In Good Company

Stanley Hauerwas

Description

By exposing a different account of politics—the church as polis and "counterstory" to the world's politics—Stanley Hauerwas helps Christians to recognize the unifying beliefs and practices that make them a political entity apart from the rest of the world.

Sujets

• Philosophie
• Philosophie politique
• Éthique et morale
• Political
• PHILOSOPHY
• Philosophie et théologie
• Religión
• State
• Politics
• Religion

Informations

• Publié par: University of Notre Dame Press
• Date de parution: 31 juillet 1995
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780268161163
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

In Good Company
In Good Company
THE CHURCH AS POLIS
by Stanley Hauerwas
University of Notre Dame Press
Notre Dame, Indiana
University of Notre Dame Press
Notre Dame, Indiana 46556
www.undpress.nd.edu
All Rights Reserved
Published in the United States of America
Copyright 1995 by University of Notre Dame
Paperback published in 1997 and reprinted in 2001, 2010
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hauerwas, Stanley, 1940-
In good company : the Church as polis / Stanley Hauerwas.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-268-01172-9 (cl. : alk. paper)
ISBN 13: 978-0-268-01179-6 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN 10: 0-268-01179-6 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Church. 2. Christian ethics-Methodist authors. I. Title.
BV600.2H364 1995
262-dc20
94-40578
CIP
ISBN 9780268161163
This book is printed on acid-free paper .
This e-Book was converted from the original source file by a third-party vendor. Readers who notice any formatting, textual, or readability issues are encouraged to contact the publisher at [e-mail] .
The aesthetics of cricket demand first that you master the game, and, preferably, have played it, if not well, at least in good company. And that is not the easy acquisition outsiders think it to be.
C. L. R. James
To Paula Gilbert For making me part of her good company
Contents
Acknowledgments
Preface
Introduction
Part 1: In Protestant Company
1. What Could It Mean for the Church to Be Christ s Body? A Question without a Clear Answer
2. The Church s One Foundation Is Jesus Christ Her Lord or In a World without Foundations All We Have Is the Church
3. Why Resident Aliens Struck a Chord
4. Whose Church? Which Future? Whither the Anabaptist Vision?
Part 2: In Catholic Company
5. A Homage to Mary and to the University Called Notre Dame
6. The Importance of Being Catholic: Unsolicited Advice from a Protestant Bystander
7. Work as Co-Creation: A Critique of a Remarkably Bad Idea
8. In Praise of Centesimus Annus
9. Living in Truth: Moral Theology as Pilgrimage
Part 3: Ecclesial Ethics
10. The Liturgical Shape of the Christian Life: Teaching Christian Ethics as Worship
11. Casuisity in Context: The Need for Tradition
12. A Trinitarian Theology of the Chief End of All Flesh
13. The Kingship of Christ: Why Freedom of Belief Is Not Enough
Notes
Index
Acknowledgments
The author and publisher are grateful to the following for permission to reprint:
The Scottish Journal of Theology for What Could It Mean for the Church to Be Christ s Body? A Question Without a Clear Answer, reprinted from vol. 47, 1 (Winter 1994): 1-21.
Abingdon Press, publishers of Theology Without Foundations: Religious Practice and the Future of Theological Truth , edited by Stanley Hauerwas, Nancey Murphy, and Mark Nation, 1994, for The Church s One Foundation Is Jesus Christ Her Lord or In a World Without Foundations All We Have Is the Church.
Missiology: An International Review for Why Resident Aliens Struck a Chord, reprinted from vol. XIX, 4 (October 1991): 419-29.
Brethren Life and Thought for Whose Church? Which Future? Whither the Anabaptist Vision, reprinted from vol. 39, 3 (Summer 1994): 141-52.
South Atlantic Quarterly for A Homage to Mary and to the University Called Notre Dame, reprinted from vol. 93, 3 (Summer 1994): 717-26.
First Things for The Importance of Being Catholic: A Protestant View, reprinted from vol. 1 (March 1990): 21-30.
University Press of America, publishers of Co-Creation and Capitalism , edited by John Houck and Oliver Williams, 1983, for Work As Co-Creation: A Remarkably Bad Idea.
Theology for In Praise of Centesimus Annus , reprinted from vol. XCV, 768 (November/December 1992): 416-32.
First Things for Living in Truth, reprinted from vol. 39 (January 1994): 21-23.
Theology Today for The Chief End of All Flesh, reprinted from vol. XLIX, 2 (July 1992): 196-208.
De Paul Law Review for The Kingship of Christ: Why Freedom of Belief Is Not Enough, reprinted from vol. 42, 1 (Fall 1992): 107-27.
Preface
Christianity is connections. Connections often have a bad press, implying that through connections we can get things done in an underhanded fashion. Yet the connections that constitute Christianity, while certainly letting us get things done that would be otherwise impossible, are not hidden. To be a Christian is to be joined, to be put in connection with others so that our stories cannot be told without somehow also telling their stories. Through such telling and retellings we believe that God makes us part of God s story.
