Miguel A. De La Torre's latest edited volume, Ethics: A Liberative Approach, breaks both practical and symbolic ground in the field of Christian ethics. In practical terms, this textbook offers a highly accessible introduction to a variety of liberationist movements and thinkers from both global and US contexts. Such a wide-ranging survey of the diverse strands of liberative ethics is, to my knowledge, unavailable elsewhere in textbook form. The volume therefore will be of immense practical help to teachers, undergraduate and graduate students, and even seasoned scholars of Christian ethics (and theology) who are looking for an introductory guide to the diverse nature of ethical reflection and praxis that takes place on the margins of society and the academy. Thirteen chapters written by experts in their fields delve into liberative schools of thought as diverse as Latin American liberative ethics, Women of Color liberative ethics, and disability ethics. Each essay contains sections touching on historical background, the contextual need for liberation, basic tenets, major figures and themes, and possible future trends in the field. Helpful sidebars and text boxes offer readers definitions of key terms, case studies, and examples of liberative ethics in action. Each chapter also ends with study questions and a selected bibliography of suggested readings.

The clarity and quality of the essays vary. While most chapters are very well organized and easy to follow, others do take a more meandering approach. There is a fair amount of overlap among several of the chapters, but this should be seen as a strength rather than a weakness. Such connections between differing schools of liberative thought point to the interlocking nature of various forms of oppression, the intersectional nature of identity, and the potential for solidarity across difference. Instructors of Christian ethics should be aware that not every chapter focuses exclusively on Christian liberative ethics. Some chapters are more philosophical in nature (e.g., Ezra Chitando's chapter on African liberative ethics), while others explicitly reject Christian sources for ethics in favor of indigenous sources (e.g., Mark Freeland's chapter on American Indian liberative ethics). Depending on the instructor and the course, this comparative perspective could also be seen as a strength in that it demonstrates the diversity within and among the various strands of liberative ethical thought. Instructors should note that some of the case studies and study questions might require that the instructor provide further background information in order to be of use for thoughtful discussion and critical analysis in the classroom. This minor weakness aside, the information presented in each chapter is invaluable for beginning to understand the contexts and concerns of major twentieth- and twenty-first-century theories and praxes of liberation.

In symbolic terms, this volume also breaks new ground. As a textbook, it does not offer a newly constructed ethical system or a new set of ideas and practices. Its task is descriptive and presentational rather than constructive. Nevertheless, the text does break new ground in that it represents—concretely, on the written page—a massive, collective, and momentous decentering of Euro-American Christian ethics (and theology). In the concluding remarks to the volume, De La Torre notes that he and his authors “have strived to center the margins of ethical thought” (239, my emphasis). The majority of the world's population—who often experience varying forms of dispossession and disenfranchisement and whose voices therefore seldom are heard in the mainstream of society and the academy—take center stage in this collection. Taken together, the pages of this textbook communicate that the true sociological (and even theological) center of history's ethical progression lies not with the privileged and powerful minority, but in the struggles and liberatory praxes of the world's marginalized majorities. Nevertheless, this new, liberative center is not a monolith offering a new set of universal “truths.” Its ethical wisdom lies, at least in part, in its diversity. And yet the diverse strands of liberative ethics presented in De La Torre's textbook do intersect, intertwine, and coalesce to weave a strong and hopeful symbol and practice of freedom, empowerment, and justice.