Jean Bethke Elshtain

Description

Jean Bethke Elshtain (1941–2013) was a noted ethicist, political philosopher, and public intellectual. Her four decades of scholarship defy easy categorization: she wrote both seminal works of theory and occasional pieces for the popular press, and she was variously viewed as radical and conservative, feminist and traditionalist, anti-war and pro-interventionist. Jean Bethke Elshtain: Politics, Ethics, and Society is the first attempt to evaluate Elshtain’s entire published body of work and to give shape to a wide-ranging scholarly career, with an eye to her work’s ongoing relevance. This collection of essays brings together scholars and public intellectuals from across the spectrum of disciplines in which Elshtain wrote. The volume is organized around four themes, which identify the central concerns that shaped Elshtain’s thought: (1) the nature of politics; (2) politics and religion; (3) international relations and just war; and (4) the end(s) of political life. The essays have been chosen not only for the expertise of each contributor as it bears on Elshtain’s work but also for their interpretive and analytic scope. This volume introduces readers to the work of a key contemporary thinker, using Elshtain’s writing as a lens through which to reflect on central political and scholarly debates of the last few decades. Jean Bethke Elshtain will be of great interest to specialists researching Elshtain and to scholars of multiple disciplines, particularly political theory, international relations, and religion.

Contributors: Debra Erickson Sulai, Michael Le Chevallier, Robin W. Lovin, William A. Galston, Arlene W. Saxonhouse, Don Browning, Peter Berkowitz, Nancy J. Hirschmann, Michael Kessler, Lisa Sowle Cahill, Nigel Biggar, Gilbert Meilaender, Eric Gregory, Daniel Philpott, Marc LiVecche, Nicholas Rengger, John D. Carlson, Chris Brown, Michael Walzer, James Turner Johnson, Erik Owens, Francis Fukuyama, Carl Gershman, and Patrick J. Deneen.

Sujets

• Philosophie
• Éthique et morale
• Moral Philosophy
• POLITICAL SCIENCE
• PHILOSOPHY
• Philosophie et théologie
• Ethics

Informations

• Publié par: University of Notre Dame Press
• Date de parution: 30 avril 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9780268103088
• Langue: English

Extrait

JEAN BETHKE ELSHTAIN
CATHOLIC IDEAS FOR A SECULAR WORLD
O. Carter Snead, series editor
The purpose of this interdisciplinary series is to feature authors from around the world who will expand the influence of Catholic thought on the most important conversations in academia and the public square. The series is “Catholic” in the sense that the books will emphasize and engage the enduring themes of human dignity and flourishing, the common good, truth, beauty, justice, and freedom in ways that reflect and deepen principles affirmed by the Catholic Church for millennia. It is not limited to Catholic authors or even works that explicitly take Catholic principles as a point of departure. Its books are intended to demonstrate the diversity and enhance the relevance of these enduring themes and principles in numerous subjects, ranging from the arts and humanities to the sciences.
JEAN BETHKE ELSHTAIN
Politics, Ethics, and Society
EDITED BY
Debra Erickson and Michael Le Chevallier
UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME PRESS
NOTRE DAME, INDIANA
University of Notre Dame Press
Notre Dame, Indiana 46556
www.undpress.nd.edu
Copyright © 2018 by University of Notre Dame
All Rights Reserved
Published in the United States of America
For the print edition: “Atlantis,” copyright © 1945 and renewed 1973
by W. H. Auden; from W. H. Auden Collected Poems, by W. H. Auden.
Used by permission of Random House, an imprint and division
of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
For digital editions: “Atlantis,” copyright © 1945 and renewed
by W. H. Auden; from W. H. Auden Collected Poems, by W. H. Auden.
Reprinted by permission of Curtis Brown, Ltd.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Erickson, Debra, editor. | Le Chevallier, Michael Thomas, 1984– editor.
Title: Jean Bethke Elshtain : politics, ethics, and society / edited by Debra Erickson and Michael Le Chevallier.
Description: Notre Dame : University of Notre Dame Press, 2018. | Includes index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2017055859 (print) | LCCN 2018000915 (ebook) | ISBN 9780268103071 (pdf) | ISBN 9780268103088 (epub) | ISBN 9780268103057 (hardcover : alk. paper) | ISBN 0268103054 (hardcover : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Elshtain, Jean Bethke, 1941–2013. | Ethics. | Political science—Philosophy. | Social philosophy.
Classification: LCC BJ354.E473 (ebook) | LCC BJ354.E473 J43 2018 (print) | DDC 191—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017055859
∞ This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992
(Permanence of 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]
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
Introduction: Jean Bethke Elshtain, life and Work
Debra Erickson and Michael Le Chevallier
PART I. The Political Question
Introduction
Robin W. Lovin
1 Becoming Jean Elshtain: Exploring the Intersections of Social feminism and Civic life
William A. Galston
2 The Context and Texts of Public Man, Private Woman : Jean Bethke Elshtain in the World of Ideas and Action
Arlene W. Saxonhouse
3 Elshtain’s “Reflective” Ethics of Feminism and Family: An Appreciation and Critique
Don Browning
4 Striking the Balance: Blending Liberty, Tradition, and Reform
Peter Berkowitz

