📱 eBook en inglés Before and Beyond the 'Big Society'

John Milbanks theology has shaped much modern political thinking both within and without the Church. In Before and Beyond the Big Society, Joseph Forde presents the first study devoted exclusively to John Milbanks theology of welfare, and how it has influenced policy in the Church of England since 2008. By examining the favourable response the Church gave to the Big Society project in 2010-12, Forde shows that Milbanks Blue Socialist fingerprint increasingly dominates. However, this theology has not evolved in a vacuum and Forde expertly places it in its historical and theoretical context. He offers a detailed critical discussion of Milbanks own critique of what has been the mainstream (Temple) Anglican theology of welfare in the Church of England since the 1940s, and a fresh contribution to the assessment of Anglican social theology. Finally, he demonstrates how Milbanks ideas have been furthered by other influential Anglicans. It is this influence that will carry the greatest implications for the Church of Englands policy on welfare going forward, making this study relevant to all who care about its contribution to the provision of welfare.