ABSTRACT

For "northern" European grounding via the quest for economic meaning, this chapter focuses initially, on the center of Europe, that is on the Czech Republic, noted in its post-communist era, for its renowned philosopher and playwright-President Vaclav Havel, Living in Truth. Through the experiences of Christian leaders in Latin America and the work of the World Council of Churches AGAPE Project, it explores how an economy of love for the dispossessed is being developed in Panama and Brazil. The chapter opens up a window on 'Northern wisdom', from the Gospel of John, as it discovers the surprising meaning of his peerless Prologue. The opening of St John's Gospel indicates that God's plan is to embody love in the earthy realities of life, including the meaning of what it is to discover our vocation to work in the everyday. The point is that John is seeking to express the inexpressible and, yet, completely earthy reality of the embodiment of God-in-Christ.