological ethics at the upper-level undergraduate or graduate level.
