Robust Liberalism

Table of Contents

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pp. vii-

Acknowledgments

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pp. ix-xii

Writing a book can be a lonely business, consisting of long hours of isolation, staring at a painfully blank computer screen. But it does not occur and has no point apart from participation in human communities and without reference to larger realities. During evenings alone in my study, I have had opportunity to consider all the people and communities...

Introduction

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pp. 1-20

American political and religious life has changed a lot in the last fifty years. In the middle of the twentieth century, America was self-confident, united, and Judeo-Christian. The political culture of the United States was profoundly intertwined with the religious faith (Protestant-Catholic-Jewish) of its...

1. E Pluribus Unum: An Augustinian Conception of Faith, Pluralism, and Public Life

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pp. 23-47

The United States adopted e pluribus unum as the national motto soon after the Revolutionary War. “From many, one” captured the aspirations of the early republic as diverse colonies struggled to become a single nation. The course of American history enriched and deepened the significance of this phrase as the nation endeavored to admit and absorb...

2. Opening the Circle: Story, Community, and Reality in Moral Reasoning

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pp. 49-81

Public discourse in American political life is increasingly dominated by the institutional logics of the state and market, where free individuals contract with one another in pursuit of their self-interest. As a result, the moral sensibilities of American citizens are impoverished, undermining their capacity...

3. The Universal, the Particular, and Public Discourse: Beyond Secular Liberalism and Christian Traditionalism

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pp. 83-115

American public life has been going through significant changes in the last half century. Growing cultural, moral, and religious pluralisms have undermined the dominance of cultural Protestantism, provoking fear of incoherence and fragmentation. Yet, the penetration of the state and the market deeper and deeper...

4. The Christian Churches and American Public Life: A Particular Community Directed through Faith toward the Universal

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pp. 119-152

Ecclesiology has become an important area of concern for many theologians, pastors, church officials, and lay people in the formerly mainline churches. One of the reasons for the contemporary interest in this topic is their need to reconsider the relationship between the church and American society in the light of significant...

5. Robust Liberalism: American Democracy and the Divine Commonwealth

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pp. 153-187

During its relatively short history as a nation, the United States has undergone three disestablishments. American children learn about the first one in school: the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guaranteed the freedom of religion to all citizens and prevented Congress from making laws that establish or favor any particular confession. Given the dominance...

Notes

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pp. 189-224

Works Cited

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pp. 225-233

Index

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pp. 235-238