Stanley Hauerwas Research Articles

The Silence of God and the Witness of the Christian Soldier through Kenosis

The moral status of soldiers as agent-instruments of polities has been long debated among Christians. Recognizing soldiers’ moral vulnerability, Stanley Hauerwas has argued for a pastoral rather than a missiological shape of what Oliver O’Donovan has called evangelical counter-praxis through a Christian’s participation in war. To reframe the complications of this dilemma, this essay argues that the Christian soldier has the potential to actively witness the love of Jesus Christ through a kenotic repudiation of one’s unwillingness to kill. Through an interpretation of Shusaku Endo’s novel Silence, a correspondence between the Christian soldier and the apostate-cum-martyr Fr. Rodrigues is arguable through an act of paradoxical faith in Jesus, where killing the enemy becomes an imitation of his self-emptying on the cross for the sake of others. Christian soldiers may find self-understanding, healing, and forgiveness by naming their acts truthfully with the intention to move through confession to gratitude and a deeper love for God and neighbor.

Re-Engaging Law and Theology: Walter Dennis and the Need for an Episcopal Church Theology and Praxis of the Law

On the question whether the Anglican Communion/The Episcopal Church has a theology of abortion, an important factor overlooked. It is the relationship between theology and law as understood in the Episcopal Church/Anglicanism. On reproductive choice, theologians, pastors, politicians, and activists rarely display an interest in the law, except on how to use it as a tool for a specific goals. I contend that the discourse on abortion (within the Church, and the body politic) would benefit from a more comprehensive understanding of the law. This practicing theology essay will introduce readers to the meaning and purpose of the law in a pluralistic and multiracial society. Through the work of William Stringfellow and Stanley Hauerwas and with special focus on the work and witness of Bishop Walter D. Dennis (Suffragan Bishop of New York 1979–1998), I seek to develop an Anglican/Episcopal synthesis for a theological praxis of the law

Barth’s “Alternative” Follower: Stanley Hauerwas and the Traditions of 20th-Century North American Theology and Ethics

Barth’s “Alternative” Follower: Stanley Hauerwas and the Traditions of 20th-Century North American Theology and Ethics

Fleshing Out the Strength of Weakness: Intercorporeality in the Theological Discourse on Disability

AbstractIn the context of theological interpretations of disabilities, I am arguing for the concept of “strength in weakness.” So far, a “theology of weakness,” which portrays people with disabilities as pointedly illustrating universal human weakness, has played a very prominent role in the field. I argue that this theological interpretation of disabilities should not be the dominant one. I trace the alternative model of “strength in weakness” in discussing writings by the apostle Paul and describe how it is supported by the anthropological concept of intercorporeality. Yet first, the article discusses Stanley Hauerwas’s theology of disability, which is not only a very pointed theology of weakness but also repeatedly associates disabilities with suffering. Since at least the latter aspect is in contrast with widespread self-perceptions among people with disabilities, a theology of weakness amounts to a “narrative prosthesis” (David Mitchell and Sharon Snyder). By contrast, Paul suggests that weakness can allow for distinct strengths. To flesh out distinctive competences of people with intellectual disabilities, I then discuss Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s concept of intercorporeality. Intercorporeality denotes a human competence more generally, but I suggest that it is often partly eclipsed by social norms. However, people with intellectual disabilities often pay less attention to social norms, which helps explain a distinctive intercorporeal competence among people with intellectual disabilities. Reduced attention to social norms can imply a distinctive strength.

A Signature Pedagogy: Virtue-Based Service-Learning and the Theopolitical Ethics of Stanley Hauerwas

The purpose of this conceptual essay is to explore how the theological politics of Stanley Hauerwas can provide an appropriate yet accessible ethical framework for faculty members and administrators at American Christian colleges and universities seeking to maximize the effects of service-learning. An attempt will be made to propose a virtue-based model of service-learning emphasizing the development of hope and patience through an understanding of the Christian church as a contrast society seeking to be a servant community dependent upon God.

