In the world's most developed democracies, anxiety about the future of democracy itself is palpable. The tension between moral aspiration and moral despair in modern political life has reached a point of crisis. Christian Realism arose during a similar time of crisis, when Reinhold Niebuhr used the insights of the Christian tradition to interpret the clash between democracy and totalitarianism in the first half of the 20th century. Beginning with Robin Lovin's account of Niebuhr's Christian realism as a nuanced blend of theological, moral, and political realisms, The Future of Christian Realism directly addresses fundamental topics in theology, ethics and politics. The contributors of this volume come from different traditions, span five continents, and together present a case for the continuing relevance of Christian realism. By paying close attention to many of the most pressing moral challenges facing societies today, the authors illustrate and evaluate the relevance of Christian realism in the contemporary world.

Employing “self-sharpening tools” found in the work of theologian and philosopher Bernard Lonergan, Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato si’, and international law, William P. George brings mining to personal and collective moral awareness by “prospecting for ethics” at selected sites: (1) Butte, Montana, “the Richest Hill on Earth,” once bound to Chuquicamata, Chile, by a company that spanned two continents and nearly owned a state; (2) the tiny island nation of Nauru, called Pleasant Island until it was devastated by phosphate mining and the breaking of a sacred trust by foreign powers; (3) the deep seabed, governed by the United Nations Law of the Sea, a “constitution for the oceans” that regards much of the resource-rich seabed as humankind’s “common heritage”; (4) Africa, with its uranium mines but also its conflicts over what “being nuclear” means in the wake of colonialism, apartheid, and Hiroshima; and (5) mineral-rich asteroids, speeding through space, where mining rights are contested, even as space entrepreneurs look to become the world’s first trillionaires. George introduces readers to remarkable moral miners––the women of Butte and Chuquicamata, a World Court judge from Sri Lanka, the Rocket Boys of Coalwood, West Virginia, to name a few––and leads them to consider not only the morality of mining––what’s good and not so good about resource extraction––but also the mining of morality, a venture that Socrates called “the examined life.”