Assessing the Augustinian Democrats. Issue 3 (30th September 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Tran, Jonathan
• Is Part Of: Journal of religious ethics. Volume 46:Issue 3(2018)
• Page Start: 521
• Page End: 547
• Publication Date: 2018-09-30
• Subjects: Jeff Stout -- Augustinian liberalism -- Charles Mathewes -- Eric Gregory -- church; Ethics -- Periodicals; Religious ethics -- Periodicals; Morale religieuse; Religion; Théologie; 205
• DOI: 10.1111/jore.12230
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0384-9694

Abstract

Abstract: In this essay I argue that Christian political participation as envisioned by those I term "Augustinian democrats"—a group of Protestant ethicists following a path cleared by Jeffrey Stout's 2004 Democracy and Tradition —is founded upon an elegantly rendered political ontology, but leaves incomplete a description of the practical task and place of the church. My contention is that this incompletely developed practical task is not accidental to the manner in which these Augustinians complete the speculative, ontological task. The completion of the speculative task combined with the incompletion of the practical task, I conclude, nevertheless results in a hybrid and especially interesting picture of personhood that points to an understanding of Protestantism as the attempt to recover human individuality within Christianity.