Christian Pragmatism

Michael Rodriguez Saturday, 1 September 2007

John Danforth, Faith and Politics: How the "Moral Values" Debate Divides America and How to Move Forward Together (Viking Adult, 2006). 256 pp. $24.95.

If the writing of a political memoir can be characterized as a "profile in courage," Senator John Danforth's provocative and highly readable critique of the religionization of politics certainly fits the bill. He excoriates his own (Republican) party for irresponsibly supplanting traditional republican principles with the political agenda of hard-line Christian conservatives, as illustrated most notably by their manipulation of the Terri Schiavo case. But Faith and Politics also makes a timely contribution to political discourse by sketching an alternative vision for Christian civic engagement that is firmly grounded in the New Testament ethics of St. Paul and the epistemology of American pragmatism.

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