Christianity, Democracy, and the Radical Ordinary: Conversations between a Radical Democrat and a Christian (Theopolitical Visions)

by Stanley Hauerwas; Romand Coles

Publisher:

Wipf and Stock

, 2008

Overview

Theologian Stanley Hauerwas and political theorist Romand Coles explore possibilities and practices of radical democracy and radical church, shifting political and theological imaginations beyond the limits of contemporary political formations which, they argue, are based upon both the denial and production of death.

Hauerwas and Coles call for a revolutionary politics of “wild patience” that transforms societies through listening, relationship-building, and careful attention to places, common goods, and diversity. Engaging one another through a variety of genres—from essays, to letters, to co-writing and dialogue—Hauerwas and Coles present a political approach that is evangelical, inclusive, and challenging. Pushing and pulling each other into new and insightful journeys of political imagination, they spur the reader toward politics that acknowledges and enacts the powers of the radical ordinary.

Key Features

• Provides dynamic conversation between Christianity and Democracy
• Offers insight into a more positive form of politics
• Includes a variety of viewpoints to enliven the discourse on politics and faith

Contents

• A Haunting Possibility: Christianity and Radical Democracy
• Letter of July 17, 2006
• “To Make This Tradition Articulate”: Practiced Receptivity Matters, Or Heading West of West with Cornel West and Ella Barker
• Race: The “More” It Is About: Will D. Campbell Lecture: University of Mississippi, 2006
• Letter of April 16, 2007
• Democracy and the Radical Ordinary: Wolin and the Epical Emergence of Democratic Theory
• The Pregnant Reticence of Rowan Williams: Letter of February 27, 2006, and May 2007
• The Politics of Gentleness: Random Thoughts for a Conversation with Jean Vanier
• “Gentled Into Being”: Vanier and the Border at the Core
• To Love God, the Poor, and Learning: Lessons Learned from Saint Gregory of Nazianzus
• Letter of January 8, 2005
• Hunger, Ethics, and the University: A Radical-Democratic Goad in Ten Pieces
• Of Tension and Tricksters: Grassroots Democracy between Theory and Practice
• Seeing Peace: L’Arche as a Peace Movement
• A Conversation

Praise for the Print Edition

This book gives me hope. It takes the conversation over Christianity and democracy in a most welcome direction: away from ‘ism-mongering’ and abstractions, down to earth, where instructive and inspiring examples can be found.

—Jeffrey Stout, author, Democracy and Tradition

This book is indispensable for those seeking to animate democratic spirituality.

—William E. Connolly, author, Capitalism and Christianity, American Style

Product Details

• Title: Christianity, Democracy, and the Radical Ordinary: Conversations between a Radical Democrat and a Christian
• Authors: Stanley Hauerwas, Romand Coles
• Series: Theopolitical Visions
• Volume: 1
• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Print Publication Date: 2008
• Logos Release Date: 2014
• Pages: 378
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subjects: Christianity and politics; Democracy › Religious aspects--Christianity; Christianity and politics › United States
• ISBNs: 9781556352973, 1556352972
• Resource ID: LLS:THEOPOLCHRSTIANITY
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-12-13T18:04:14Z

About the Authors

Stanley Hauerwas is the Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Ethics at Duke University. Prior to that, he was a professor at the University of Notre Dame. In 2001, he was named “America’s Best Theologian” by TIME Magazine. Hauerwas is the author of numerous books, including A Better Hope: Resources for a Church Confronting Capitalism, Democracy, and Postmodernity, With the Grain of the Universe: The Church’s Witness and Natural Theology, and A Cross-Shattered Church: Reclaiming the Theological Heart of Preaching.

Romand Coles engages in grassroots politics in Durham, North Carolina, and is associate professor of political science and germanic languages & literature at Duke University. His previous publications include Beyond Gated Politics: Reflections for the Possibility of Democracy, Rethinking Generosity: Critical Theory and the Politics of Caritas, and Self/Power/Other: Political Theory and Dialogical Ethics.