Description: In Christianity and the Nation-State, Gary Chartier provocatively offers readers unexpected critical distance from some familiar ways of understanding, justifying, and navigating existing political arrangements. People in multiple societies are posing important questions about the authority and functions of the contemporary nation-state and about potential alternatives to this seemingly inescapable institution. Chartier seeks to develop a distinctive theological response to the conditions prompting these questions. Affirming liberalism and cosmopolitanism, he reflects critically on nationalism, localism, religious establishment, and theological accounts of political authority. He highlights links between sin and state power and underscores deficiencies in democratic rhetoric and theory. He rejects the idea of a global government, advocating a nonterritorial alternative he labels 'radical consociationalism. Moreover, he presents concrete suggestions for life under the rule of the state.
Brief description: Gary Chartier is Distinguished Professor of Law and Business Ethics at La Sierra University in Riverside, California. A theologian, philosopher, legal scholar, and political theorist, he is the author of numerous books, including Flourishing Lives (2019), Anarchy and Legal Order (2012), The Analogy of Love (2017, 2020), and Understanding Friendship (2022).
Review Quotes: 'The deep moral intelligence, theological acuity, and relentless intellectual honesty of Chartier's argument set this book apart. And, perhaps needless to say, its challenge to Christian selfconsciousness could scarcely be more urgent at this moment.' David Bentley Hart, Collaborating Researcher, University of Notre Dame