A Better Hope: Resources for a Church Confronting Capitalism, Democracy, and Postmodernity
Overview
By his own admission, Stanley Hauerwas, never one to duck a good fight, has, in the past three decades, established himself as one of our most important and most disputatious theologians. With A Better Hope, he concentrates on the constructive case for the truth and power of the church and its faith, “since Christians cannot afford to let ourselves be defined by what we are against. Whatever or whomever we are against, we are so only because God has given us so much to be for.”
Hauerwas not only crystallizes and extends profound criticisms of America, liberalism, capitalism, and postmodernism, but also identifies unlikely allies (such as Chicago Archbishop Francis Cardinal George) and locates surprising resources for Christian survival (such as mystery novels). Interlocutors along the way include Reinhold Niebuhr, John Courtney Murray, and, in a significant and previously unpublished essay, social gospeller Walter Rauschenbusch.
Never boring and often telling, A Better Hope demonstrates how a thinker so often accused of being “tribal” and “sectarian” is, at the same time, one of few contemporary theologians read not just by other theologians, but by political scientists, philosophers, medical ethicists, law professors, and literary theorists.
With Logos Bible Software, Scripture passages appear on mouse-over, and all cross-references link to the other resources in your digital library, making this volume powerful and easy to access—a cornerstone reference for scholarly work or personal Bible study. Perform comprehensive searches by topic or Scripture reference—finding, for instance, every mention of “postmodernism” or “capitalism.”
Key Features
- Shows how postmodernism is the overworking of the logic of capitalism
- Gives an account of the life and work of Walter Rauschenbusch
- Incorporates insights from Reinhold Niebuhr, John Courtney Murray, and Walter Rauschenbusch
Contents
- Part 1. The Church in the Time Called America
- On Being a Christian and an American
- The Christian Difference: Or, Surviving Postmodernism
- Resisting Capitalism: On Marriage and Homosexuality
- Part 2. Christian Ethics in American Time
- Christian Ethics in America (and the Journal of Religious Ethics): A Report on a Book I Will Not Write
- Walter Rauschenbusch and the Saving of America
- Not Late Enough: The Divided Mind of Dignitatis Humanae Personae
- Only Theology Overcomes Ethics: Or, What “Ethicists” Must Learn from Jenson
- Why The Politics of Jesus Is Not a Classic
- Part 3. Church Time
- Why Time Cannot and Should Not Heal the Wounds of History, But Time Has Been and Can Be Redeemed
- Worship, Evangelism, Ethics: On Eliminating the “And”
- Enduring: Or, How Rowan Greer Taught Me How to Read
- Captured in Time: Friendship and Aging (with Laura Yordy)
- Sinsick
- McInerny Did It: Or, Should a Pacifist Read Murder Mysteries?
Top Highlights
“That we are commanded to love our enemies is not a strategy to guarantee that all enmity can be overcome, but a reminder that for Christians our lives must be determined by our loves, not our hates. That is why Christians cannot afford to let ourselves be defined by what we are against. Whatever or whomever we are against, we are so only because God has given us so much to be for.” (Page 9)
“Modernity and its bastard offspring postmodernity are but reflections of the Christian attempt to make God a god available without the mediation of the church.9 Such a god cannot help but become some ‘timeless thing’ necessary to ensure the assumed truth of Christianity in service to the growth of secular power.” (Page 38)
“I have never sought to justify Christian withdrawal from social and political involvement; I have just wanted us to be involved as Christians.” (Page 24)
“I am still mad as hell at Christians, which certainly includes myself, for making the practice of the Christian faith so uninteresting.” (Page 10)
“America, therefore, is but the institutionalization as well as celebration of what Augustine describes as the City of Man.” (Page 14)
Praise for the Print Edition
Stanley Hauerwas is always provocative, regularly funny, and right more often than his critics will ever admit. His pacifism implies no objection to vigorous intellectual combat. As Shakespeare put it, ‘Once more into the breach, dear friends.’
—William Placher (1948–2008), LaFollette Distinguished Professor in the Humanities, Wabash College
Engaging and provocative. . . . Those who know Hauerwas will enjoy this, and those who don’t may consider it a fine way to become acquainted with his thought.
—Publishers Weekly
Both interesting and challenging—in style as well as content. It is thought-provoking, often contentious but far from conclusive.
—Themelios
Hauerwas offers believers much that is worth pondering. . . . Perhaps Hauerwas’ work, along with similar works, will encourage debate within the churches that will create opportunities for building a distinctly Christian subculture that can effectively challenge this world’s assumptions.
—Philosophia Christi
Ranging over a wide variety of topics, Hauerwas demonstrates why he is one of the most provocative (in every sense of the word) theologians in America today. . . . That he goes against the cultural and theological steam is more than evident. That we have much to learn from him should be equally evident.
—Trinity Seminary Review
Hauerwas, never shy with his critiques, offers up a sharply drawn account of the church’s abuse of secular idealism in shaping its own inner workings. Though critical in nature, A Better Hope offers valuable insights from a theologian who has led the ethical revolution on how the church may impact, while itself not be impacted by secular society. . . . For those who desire a refreshing new approach to the church’s interaction with society, Hauerwas will certainly not disappoint.
—Ashland Theological Journal
Product Details
- Title: A Better Hope: Resources for a Church Confronting Capitalism, Democracy, and Postmodernity
- Author: Stanley Hauerwas
- Publisher: Brazos Press
- Publication Date: 2000
- Pages: 288
