The Fullness of Time in a Flat World

Best-selling author Thomas Friedman says that globalization has made the world flat and that we cannot stop the process. But while it is right to say that globalization tends to flatten our world, it is wrong to say that there are no alternatives to current patterns of economic, ecological, political, and cultural integration. This book argues that the Christian liturgical calendar provides a constructive alternative to the globalization of economics, ecologies, politics, and cultures. It does so by incorporating the church into the fullness of time in the gospel narrative, thereby helping us escape from the dead end of Friedman''s flat world so that we can improvise healthier ways of being globally integrated.""We usually think of globalization as a matter of space--a shrinking globe, porous boundaries, flows of capital. In an insight that is jarring and brilliant, Scott Waalkes argues that globalization is also a matter of time. Diagnosing the corrosive construals of time and space in globalized consumer capitalism, Waalkes shows how ancient Christian practices of time-keeping can remake our world and our economic habits, apprenticing us to the One born ''in the fullness of time.'' A stellar book that deserves wide attention.""--James K. A. Smithauthor of Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation""In this book Waalkes brings the best of political science and theology to bear on the question of globalization. Waalkes understands that there is more than one way to imagine globalization. In the face of ideologies that treat globalization as fate, Waalkes provocatively argues that Christian liturgical practices provide a truer way of narrating the world. Liturgy can thus help Christians and others to understand and resist the negative effects of globalization. This is an excellent work of practical theology.""--William T. Cavanaughauthor of The Myth of Religious Violence: Secular Ideology and the Roots of Modern Conflict""Scott Waalkes has delivered an integrated analysis of global politics, economics, and the church--timely in its descriptions, analyses, and recommendations. He moves smoothly from global abstractions to the particularities of his--and our--everyday, local church life. This book aims to teach and encourage and succeeds admirably at both.""--Michael L. Buddeauthor of The (Magic) Kingdom of God: Christianity and Global Culture Industries""This book will challenge you to see Christian worship and the global economy in a fundamentally new way . . . For all Christians who have felt overwhelmed by the tsunami forces of globalization or seduced by the mantra that ""time is money,"" this book offers a word of hope . . . and a practical guide to more faithful forms of worship and discipleship.""--John D. Rothauthor of Choosing Against War: A Christian ViewScott Waalkes (PhD University of Virginia) is Professor of International Politics at Malone University in Canton, Ohio. He spent a year abroad as a Fulbright Scholar with his family in 2004-05.