Table of Contents
Preface x
Acknowledgments xiv
Introduction 1
The Terms and Conditions of Political Life 6
Religion and Postsecular Politics 10
Theological Politics and the Ecclesial-Turn 16
Summary of Aims and Methodology 18
1 Faith-Based Organizations and the Emerging Shape of Church-State Relations 31
Introduction 31
"Working Together": The Shaping of Relations between the State and Religious Groups in a Multi-Faith Society 32
Social Cohesion, Social Capital, and the "Salvation" of Civil Society 37
Liberalism and the Continuing Requirements of Public Reason 45
Theological Politics and the Question of What Constitutes Faithful Witness 53
Ecclesiology and the Political Mission of the Church 53
Summary 57
2 Local: Augustine, Alinsky, and the Politics of the Common Good 71
Introduction 71
The Alinsky Approach: The Work of Broad-Based Community Organizing 73
Eschatology, Politics, and the Mutual Ground of the Saeculum 81
Christian Realism Redivivus? 88
A Thomistic Democratic Politics? 91
Reweaving Civil Society 94
Politics without Piety Is Pitiless; Piety without Politics Is Pitiful 96
Summary 104
3 National: Christian Cosmopolitanism, Refugees, and the Politics of Proximity 126
Introduction 126
Theological Politics and the Liberal Democratic Response to Refugees 127
i Definitions and the priority of refugees 127
ii The duty of care to near and distant neighbors 129
Refugees as Bare Life 137
Bare Life and the Limits of Humanitarianism 141
Hallowing Bare Life: A Doxological Response 142
Hallowed Be Thy Name 145
i Bare life as gift 146
ii Bare life as judgment 148
iii Bare life as promise 150
Sanctuary: The Practice of Hallowing Bare Life 152
Summary 158
4 Global: Consumerism, Fair Trade, and the Politics of Ordinary Time 175
Introduction 175
Defining Political Consumerism 176
Consumerism and the Formation of Desire 178
Political Consumerism as Apprenticeship in the Virtues 181
Political Consumerism as Neighbor Love 183
Fair Trade as Contradiction 184
i Re-prioritizing the social 185
ii Reestablishing place 186
Fair Trade, Globalization and the Emergence of Political Consumerism 187
Ordinary Politics and the Peace of Babylon 189
i Political consumerism as penultimate politics 189
ii Political consumerism as bricolage 190
iii Political consumerism as ordinary politics 192
Summary 199
Conclusion: Toward a Politics of Hospitality and a Theology of Politics 210
Epilogue 221
Bibliography 224
Index 242
