Politics and Religion -- Late, with apologies.

First of all, we want to apologize to all of you. Rob recently welcomed a new baby into his family, and I have been overworked with programming jobs that niether one of us has done a good job of making time for the Pub Planters readings this month. We should have done it weeks ago, but one often gets so distracted by the vagaries of life, that extracurricular obligations flee one's waking consciousness.

Pub Planters of the world ... Forgive!

Now, on to the matter at hand. We not only ask your forgiveness for our extreme tardiness, but we ask you all to relax. Discussing the intersections of politics and theology is a heavy undertaking, and I'd hate to just throw something out to all of you that wouldn't best serve our desire to grow from these discussions.

Pub Planters has, as a matter of course, remained focused on discussing the tenets and implications of Christian theology in particular -- and thereby, the resulting religious and institutional expressions of that theology. However, the realms of politics and religion are, in my opinion, not easily separated. In America, Christianity is the one religious institution that interprets itself as having the most profound impact on American society and politics. I choose these words carefully, now -- I am merely stating what strikes me as the self-image advanced by Christian churches, and in no way claim that this is or isn't historically accurate.

In the January 7 [2006] issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education, Stanley Fish wrote, "When Jacques Derrida died I was called by a reporter who wanted to know what would succeed high theory and the triumvirate of race, gender, and class as the center of intellectual energy in the academy. I answered like a shot: religion." In recent years inquiries into faith, spirituality, and religious practice have begun to multiply in the academy, and post-secular studies in a wide range of disciplines have reintroduced religion as a province within rather than a refusal of intellect. However, in today's globalized political climate, religion can connote terror, fundamentalism, and what John Caputo calls "impossible people."

As an undergraduate and graduate student (and beyond), this very topic has been a centerpiece of my own academic directions. My primary academic specialty was in intellectual and cultural history, supplemented by minor studies in political philosophy. At the graduate level, I became even more focused upon the relationships that exist between religions and surrounding cultural, political, and social contexts. Before anyone thinks differently, I do not claim to be an expert -- merely an avid and life-long student. Thus, it is with a request that you not think badly of me, I am posting a different sort of reading this month. We know that it is a lot to digest and will probably not be covered well enough this evening. We hope, then, that it will spark an interesting discussion online among all the scattered groups of Pub Planters over the next month. If you'd like, feel free to print copies of the reading for your groups.

The reading is an excerpt from a paper I wrote on this subject. I have removed everything that is personal opinion and reaction. So, please don't think that I am promoting anything I think. The content of our discussion should remain solely upon what the two highlighted authors had to say. What remains, is a brief distillation of a book I would recommend all of you read: Religion in the Public Square: The Place of Religious Convictions in Political Debate by Robert Audi & Nicholas Wolterstorff.

The file is attached for downloading.

Once again, we are sorry for the last-minute nature of today's posting ... we hope you will forgive us.