Pamela Brubaker, a Church of the Brethren member and professor of religion at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, Calif., was a featured speaker for consultations of the World Council of Churches (WCC) held in conjunction with the first meeting of the WCC\u2019s new Central Committee.<\/p>\n
She spoke for a consultation Sept. 5-6 commemorating the 40th anniversary of a landmark 1966 World Conference on Church and Society, where she gave a paper entitled, \u201cThe Approach of the Geneva 1966 Conference to Development.\u201d She also participated in a workshop Sept. 7-9 on the theme, \u201cActing Together for Transformation.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the 1966 conference, the ecumenical community made a major commitment to the moral imperative of development, Brubaker said in a telephone interview following the consultations. For example, the 1966 conference was the first WCC event where half of the delegates were from the \u201cglobal south.\u201d The 1966 event focused on the social and technical revolutions of the time, anticipating later debates on disarmament, racism, and a New International Economic Order.<\/p>\n
Because of her work in the 1980s for a doctoral dissertation on economic development, entitled \u201cWomen Don\u2019t Count: The Challenge of Women\u2019s Poverty to Christian Ethics,\u201d Brubaker was asked to offer an interpretation and critique of the presentation of development made in 1966. In her dissertation she had looked at development from the point of view of impoverishment, and the differences between women\u2019s and men\u2019s poverty.<\/p>\n
In her review of the 1966 conference, Brubaker noted that few women participated, and there was little recognition of the problems related to economic development such as pollution and poverty. She also perceived a tension between those who thought a social welfare society was a good model for development–who tended to be from the global north, she said–and others questioning if it would be a good model for their societies. Those who questioned the model pointed out that there were still poor people in the north, and concluded that the model does not work, she said. Brubaker added that this debate was still a source of tension at the WCC\u2019s most recent assembly this February in Brazil.<\/p>\n
At the workshop, participants focused on an \u201cAGAPE\u201d process affirmed at the 2006 WCC assembly. Brubaker explained that AGAPE has emerged from the WCC\u2019s commitment to examine economic globalization and how it affects the lives of people in the global south in particular, a discussion that has taken place up to now through regional conferences in various areas of the world.<\/p>\n
The regional conferences expressed concerns about economic globalization, \u201cconcern both that more people were said to be suffering from globalization as well as the earth was suffering,\u201d Brubaker said. The regional conferences sent letters to the people and churches of their regions, asking them also to take responsibility for and help address the problems related to economic globalization. This process came to be called AGAPE, an acronym for \u201cAlternative Globalization Addressing People and Earth.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s important about (AGAPE) is it wasn\u2019t a few staff people\u201d at the WCC who were working on the process, but was carried out by the people of the world, Brubaker said. The workshop she attended included about 30 people from a variety of countries and faith traditions and ages, who together sought the next steps forward in the AGAPE process. The workshop helped the WCC \u201cidentify key points in terms of going forward,\u201d she said, and also helped the organization \u201clook at ways to make member churches be more aware of the AGAPE process.\u201d For example, Brubaker sees a connection between the WCC\u2019s AGAPE process and the Church of the Brethren Annual Conference paper this year supporting the UN\u2019s Millennium Development Goals.<\/p>\n
It was \u201cgood to take that look back and reaffirm the commitment to addressing economic justice issues\u201d first taken in 1966, Brubaker said. However, she celebrated the WCC\u2019s new commitments as well, \u201cto things like care for the earth,\u201d she said. The consultations also raised good questions, such as, are there benefits to globalization or only negative impacts?<\/p>\n
\u201cThere needs to be more work done\u201d on issues related to globalization, she said. \u201cCurrently there is sharp criticism of current models of globalization,\u201d pointing to a need to offer alternatives, she said. And alternatives are possible, she asserted. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to have a blueprint of all the details, but we have pieces of it,\u201d she said, giving the examples of fair trade and micro development. \u201cBe imaginative in thinking of other development alternatives,\u201d she urged.<\/p>\n
Brubaker\u2019s work with the WCC in recent years has encompassed several other small consultations, including participation in encounters with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), where she took part as author of a book published in 2001, \u201cGlobalization at What Price? Economic Change and Daily Life.\u201d She also is co-editor of a book published in July, \u201cJustice in a Global Economy: Strategies for Home, Community, and World\u201d (Westminster John Knox Press\/Geneva Press, 2006), edited with Rebecca Todd Peters and Laura A. Stivers.<\/p>\n
Brubaker will teach a three-weekend course on \u201cEthics and Globalization\u201d at Bethany Theological Seminary in Richmond, Ind., in the spring. The course will be held Feb. 16-17, March 16-17, and April 20-21, 2007. Contact the seminary at 800-287-8822.<\/p>\n
For more information about the World Council of Churches, go to http:\/\/www.oikoumene.org\/.<\/em><\/p>\n \n
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