Liberalism without Illusions Renewing an American Christian Tradition

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Liberalism without Illusions
Renewing an American Christian Tradition
By Christopher H. Evans
Christopher H. Evans is Sallie Knowles Crozer Professor of Church History, Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School, Rochester, New York. His previous books include the award-winning The Kingdom is Always But Coming: A Life of Walter Rauschenbusch; The Faith of Fifty Million: Baseball, Religion, and American Culture; and The Social Gospel Today

Introduction
Chapter 1: Why Do Americans Distrust Liberals?
Chapter 2: Evangelical and Modern: Christian Liberalism in the Nineteenth Century
Chapter 3: Christian Liberalism and the Social Gospel Heritage
Chapter 4: The Diffusion of Liberal Theology
Chapter 5: Did Liberalism Win?
Chapter 6: Does Liberal Theology Still Matter?
Chapter 7: Liberalism without Illusions
Epilogue: Past Imperfect
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index

By the 1930s most mainline Protestant traditions promulgated the key tenets of liberalism, especially an embrace of modern intellectual theory along with theological and religious pluralism. In Liberalism without Illusions, Christopher Evans critiques his own tradition, focusing in particular on why so many Americans today want to distance themselves from this rich and vibrant heritage. In a time when attitudes about “liberal” vs. “conservative” theology have become the focus of the culture wars, he provides a constructive discussion of how liberalism might move forward into the twenty-first century, which, he argues, is indispensable to the future of American Christianity

The Ethics of Citizenship
Liberal Democracy and Religious Convictions
Edited by J. Caleb Clanton
J. Caleb Clanton (Ph.D. Vanderbilt University) is Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Seaver Fellow in the Humanities at Pepperdine University. He is the author of Religion and Democratic Citizenship: Inquiry and Conviction in the American Public Square (2008). He lives in Malibu, California.

Offering the most significant contributions on the topic from leading contemporary scholars, J. Caleb Stanton’s carefully edited and organized The Ethics of Citizenship seeks to answer one of the most salient and hotly debated questions of the day: What role, if any, should religion play in U.S. politics? While there is a considerable body of writing in response to this question, until now there has not been a one-volume collection of relevant answers. Here, at last, a variety of distinguished political theorists—from John Rawls to Richard Rorty, and from Nicholas Wolterstorff to Cornel West—weigh in on this important topic, and, together, provide a balanced and engaging overview of the debate that continues to grip the nation.

Introduction: On the Tension between Religion and Democracy
Part I: Separatist Views
1. “Moral Conflict and Political Legitimacy” by Thomas Nagel (New York University)
2. “The Idea of Public Reason Revisited” by John Rawls (Harvard University, Emeritus)
3. “Religious Convictions and Secular Reasons” by Robert Audi (University of Notre Dame)
4. “Liberal Civic Education and Religious Fundamentalism: The Case of God v. John Rawls” by Stephen Macedo (Princeton University)
5. “Why Dialogue?” by Bruce Ackerman (Yale University)
6. “Religion as a Conversation-stopper” by Richard Rorty (Stanford University, Emeritus)
Part II: Integrationist Views
7. “The Role of Religion in Decision and Discussion of Political Issues” by Nicholas Wolterstorff (Yale University)
8. “What Respect Requires—and What it Does Not” by Christopher J. Eberle (US Naval Academy)
9. “The Principles” by Paul J. Weithman (University of Notre Dame)
10. “Religion in Political Argument” by Jeffrey Stout (Princeton University)
11. “The Crisis of Christian Identity in America” by Cornel West (Princeton University)
12. “Why Political Reliance on Religiously Grounded Morality is Not Illegitimate in a Liberal Democracy” by Michael J. Perry (Emory University)
13. “The Vulnerability of the Naked Public Square” by Richard John Neuhaus (Editor of First Things)
14. “The Public Philosophy of Contemporary Liberalism” by Michael J. Sandel (Harvard University)
15. “Democratic Deliberation after Religious Gag Rules” by J. Caleb Clanton (Pepperdine)