{"id":97736,"date":"2016-10-21T17:25:10","date_gmt":"2016-10-22T00:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?p=97736"},"modified":"2016-10-21T17:25:10","modified_gmt":"2016-10-22T00:25:10","slug":"this-is-a-really-good-piece-from-brandon-mcginley-at-first-things","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2016\/10\/this-is-a-really-good-piece-from-brandon-mcginley-at-first-things.html","title":{"rendered":"This is a really good piece from Brandon McGinley at First Things"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u2026rejecting the \u201cdirty hands\u201d thesis Jean Bethke Elshtain put forward a decade ago in defense of doing evil that good may come of it<\/a>. It has placed Christian in the current bind they find themselves in and, like all Faustian Bargains, given them nothing in return. Bravo!<\/p>\n

Elshtain\u2019s thesis was that strong-minded leadership sometimes requires violating general moral norms against certain kinds of coercive interrogation techniques. These actions were not good<\/i>, butnecessary evils<\/i> that the effective leader must come to terms with. Humorously in an essay providing an elaborate justification of torture, Elshtain wrote that these leaders \u201cshould not write elaborate justifications of [torture].\u201d The naivet\u00e9 of this idea\u2014that \u201cdirty hands\u201d thinking can be sequestered to the decision-making elite\u2014has been demonstrated convincingly by the ubiquity of \u201cdirty hands\u201d thinking, whether about terrorism or politics, among otherwise levelheaded Christians.<\/p>\n

The application to electoral politics is easy to see: In our democracy, the people are said to have the power. We are the leaders, and we have to get our hands dirty in the filth of modern secular politics. But in denuding our political witness of anything discernably Christian or even discernably moral, we simply participate with the secularists in the decline of liberal political norms. Liberal constitutional government, as John Adams so presciently wrote, requires Christians to act like Christians, not like secular liberals with cross necklaces tucked under our shirts.<\/p>\n

This doesn\u2019t have to mean monkish quietism (though the prayers of holy monks would be much appreciated), but it certainly does mean that compromises of principle are unacceptable. Apologizing for an appalling nominee makes the authentic Christian faith\u2014the faith that values meekness and detachment and suffering\u2014more appealing to exactly zero people. We have other modes of political participation available to us: local and state campaigns, grassroots organizing, building intentional communities, and so on. This is an opportunity to think creatively and realistically about what Christian political witness will look like going forward.<\/p>\n

Regardless of who wins this presidential election, we are embarking on a new and frightening time for Christians in America. But the appeal of holiness, conscience, and, yes, moral purity is timeless. In any political dispensation\u2014even and especially <\/i>amid the coming persecution\u2014we can do nothing better for ourselves, for our society, and for the Body of Christ than to pursue relentlessly that which is true, good, and beautiful. This is Christian hope, and it is the antidote for political despair.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2026rejecting the \u201cdirty hands\u201d thesis Jean Bethke Elshtain put forward a decade ago in defense of doing evil that good may come of it. It has placed Christian in the current bind they find themselves in and, like all Faustian Bargains, given them nothing in return. Bravo! Elshtain\u2019s thesis was that strong-minded leadership sometimes requires […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[44],"class_list":["post-97736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-consequentialism-on-parade"],"yoast_head":"\nThis is a really good piece from Brandon McGinley at First Things<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"...rejecting the "dirty hands" thesis Jean Bethke Elshtain put forward a decade ago in defense of doing evil that good may come of it. It has placed\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2016\/10\/this-is-a-really-good-piece-from-brandon-mcginley-at-first-things.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"This is a really good piece from Brandon McGinley at First Things\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"...rejecting the "dirty hands" thesis Jean Bethke Elshtain put forward a decade ago in defense of doing evil that good may come of it. It has placed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2016\/10\/this-is-a-really-good-piece-from-brandon-mcginley-at-first-things.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic and Enjoying It!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-10-22T00:25:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark Shea\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mark Shea\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2016\/10\/this-is-a-really-good-piece-from-brandon-mcginley-at-first-things.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2016\/10\/this-is-a-really-good-piece-from-brandon-mcginley-at-first-things.html\",\"name\":\"This is a really good piece from Brandon McGinley at First Things\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-10-22T00:25:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-10-22T00:25:10+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5\"},\"description\":\"...rejecting the \\\"dirty hands\\\" thesis Jean Bethke Elshtain put forward a decade ago in defense of doing evil that good may come of it. It has placed\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2016\/10\/this-is-a-really-good-piece-from-brandon-mcginley-at-first-things.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2016\/10\/this-is-a-really-good-piece-from-brandon-mcginley-at-first-things.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2016\/10\/this-is-a-really-good-piece-from-brandon-mcginley-at-first-things.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"This is a really good piece from Brandon McGinley at First Things\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/\",\"name\":\"Catholic and Enjoying It!\",\"description\":\"Mark Shea's Blog: So That No Thought of Mine, No Matter How Stupid, Should Ever Go Unpublished Again!\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5\",\"name\":\"Mark Shea\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Mark Shea\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/author\/markshea\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"This is a really good piece from Brandon McGinley at First Things","description":"...rejecting the \"dirty hands\" thesis Jean Bethke Elshtain put forward a decade ago in defense of doing evil that good may come of it. It has placed","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2016\/10\/this-is-a-really-good-piece-from-brandon-mcginley-at-first-things.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"This is a really good piece from Brandon McGinley at First Things","og_description":"...rejecting the \"dirty hands\" thesis Jean Bethke Elshtain put forward a decade ago in defense of doing evil that good may come of it. It has placed","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2016\/10\/this-is-a-really-good-piece-from-brandon-mcginley-at-first-things.html","og_site_name":"Catholic and Enjoying It!","article_published_time":"2016-10-22T00:25:10+00:00","author":"Mark Shea","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mark Shea","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2016\/10\/this-is-a-really-good-piece-from-brandon-mcginley-at-first-things.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2016\/10\/this-is-a-really-good-piece-from-brandon-mcginley-at-first-things.html","name":"This is a really good piece from Brandon McGinley at First Things","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-10-22T00:25:10+00:00","dateModified":"2016-10-22T00:25:10+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5"},"description":"...rejecting the \"dirty hands\" thesis Jean Bethke Elshtain put forward a decade ago in defense of doing evil that good may come of it. It has placed","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2016\/10\/this-is-a-really-good-piece-from-brandon-mcginley-at-first-things.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2016\/10\/this-is-a-really-good-piece-from-brandon-mcginley-at-first-things.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2016\/10\/this-is-a-really-good-piece-from-brandon-mcginley-at-first-things.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"This is a really good piece from Brandon McGinley at First Things"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/","name":"Catholic and Enjoying It!","description":"Mark Shea's Blog: So That No Thought of Mine, No Matter How Stupid, Should Ever Go Unpublished Again!","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5","name":"Mark Shea","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Mark Shea"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/author\/markshea"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97736\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}