Perhaps America\u2019s most prized possession is freedom. We call it \u201cliberalism.\u201d Stanley Hauerwas contends that \u201cliberalism is a political philosophy committed to \u2026 a social order and \u2026 government \u2026 formed on self-interest and consent.\u201d Notice those two terms: self-interest and consent. Nothing threatens us more than those two terms.\u00c2 Not that I don\u2019t value them, but \u2026 Perhaps America\u2019s most prized possession is freedom. We call it \u201cliberalism.\u201d Stanley Hauerwas contends that \u201cliberalism is a political philosophy committed to \u2026 a social order and \u2026 government \u2026 formed on self-interest and consent.\u201d Notice those two terms: self-interest and consent. Nothing threatens us more than those two terms.\u00c2 Not that I don\u2019t value […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1743,425],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kingdom-of-god","category-missional"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nIf anything comes home to me as I continue to study the Bible, serve in the Church, and ponder theology, it is this: we need a community of faith \u2014 no matter what kind of church you participate in \u2014 to follow in the way of Jesus. What do you think? Is our liberal society a threat to the communal way of life taught by Jesus? Doesn\u2019t the church conflict with a society based on self-interest and consent?
\nHauerwas argues that the \u201cmoral adventure\u201d in liberalism is to develop a culture that leaves the individual to his or her own desires by ending the coercive nature of the State. Three terms now: self-interest, consent, and the danger of coercion. What many fear the most is governmental interference in our self-interests without our consent. Fine. I, too, want to be left alone.
\nBut being left alone is the breeding ground of anti-kingdom.
\nHere\u2019s the deconstructive moment for how Hauerwas undermines liberalism: parodoxically, \u201cthe most coercive aspect of the liberal account of the world is that we are free to make up our own story. The story that liberalism teaches us is that we have no story, and as a result we fail to notice how deeply that story determines our lives.\u201d
\nAnd here\u2019s a stunning observation: \u201cIn teaching us to \u2018flee\u2019 from all moral authorities other than the self, liberalism actually leads toward the self-deception of those enslaved to slogans and simulacra in the name of \u2018freedom\u2019 that actively undermines our capacity to seek the good truthfully.\u201d
\nHauerwas adds it up: self-interest, consent, fear of coercision, self-deception.
\nAll citations from The Hauerwas Reader <\/em>and the essay in that book about him by Michael G. Cartwright (p. 636).<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"