Come now, let us argue it out

Abstract

In the theology of church–state relations, the conversation between Baptists and Stanley Hauerwas has been lively. Broadway draws attention to several key aspects of the discussion. Hauerwas presses issues relating to the ongoing struggle of Baptists to hold together their radical, free-church tradition with the heritage of Reformed theology. Popular adaptation to individualistic understandings of faith open Baptists to criticism based on Hauerwas’s emphasis on community. The changing nature of the state across the past four centuries requires Baptists to reconsider some of their descriptions of how states function. Too often the church accepts an externally defined role for itself in relation to the state. On these matters, Hauerwas’s writings continue to offer much on which Baptists can reflect.