Peaceable Community: With Special Reference to Niebuhr, Ramsey, and Hauerwas

precis: This essay focuses primarily on the observations and insights of Reinhold Niebuhr, Paul Ramsey, and Stanley Hauerwas regarding violence, just war, peace, and justice. Niebuhr emphasized the proximity of justice to agape ; however, due to the hindrance of sin, it is impossible for humanity to realize this moral ideal in history, and it thus requires the power to seek justice and peace. Ramsey expanded on Niebuhr’s political realism and considered a “statecraft” that seeks to maintain a rightful order of justice. Hauerwas has expressed his criticism of political realism and the concept of just war, expounding on his pacifist thoughts.

On the Need for Distinctive Christian Moral Psychologies

I show how those with Kantian habits of mind—those committed to maintaining certain kinds of universality in ethics—can still get involved in the project of securing the distinctiveness of Christian ethics by highlighting parts of his moral philosophy that are amenable to this project. I first describe the interaction among James Gustafson, Stanley Hauerwas, and Samuel Wells surrounding the issue of the distinctiveness of Christian ethics, to explain why Kant is generally understood as the opponent of this project in this discourse. Then I lay out his discussions of how his moral argument for postulating divine existence can have beneficial moral-psychological results, and of how we can find moral satisfaction, the sense of pleasure in our moral strivings, as two elements in his moral philosophy that can be turned into a distinctively Christian ethics with revisions that should be allowed within the broad confines of Kantian moral philosophy. I also point out that his own answer to the question of moral satisfaction is already distinctively Christian, in that it is inspired by the Christian tenets of the imputation of righteousness and the assurance of salvation.

Book Review: Fully Alive: The Apocalyptic Humanism of Karl Barth by Stanley Hauerwas

Book Review: <i>Fully Alive: The Apocalyptic Humanism of Karl Barth</i> by Stanley Hauerwas

A Friend's Death: C.S. Lewis' Disagreement with St. Augustine

Lewis did nothing to conceal his admiration of—and theological pedigree to—Augustine: as he wrote, Augustine “is a great saint and a great thinker to whom my old glad debts are incalculable.”3 This is why the only time he explicitly disagrees with Augustine on an important point concerning love, he does so “with trembling.”4 Lewis’ sentiments in having to disagree with Augustine may be comparable to Stanley Hauerwas disagreeing with Lewis. It is difficult, Hauerwas wrote, “to criticize a writer who has done so much good as C. S. Lewis.”5 The purpose of the present article is to evaluate the gentlemanly engagement between Lewis and Augustine.

The Blackwell Companion to Christian Ethics, edited by Stanley Hauerwas and Samuel Wells

The Blackwell Companion to Christian Ethics, edited by Stanley Hauerwas and Samuel Wells

Stanley Hauerwas and ‘Chan Tai-man’: an analysis of Hong Kong laypeople's lived theology and Hong Kong theologians’ engagement with Stanley Hauerwas's political theology from a practical theology perspective

ABSTRACT Hong Kong Christian communities often draw upon theological resources from the West. But can Western theological sources be meaningfully applied to Hong Kong? Western theological sources stem from Western epistemologies, which may not necessarily resonate with the values or cultural assumptions of Hong Kong Christians. The lived experiences of ‘Chan Tai-man,’ a placeholder name for average Hong Kong Christians, can be a source for exploring Hong Kong Christian epistemologies. ‘Chan's’ lived theology has significance for the field of practical theology in considering how majority world epistemologies can impact the Western world, especially regarding Christianity in individualistic societies. This paper analyses Hong Kong theologians’ engagement with Stanley Hauerwas's theological convictions and makes a critical comparison to ‘Chan's’ lived theology. First, the article will address (1) why Hauerwasian theology resonates with Hong Kong theologians and (2) why Hong Kong Hauerwasians think Hauerwas's ideas would be useful in the Hong Kong context. Second, after explaining the author's ethnographic research methods, the article will illustrate ‘Chan's’ lived theology, followed by a comparison between the two approaches. In conclusion, while Hong Kong theologians’ engagement with Hauerwas makes an adequate start, Hong Kong Christian communities’ understanding of political theology will eventually have to be broadened through a critical self-reflection of Hong Kong lived theology.

