Faith, Morality, and Civil Society

Contributions by David Oki Ahearn, Michael D. Bailey Iowa State University, Dr. John P. Bartkowski University of Texas at Sa, Steven P. Brown, Beverly Gaddy, Joshua P. Hochschild, Kevin Pybas, Helen A. Regis, Brad Lowell Stone, Alan Wolfe Director of the Boisi Cen, Alan Woolfolk Edited by Dale McConkey, Peter Augustine Lawler Berry College

Publication date:

16 May 2003

Length of book:

250 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

Dimensions:

232x145mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9780739104835

In this rich collection of essays, editors Dale McConkey and Peter Augustine Lawler explore the contributions that religious faith and morality can make to a civil society. Though the level of religious expression has remained high in the United States, the shift from traditional religious beliefs to a far more individualized style of faith has led many to contend that no faith commitment, collective or personal, should contribute to the vibrancy of a civil democratic society. Challenging those who believe that the private realm is the only appropriate locus of religious belief, the contributors to this volume believe that religion can inform and invigorate the secular institutions of society such as education, economics, and politics. Drawn from a wide variety of religious and moral traditions, these diverse essays show, from many perspectives, the important contribution religion has to make in the public square that is civil society.

Part 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 The Potential for Pluralism: Religious Responses to the Triumph of Theory and Method in American Academia
Chapter 3 Neo-Calvinist Social Thought and Civic Education
Chapter 4 The Principle of Subsidiarity and the Agrarian Ideal
Chapter 5 The Varieties of Democratic Experience
Chapter 6 The Changing Landscape of Religion and Politics in America: The 2000 Presidential Elections
Chapter 7 Holy Books, Not Pocketbooks: Religious and Cultural Influences on the 2000 Presidential Election
Chapter 8 Religious Civility, Civil Society, and Charitable Choice: Faith-Based Poverty Relief in the Post-Welfare Era
Chapter 9 Speech, Not Religion: The Dilemma of Religious Conservatives in the Public Square
Chapter 10 Faith, Tolerance, and Civil Society
Chapter 11 Aliens and Citizens: Competing Models of Political Involvement in Contemporary Christian Social Ethics
Chapter 12 Inverted Morality
Chapter 13 From Virtues to Values: Some Opening Thoughts

In its methodological diversity, its wide range of concerns, and its attention to the dynamics of American religion and pluralism, this volume will contribute to the ongoing attempt-academically and, one hopes, practically-of navigating "our" way into the American 21st century.