Hopeful Realism
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A Natural Law Framework for Evangelicals Today
During a time when political conversations are marked by deep polarization and difficult decision-making, what resources do evangelicals have to think critical and theologically about public life?
For political theorists Bryan T. McGraw, Jesse Covington, and Micah Watson, a crucial resource is to be found in natural law, a rich tradition of Christian political thought often neglected by evangelicals. Grounded in the hope and realism of the gospel, their evangelical natural law theory is deep in moral conviction yet oriented toward practical political decision-making. Relevant to all dimensions of political life, they show how an evangelical natural law framework can speak into debates about the economy, family life and marriage, violence and war, and religious freedom.
Hopeful Realism is a generous guide for evangelicals concerned with bringing their theological commitments to bear on their political judgments. A volume that brings together robust theory with practical cases, Covington, McGraw, and Watson show how evangelicals can participate as evangelicals in a pluralistic, often polarized, democracy.
"Evangelical politics are a bit of a mess these days and seem to be guided by impulse rather than by thought. Covington, McGraw, and Watson have given us much to think about in their reflections on natural law. They recognize that God speaks to us through both Scripture and creation. God's creation has laws that govern it, and the authors of Hopeful Realism help us to think through how those laws help us to think through the most crucial political issues that we face today. This book is a must-read for evangelicals in the present political season (and beyond)."
Introduction
1. The Bible and Politics
2. Hopeful Realism: An Evangelical Theory of the Natural Law
3. Hopeful Realism's Political Principles
4. Making Hopeful Realism Practical
5. Economics
6. Marriage, Sex, and the Family
7. Coercion, Violence, and War
8. Religious Liberty
9. Conclusion
Bibliography