Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics

Volume 39, Issue 1, Spring/Summer 2019

Stacey M. Floyd-Thomas
Pages 3-20

‘Oh Say Can You See?’
Womanist Ethics, Sub-rosa Morality, and the Normative Gaze in a Trumped Era

This article employs an intersectional analysis of ethical discourse guiding the US context in the era of Trump. Illustrating the viability of intersectionality for the broader utility of Christian social ethics, this essay explores the contemporary development of surreality and sub-rosa morality indicative of the current political situation in the United States in the wake of Donald Trump’s political ascendancy from the reality TV boardroom of The Apprentice to the Oval Office of the White House. Faced with the escalating nature of lies and deception emanating from the Trump administration, this article provides the moral rationale for civil disobedience as well as suggesting prescriptions for a redemptive ethic intended to remedy the legitimation crises which have become the defining ethos of our time.