Revisiting Religious Ethics as Field and Discipline

ABSTRACTReturning to John P. Reeder's 1978 essay on “Religious Ethics as a Field and Discipline,” this essay explores debates surrounding the original intentions for the Journal of Religious Ethics (JRE) and for the field of religious ethics, as these have played out over the decades among an influential group of scholars involved with the JRE since its inception: Arthur Dyck, Ronald Green, Stanley Hauerwas, and Jeffrey Stout. While the JRE and its founding mission are in need of ongoing critique and transformation, we might well still affirm the journal's ongoing importance as a site for the negotiation of a commons, the identification of possibilities for shared life, imagined beyond exclusion and domination.

Draudze kā Svētos Rakstus interpretējoša kopiena Stenlija Hauervasa teoloģijā

The themes of distrust towards an individual, the centrality of church as community, and the interactions between community and individual come together in the theology of Stanley Hauerwas, a contemporary American theologian. This paper focuses on a significant area where the interests of an individual and community meet (or collide) – the issue of who has the “right” to interpret the Christian Scripture. Hauerwas gives an unequivocal answer – it is a church. To better understand the claim that church is the only interpreter and interpretative community of the Scripture, the article, first of all, considers two reasons provided by Hauerwas for taking the Bible out of the individual reader’s hands: insufficient formation of an individual in the contemporary church which is more controlled by liberal politics than the Bible politics; and the claim that the Scripture and church are inseparable. Secondly, church as the context for the interpretation of the Bible is described in terms of community and narrative, its goal and practices, virtues and discipleship. Finally, four reasons for Haurwas’s claim that church as community is the only proper interpreter of the Scripture are discussed: 1) the Scripture is the narrative of church; 2) the primary function of the Bible is to maintain and form the church; 3) community gives the Scripture authority and meaning; 4) church is a community with the practices necessary for the proper interpretation of the Scripture. In the end, critical remarks are made about Hauerwas’s understanding of church as the interpretative community of the Scripture. It is noted that his insufficient explication of the concept of individual limits the significance of and need for describing the individual participation in a church. The “vicious circle” of church and the Scripture and the insistence that text does not have any meaning robs the Scripture of its critical authority over against church. As the history of Christianity shows, the Scripture can be used for diverse purposes. Hauerwas’s practice of interpreting the Scripture contradicts his theological claims about church as its sole interpreter.

