Robert Kraynak and Glenn Tinder contend that the major challenge of our time is to recover a true and authentic understanding of human dignity and to defend it against threats from modern civilization. In Defense of Human Dignity wrestles with the dilemma that contemporary society has developed a heightened sensitivity to the demands of human dignity while creating radically new dangers to humanity in the form of the totalitarian state, modern technology, genetic engineering, the practical ethics movement, and radical environmentalism. Representing diverse viewpoints, the authors of this volume explore what is meant by "human dignity" and related notions, such as the "sanctity of life." The authors not only defend human dignity - drawing upon principles from Kantian ethics, theories of human rights, the Bible, and Christian theology - they also examine the limitations and problems of misguided conceptions of human dignity.The inspiration for this volume is the publication twenty years ago of the Covey Lectures by Glenn Tinder under the title Against Fate

Do Christianity and modern liberal democracy share a common moral vision, or are they opposed and even hostile to each other? In Christian Faith and Modern Democracy, Robert Kraynak challenges the commonly accepted view that Christianity is inherently compatible with modern democratic society. Contrary to conventional wisdom, Kraynak argues that there is no necessary connection between Christianity and any form of government and that, in many important respects, Christianity is weakened by its close alliance with contemporary versions of democracy and human rights.

Christian Faith and Modern Democracy was written, in part, to convince secular intellectuals that modern democracy needs God. But it was also written in response to the new consensus about politics that has emerged among Christian believers. Almost all churches and theologians now think that the form of government most compatible with Christianity is democracy and that the historic opposition of the Christian tradition to democracy and to various forms of liberalism was a mistake. What caused Christians to change their view of political authority and to embrace liberal democracy? Were they wise to change their view?

This provocative book attempts to answer these questions by reexamining the relationship between democracy and Christianity through the lens of St. Augustine's distinction between the city of God and the earthly city, applied to the conditions of the modern age. Kraynak argues that St. Augustine's teaching provides the basis for a Christian theory of constitutional government and permits a variety of legitimate forms of government, including constitutional democracy. Yet, unlike contemporary Christiandoctrines, it does so without embracing the subversive premises of liberalism that have threatened to turn the Christian faith into little more than a mirror image of the modern world.

Sure to spark controversy among secular intellectuals and Christian believers alike, this insightful volume is an outstanding work of political philosophy with a firm foundation in theology.

Behind many of the hottest political issues of the current moment -abortion, stem-cell research, Intelligent Design, Islamic fundamentalism-stands a resurgence of the centuries-old contest between religion and the Enlightenment. In such circumstances, a volume of essays honoring the thought of Werner J. Dannhauser is particularly timely. An expert on Nietzsche and Jewish political thought, Dannhauser's abiding concern was the issue of "reason, faith, and politics." Does secular rationalism, as promoted by the Enlightenment, provide an adequate basis for moral and political life? Or does the modern state ultimately require religious habits and beliefs even while tending to undermine them? Is the emergence of the religious right, then, a necessary and salutary phenomenon? Or does it pose dangers to our liberal constitution and to minority religious communities, such as Jews and Muslims? In short, is Enlightenment rationalism helpful or harmful to social life? And is Biblical religion necessary for or in tension with American liberal democracy? Questions such as these, which have concerned Dannhauser throughout a long scholarly career, have recently reemerged as front-page issues. In addressing this theme, the eleven essays comprising the present volume-by such scholars as Francis Fukuyama, Walter Berns, Jeremy Rabkin, and Ralph Lerner-range widely over Western intellectual history, from classical philosophy and ancient Israel, to the Medieval period and the Renaissance, to Nietzsche, and to contemporary neoconservative thought.

Robert Kraynak and Glenn Tinder contend that the major challenge of our time is to recover a true and authentic understanding of human dignity and to defend it against threats from modern civilization. In Defense of Human Dignity wrestles with the dilemma that contemporary society has developed a heightened sensitivity to the demands of human dignity while creating radically new dangers to humanity in the form of the totalitarian state, modern technology, genetic engineering, the practical ethics movement, and radical environmentalism. Representing diverse viewpoints, the authors of this volume explore what is meant by "human dignity" and related notions, such as the "sanctity of life." The authors not only defend human dignity - drawing upon principles from Kantian ethics, theories of human rights, the Bible, and Christian theology - they also examine the limitations and problems of misguided conceptions of human dignity.The inspiration for this volume is the publication twenty years ago of the Covey Lectures by Glenn Tinder under the title Against Fate

Do Christianity and modern liberal democracy share a common moral vision, or are they opposed and even hostile to each other? In Christian Faith and Modern Democracy, Robert Kraynak challenges the commonly accepted view that Christianity is inherently compatible with modern democratic society. Contrary to conventional wisdom, Kraynak argues that there is no necessary connection between Christianity and any form of government and that, in many important respects, Christianity is weakened by its close alliance with contemporary versions of democracy and human rights.

Christian Faith and Modern Democracy was written, in part, to convince secular intellectuals that modern democracy needs God. But it was also written in response to the new consensus about politics that has emerged among Christian believers. Almost all churches and theologians now think that the form of government most compatible with Christianity is democracy and that the historic opposition of the Christian tradition to democracy and to various forms of liberalism was a mistake. What caused Christians to change their view of political authority and to embrace liberal democracy? Were they wise to change their view?

This provocative book attempts to answer these questions by reexamining the relationship between democracy and Christianity through the lens of St. Augustine's distinction between the city of God and the earthly city, applied to the conditions of the modern age. Kraynak argues that St. Augustine's teaching provides the basis for a Christian theory of constitutional government and permits a variety of legitimate forms of government, including constitutional democracy. Yet, unlike contemporary Christiandoctrines, it does so without embracing the subversive premises of liberalism that have threatened to turn the Christian faith into little more than a mirror image of the modern world.

Sure to spark controversy among secular intellectuals and Christian believers alike, this insightful volume is an outstanding work of political philosophy with a firm foundation in theology.