Western moral and political theory in the last two centuries has widely held that morality and politics are independent of a divine reality. Claiming that this consensus is flawed, prominent theologian Franklin I. Gamwell argues that there is a necessary relation between moral worth and belief in God. Without appealing to the beliefs of any specific religion, Gamwell defends a return to the view that moral and political principles depend on a divine purpose.

To separate politics from the divine misrepresents the distinctive character of human freedom, Gamwell maintains, and thus prevents a full understanding of the nature of justice. Principles of justice define "democracy on purpose" as the political form in which we pursue the divine good.

Engaging in a dialogue with such major representatives of the dominant consensus as Kant, Habermas, and Rawls, and informed by the philosophical writings of Alfred North Whitehead, this book makes the case for a neoclassical metaphysics that restores a religious sensibility to our political life.

Franklin I. Gamwell is professor of religious ethics at the University of Chicago Divinity School. His books include The Meaning of Religious Freedom: Modern Politics and the Democratic Resolution (SUNY Press, 1995) and The Divine Good: Modern Moral Theory and the Necessity of God (HarperCollins, 1990, and Southern Methodist University Press, 1996).

Preface

Introduction

Part One: The Divine Purpose

1. The Freedom We Ourselves Are UnderstandingThe Understanding of Reality as SuchSelf-understandingOriginal Freedom

2. The Duplicity We May Choose Rebellion Against GodTemptationThe Radical ProblemSelf-assertionThe Fragmentary Sense of Worth

3. The Good We Should Pursue MetaphysicsWorthVirtue and HappinessTheismSummary

Appendix to Part One: On the Theistic Character of BeliefThe Pragmatic Character of BeliefsThe Implied Belief in God

Part Two: Justice

4. Democracy as a Formative Principle Social PracticesThe Necessity of Common DecisionsThe Practice of Communicative RespectThe Democratic AssociationConstitutional RightsFormative and Substantive Principles

5. Justice as CompoundThe Principle of Religious FreedomJustice as Separate: Universalist TheoriesUniversalist Theories in the ConstitutionUniversalist Theories in the DiscourseJustice as Separate: Nonuniversalist Theories

6. Justic as General Emancipation Our Maximal Common HumanityThe Principle of JusticeRefining the PrincipleThe Principles of JusticeJustice as TeleologicalThe Possibility of Justice

Appendix to Part Two: The Democratic Importance of Religion

Works Cited

Index