5 Democracy, Depression, and Disability: Jean Elshtain on Democracy, Despair, and Hope
Nancy J. Hirschmann
PART II. Cities of God and Man
Introduction
Michael Kessler
6 Sovereign No More? Selves, States, and God in Our Bewildering Global Environment
Lisa Sowle Cahill
7 Staggering Onward, Rejoicing: Jean Bethke Elshtain, Augustinian Realist
Nigel Biggar
8 Engaging the Mind of Elshtain on Sovereignty
Gilbert Meilaender
9 Taking Love Seriously: Elshtain’s Augustinian Voice and Modern Politics
Eric Gregory
10 Supremacy at Stake: Religion and the Sovereign State in the Work of Jean Elshtain
Daniel Philpott
PART III. Nations and Citizens at Peace and War
Introduction
Marc LiVecche
11 Two Sovereigns? Violence and the Ambiguities of Jean Bethke Elshtain’s Christian Realism
Nicholas Rengger

12 The Education of a Just War Thinker: Politics and Patriotism through the Lens of Gender
John D. Carlson
13 A New, but Still a Just War against Terror
Chris Brown
14 Just War and Religion: Reflections on the Work of Jean Elshtain
Michael Walzer
15 The Effect of Perspectives on Thinking about Sovereignty: A Dialogue with Jean Bethke Elshtain
James Turner Johnson
PART IV. The End(s) of Political Life
Introduction
Erik Owens
16 Civil Society and Political Society
Francis Fukuyama
17 Religion and Democracy: Beyond the Clash of Civilizations
Carl Gershman
18 Defending the Indefensible: The Tragedy of Jean Bethke Elshtain’s Defense of the Liberal Consensus
Patrick J. Deneen
19 The Limits of Politics and the Inevitability of Ethics
Robin W. Lovin
List of Contributors
Index
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book results from the labor of many contributors over several years. First and foremost, the editors wish to thank the McDonald Agape Foundation for funding the Engaged Mind conference series, out of which these essays emerged, and for its support of the publication of this volume. Al McDonald in particular has been a tireless supporter in sustaining these ongoing conversations with Jean Bethke Elshtain and her work. Thanks are also due to the conference participants whose contributions shaped the conversation but are not directly represented here.
We are also grateful for the administrative and material support provided by the Martin Marty Center at the University of Chicago Divinity School, which provided a home for the project throughout its life. Here we recognize William Schweiker, past director of the Marty Center, for his insight and encouragement; Susie McGee, for her logistical capability and deft handling of details; and Terren Wein, director of communications, for guiding publicity and marketing. Michelle Harrington assisted with the first conference, and numerous other members of the Divinity School community contributed time and talents to make this effort a success.
In the process of shaping the original contributions into a single book, we received advice from John D. Carlson on publication, who also wrote an essay for this volume. We thank Steve Wrinn at the University of Notre Dame Press for his support and guidance, Scott Barker for his excellent copyediting, and all the staff at the press.
The group of contributors to this volume is without parallel. Their reputations speak for themselves. We are grateful for the opportunity to bring these thinkers into conversation with Elshtain’s work and with each other, and for their patience in the process of bringing their essays to publication.
We also want to acknowledge the significant help we received from Jean Elshtain’s family, including her husband, Errol Elshtain, and son, Eric Elshtain, in the writing of the introduction and the preparation of the manuscript. We look forward to the fruits of their effort to publish the remainder of her unpublished work.
The coeditors recognize the essential nature of each other’s contribution to the project. Since we began working together on the conference planning, now more than five years ago, we discovered that our talents meshed well, and we both believe that without the other’s work, the book likely would not have come to fruition.
Both of us were fortunate to have worked closely with Jean Elshtain in the years before her death. Her gifts to us are too numerous to recount, but we hope that our debts to her are at least partially discharged with the publication of this book. Debra Erickson Michael Le Chevallier Bloomsburg University University of Chicago
ABBREVIATIONS ALP Augustine and the Limits of Politics . Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1995. DT Democracy on Trial . New York: Basic Books, 1995. JA Jane Addams and the Dream of American Democracy: A Life . New York: Basic Books, 2002. JWT Just War against Terror: The Burden of American Power in a Violent World. Second edition. New York: Basic Books, 2004. NW New Wine and Old Bottles: International Politics and Ethical Discourse. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1998. PT Power Trips and Other Journeys: Essays in Feminism as Civic Discourse . Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1990. PMPW Public Man, Private Woman: Women in Social and Political Thought . 2nd ed., with a new afterword by the author. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1993. RP Real Politics: At the Center of Everyday Life . Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000. S Sovereignty: God, State, and Self . New York: Basic Books, 2008. WAW Who Are We? Critical Reflections and Hopeful Possibilities . Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 2000. WW Women and War, with a New Epilogue . 2nd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995.
I NTRODUCTION
Jean Bethke Elshtain, Life and Work
Debra Erickson and Michael Le Chevallier
A DEMOCRATIC LIFE
Who is Jean Bethke Elshtain to the work she leaves behind? For certain ethical thinkers, their biography is interesting, but incidental to their work: Peter Lombard, John Calvin, or, at an extreme, Thomas Aquinas, whose anonymity as an author is heralded as a virtue. For others, their biography and their writings are inseparable: Augustine and Luther, Bonhoeffer and Havel. Elshtain never published a memoir, but she often peppered her essays and books with small anecdotes and stories. These are not stories of her travels or her many famous friends and acquaintances, including a pope, a cardinal, and a president; they are much more quotidian. As her grandson Bobby recounted at her funeral, he had shared late nights with her when she would discuss drinking vodka in the Soviet Union, but she also explained “why it was tha