Doing the Truth: The Life and Religious Vision of Enda McDonagh

Doing the Truth:The Life and Religious Vision of Enda McDonagh Linda F. Hogan (bio) Keywords Enda McDonagh, moral theology, St Patrick's College, Maynooth, Second Vatican Council, George Steiner, social ethics, ecumenism, New Ireland Forum, Garret Fitzgerald, non-violence, Humanae Vitae With the passing of Enda McDonagh in February 2021 Ireland lost one of its most original and important theologians. The second half of the twentieth century saw a flowering of theological creativity in Ireland, as around the world, and in this context Enda's brilliance shone through. His impact on the Irish theological landscape was profound, and his distinctive voice brought him international acclaim. Nor was his impact in Ireland and internationally confined to the worlds of theology and church. Rather, his wisdom was sought by politicians and diplomats, by business leaders, humanitarians and artists who recognised what the late Vincent MacNamara noted as his 'talent for humanity'.1 Each book, each essay, each lecture conveyed the greatness of his intellect, the subtlety of his vision and the depth of his compassion. He lived, ministered, taught and wrote through an incarnational lens that shaped his life and work. Born in Bekan, County Mayo in 1930 to school-teacher parents, Enda studied at St Jarlath's College, Tuam and entered St Patrick's College, Maynooth in 1948, where he was ordained to the priesthood in 1955. At Maynooth he took a BSc, BD, and STL, followed by a DD in 1957. Following his degrees in Maynooth he studied at the Angelicum University in Rome and at the University of Munich. At Munich he completed a second doctorate in Canon Law (DCL), its subject being church–state relations in the Irish constitution. He had already been appointed as Professor of Moral Theology and Canon Law at St Patrick's College, Maynooth in 1958 when he was just twenty-eight years old – an indication that the leadership at Maynooth had recognised his intellectual brilliance and future promise. Apart from occasional short-term appointments at the University of Notre Dame (1979–82) and St John's University New York (1990) as well as time spent in Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia) (regularly between 1973 and 1978) on behalf of the Catholic Institute for International Relations, his career and retirement were mainly spent in Maynooth. Yet this rootedness in Maynooth belied an extraordinarily [End Page 26] cosmopolitan life and global orientation. He retired from the Faculty of Theology in 1995 and continued to write, teach, advise and advocate on behalf of those who are vulnerable until his death on 24 February 2021. Enda's vision was deeply religious and incarnational. Even in his earliest writings, such as his 1964 essays 'Moral Theology: The Need for Renewal'2 and 'The Primacy of Charity'3, Enda was laying out a new vision for moral theology embedded in the gospel values of freedom, justice, peace and truth. These early writings show how deeply rooted and personal Enda's vision was. Indeed, although his vision chimed with the renewal of moral theology that was catalysed by the Second Vatican Council, one can see from these early writings that Enda drew mainly from his own moral sensibility to develop his distinctive theology of morality. Of course, he was influenced by the writings of moral theologians like Bernard Häring, Josef Fuchs, Franz Bökle and Gerard Gillemann, who were beginning to develop a more biblically based, virtue-oriented language to speak about Christian morality. He was also influenced by the spirit of renewal that was animating the church, including some parts of the Irish church, but from the beginning Enda's theological voice was unique and wholly his own. Moreover, even as his theological voice and vision developed over the decades its essential character was evident in his earliest writings. Two festshcriften, Between Poetry and Politics4 and Beauty, Truth and Love5, honour Enda's contribution to theology, church and society and develop different dimensions of his preoccupations as a theologian. In these volumes distinguished theologian friends including Charles Curran, Gabriel Daly, Sean Freyne, Raphael Gallagher, Stanley Hauerwas, Patrick Hannon, James Keenan, Nicholas Lash, Vincent MacNamara, Terence McCaughey, James P. Mackey, Joseph O' Leary and Geraldine Smyth reflect on...

Before The Birth of Bioethics: James M. Gustafson at Yale.

In the 1960s, tucked away at Yale Divinity School, there was a remarkable confluence of bioethics scholars under the tutelage of James M. Gustafson. His students were Jim Childress, Albert R. Jonsen, Tom Beauchamp, LeRoy Walters, Jim Drane, and Stanley Hauerwas, among others. Jonsen later recalled, "That little group was really the beginning of scholarly bioethics." Yet despite Gustafson's influence on the founding generation of bioethics scholars and his prominence as a leading mid-century Christian theologian, his legacy in bioethics is unsecured. This is an unfortunate omission, as Gustafson's contributions to bioethics were not limited to the classroom. In 1969, he brought Paul Ramsey to Yale to deliver the Lyman Beecher Lectures, a collection of talks that would coalesce into Ramsey's The Patient as Person. Gustafson also advised Daniel Callahan as Callahan and Willard Gaylin founded The Hastings Center, on whose founding board of directors Gustafson later served. Through archival research and interviews with Gustafson's former students and colleagues, we recount his biography, consider his pedagogy, and examine the theological pragmatism that informed his engagement with his students and his intellectual commitments before the birth of bioethics. By reviewing Gustafson's contributions to the nascent field of bioethics, we seek to understand why his legacy has been forgotten and to introduce him to a new generation of bioethics scholars.

Christian Socialism: The Promise of an Almost Forgotten Tradition. By Philip Turner. Foreword by Stanley Hauerwas

<i>Christian Socialism: The Promise of an Almost Forgotten Tradition</i>. By <scp>Philip Turner</scp>. Foreword by <scp>Stanley Hauerwas</scp>

Faithfully Negotiating the Danger of this Existence: Stanley Hauerwas, Performing the Kingdom, and Psychotherapy as Ethical Discourse

The life and work of Stanley Hauerwas are discussed in light of what his theological work might mean for clinicians in the fields of psychology and counseling. In particular, three broad themes are considered. The first theme highlights the manner in which Hauerwas critiques the assumptions of liberalism and argues for the story-formed nature of ethics and character. The second theme develops the way in which Hauerwas understands the role of tradition, narrative, grammar, practice, and virtue in shaping character specifically as it applies to his understanding of the Christian tradition. The last theme addresses how Hauerwas understands the church to be a political and subversive witness that embodies an alternative conception of life and of being human. Implications of Hauerwas’ thought for psychotherapy are considered for each theme as well as potential questions that might emerge for clinicians as they interact with Hauerwas’ work.

