Religion among we the people : conversations on democracy and the divine good / Franklin I. Gamwell.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gamwell, Franklin I., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Democracy--Moral and ethical aspects.

Democracy.

Religion and politics--United States.

Religion and politics.

United States--Religion.

United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (258 p.)

Place of Publication:

Albany, New York : State University of New York Press, 2015.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Franklin I. Gamwell holds that democracy with religious freedom is dependent on metaphysical theism. Democratic politics can be neutral to all religious convictions only if its constitution establishes a full and free discourse about the ultimate terms of justice and their application to decisions of the state, and the divine good is the true ground of justice. Notably, Gamwell's view challenges virtually all current accounts of democracy with religious freedom. This uncommon position emerges through a series of essays in which Gamwell engages a variety of conversation partners, including Thomas Jefferson, David Strauss, Abraham Lincoln, Jürgen Habermas, Alfred North Whitehead, Reinhold Niebuhr, and Iris Murdoch. Discussions of Jefferson, Lincoln, and the US Constitution illustrate the promise of neoclassical metaphysics as a context for interpreting US history. Gamwell then defends his metaphysics against both modern refusals of metaphysics and accounts of ultimate reality offered by Niebuhr and Murdoch.

Contents:

Contents; Preface; Chapter One: Consent to Religious Freedom: The Legacy of Thomas Jefferson; The Present Question ; Jefferson's Answers ; Refining the Question ; Reason's Tribunal ; Jefferson's Legacy ; Chapter Two: On Constitutional Authority: A Conversation with David Strauss; The Living Constitution ; Jefferson's Question: Hermeneutical and Normative

The Tradition of Popular Sovereignty Advancing the Tradition ; Chapter Three: Democracy and Nature's God: The Legacy of Abraham Lincoln; Lincoln's Political Sentiments ; The Declaration's Laws of Nature ; The Almighty's Purposes ; The House Divided ; Lincoln's Legacy ; Chapter Four: On Religion in the Public Sphere: A Conversation with Jürgen Habermas

The Institutional Proviso Habermas's Proposal: A Critique ; Habermas and Rawls: The Basic Problem ; The Better Solution ; The Attachment to Democracy ; Chapter Five: On the Humanitarian Ideal: The Promise of Neoclassical Metaphysics; Kantian and Post-Enlightenment Challenges ; Metaphysics and Human Purpose

Making the Humanitarian Ideal Explicit Chapter Six: Reinhold Niebuhr's Theistic Ethic: The Law of Love; Niebuhr's Systematic Project ; Niebuhr's Ethic: Harmony and Sacrificial Love ; Niebuhr's Ethic: A Critique ; Niebuhr's Intentions Revisited ; Chapter Seven: On the Loss of Theism: A Conversation with Iris Murdoch; Emphatic Moral Realism

Good without God The Loss of Worth ; The Necessity of God ; Conclusion ; Notes ; Works Cited ; Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781438458090

1438458096

OCLC:

923734712