Hauerwas the Liberal

Hauerwas the Liberal February 20, 2014

In his wise contribution to the Blackwell Companion to Political Theology, RR Reno concludes that Hauerwas’s theology is “a thoroughgoing

Christian liberalism” (314). 

This isn’t a criticism or a charge of inconsistency. Reno knows that Hauerwas “he rejects the liberal ideal of
critical detachment. We can never begin by distancing ourselves from that which
gives life. We must seek the density of a properly Christian life; otherwise, our
claims to freedom and reason are fantasies. Only as we fall under the power of
another – God – do we participate in practices that will empower us as agents
with sufficient ballast and force to act rather than react.”

Yet, this enables Hauerwas to “consistently adopt the vigorously critical tropes of modern, liberal
thought. The ‘step forward’ into a life of discipleship allows us to ‘step back’ from economic, political, military, and cultural forces that dominate contemporary
life, because the church has given us a place to stand. In this way,
Hauerwas vindicates the liberal desire to escape the debilitation and diminishment
of powers presumed and imposed. We can say ‘no’ to the world’s rules, if
we will but say ‘yes’ to God’s law.”

It’s ironic that Hauerwas would be here, but Reno claims that “the irony is fruitful”: “For
Hauerwas may well succeed in doing exactly that which his bête noire, liberal
Protestantism in America, has failed to do – articulate a theological vision
for men and women who wish so to serve the kingdom of God that they will be
citizens of the world rather than representatives of an imperial nation and a
liberal culture.”


Browse Our Archives