Contribution and Reduction of Narrative Theology to Biblical Hermeneutics in the Postmodern Era

This research examines narrative theology, which began to develop in the 1970s in the United States, and is now widely practiced in theological discourses, including in Indonesia. This theology, sometimes called postliberal theology, uses the postmodern interpretation paradigm, which seeks the meaning “in front of” the text (readers-oriented). The intended readers are the community, who have the same language, culture, and traditions. It turns out that narrative theology, which initially served as a theological reflection on Christianity’s claims to the biblical texts, has shifted into a hermeneutical lens in reading the biblical texts. Using analytical studies of library research and systematic review, the author discusses the contours of narrative theology starting from the thoughts of its pioneers (such as Hans W. Frei, George A. Lindbeck, Stanley Hauerwas, and Sally McFague), describing its characteristics, and evaluating them. The analysis results are presented in two points. The first is an appreciation of the contributions of narrative theology, i.e., simple-practical, confessional-dogmatic, relational, and inductive. The second is an evaluation of some reductive aspects of narrative theology, i.e., postmodern hermeneutics; a disregard of historicity and genre diversity; traditional-dogmatic fideism; sectarianism; and pragmatism.

The Challenge of Biography: Reading Theologians in Light of their Breached Sexual Ethics

Though their biographies vastly differ, Karl Barth's long-term extra-marital relationship with Charlotte von Kirschbaum and John H. Yoder's sexual crimes have been the focus of a range of reactions and proposed approaches on how to read the theology of the two theologians given their biographies. This article will examine those critical responses using an analytical framework appropriated from Sameer Yadav's work on cognate conversations about locating and remedying the causes of white supremacy in the church: are the problems due to problematic theology, problematic institutional practice, or both? A correct diagnosis helps the theologian to then propose the right remedy. This adapted framework will be applied to the cases of Barth and Yoder to critically examine how Steven Plant and Rachel Muers respond to Barth's biography and how Stanley Hauerwas and Hilary Scarsella respond to Yoder's biography. After demonstrating how the different respondents address the issue as one primarily of problematic theology or problematic institutional practices, I will argue that it is both theology and practice that must be addressed in order to satisfactorily deal with the reality and scale of infection when it comes to influential theologians. Sample treatments will be offered for responding to Barth's and Yoder's biographies.

THE POLITICAL NATURE OF THE CHURCH ACCORDING TO STANLEY MARTIN HAUERWAS, WILLIAM T. CAVANAUGH AND WALTER BRUEGGEMANN

In the context of the fragmented and multiple theological discourse of postmodernism, one of the important themes that unites modern theologians and political theologians in particular is the theme of the Сhurch. However, it is not about the Сhurch in general, but about those special features and dimensions that have been forgotten or lost in the modern era. Primarily, it is related to the political dimension of the Christian community, which has become the subject of research by representatives of various theological schools.This article is devoted to the theological analysis of the ecclesiology of three prominent contemporary theologians: Stanley Hauerwas, William Cavanaugh and Walter Brueggemann. Each of them, despite belonging to different schools, different areas of interest and church affiliation, addresses the topic of the political nature of the Church in search of a constructive response to current challenges. According to Hauerwas, there should be a restoration of the vision of the Christian community as an alternative to the world in which it is located. For Hauerwas, the Church is not only a community, one of many, but a polis, which challenges both modern empires and dominant ideologies. This is exactly what William Cavanaugh is talking about, when he emphasizes that the Church's tragic loss of its own political dimension has led to the "migrations of the Holy" and the sacralization of ideologies and power structures. At the same time, Walter Brueggemann writes Church’s prophetic authority and practical capability to resist the "royal consciousness", which manifests itself in the demonstration of strength and power, as an important feature of the Church.