One of the remarkable things that I have discovered through writing are connections with others quite different from me and often at great distances. My life has been enriched by Catholics and Protestants around the world-in Australia, in Italy, in Ireland, in Germany, in the Netherlands, in South Africa, in Russia, and even in the United States-who have claimed me by taking my work seriously. To be so claimed is at once gratifying and frightening, but it is also a source of hope that in spite of everything God has not given up on the church. For being so connected I at least know I am made more than I could ever try to be.
One of those connections, Dr. Arne Rasmusson, a Swede, is partly responsible for this book. I first met Arne in England, where he told me he was planning to write a book on Moltmann and me for his doctorate at Lund University. I confess that I was skeptical, not of Arne s abilities but whether I was a fit subject for that kind of serious attention. Once his book was done, coupled with the University of Notre Dame Press decision to publish it, it occurred to me this book might make a kind of companion volume. There are others, such as Reinhard H tter, whose work have influenced the direction taken in this book, but I call attention to Arne s book as an example of the kind of connection so important for all of us trying to do theology for the church.
I am indebted to my old connections for helping make this book possible. I hope my footnotes indicate some of those debts to the living and the dead, to those I actually know and those I know only through books, to enemies and friends. I have been told that I footnote too much, but I think of footnotes as a way to name the connections that sustain me. I hope that my ongoing debt is obvious to those connections called David Burrell, C.S.C., James McClendon, Jean Bethke Elshtain, Robert Wilken, Alasdair MacIntyre, Nicholas Lash, John Howard Yoder. Less obvious, but no less important, is the influence of past and present graduate students who are determined to educate me.
Four of the chapters in this book have been co-authored. William Willimon is a good friend who first suggested that we should try to write something together. We have now done a number of essays and two books. Will said that he was going to make me famous and I will be damned if he has not come close to doing that-at least as famous as any theologian deserves. David Burrell, C.S.C., is one of my oldest friends. We have previously written together and I hope we shall find occasion to do so in the future. We are not members of the same church, nor do we any longer teach at the same university, but happily we continue to discover that we share judgments that make it not only possible but imperative for us from time to time to write together.
Dr. John Berkman, now of Sacred Heart University, is a former graduate student. He forced me to confront my unexamined assumptions about animals and much else. He is, however, wrong to think the American League is superior to the National League. Michael Baxter, C.S.C., I have known almost as long as Burrell. He was originally a student at the University of Notre Dame and is now completing his Ph.D in theology at Duke. I am indebted to John and Michael for risking their futures with me. I am unsure how well I am playing the game, but I am sure I would not play it nearly so well if my life were not graced by such company.
This book feels like a homecoming because for me it is a kind of homecoming. I am again being published by the University of Notre Dame Press. Notre Dame Press took the risk of publishing me when the emphasis on the virtues seemed quaint and the stress on the church anachronistic. There is still risk, though I suspect of a different kind, in publishing this book. Yet to be published again by Notre Dame seems right, but given the subject of this book it is rightly published by Notre Dame.
I am now, of course, at Duke University. I am indebted to the many friends and colleagues at Duke from whom I not only learn but are a source of delight. Mrs. Wanda Dunn remains the one most needing thanks. She not only tells me when and where I am supposed to be, when I need to write what I had forgotten I had ever promised to write, but she also does all the correspondence that all those connections require. Without her this book would not be. Dr. Jim Fodor, a post-doctoral student from Canada, has not only been an invaluable conversation partner but has also improved the style of these essays. I am indebted to him for the index, which readers of my past work will note is far superior to any I have done.
Paula and I have been married six years. I am not sure which books I have published since we have been together, but I have long wanted to dedicate one to her. I wanted it to be the right one. I hope there will be others equally appropriate, but I believe that this book is about what she cares about. I did not, however, follow her advice for the title of this book. Mary and Me is a good title, but somehow it just did not seem me. That Paula has chosen me as the one with whom she is willing to share her solitude, her humor, and her love of God, all of which I suspect are closely connected, is an extraordinary gift. I thank God for her company.
Introduction
I. Church Matters 1
In his novel The Brothers K , James Davi