Christianity, Democracy, and the Shadow of Constantine
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Winner of the 2017 Alpha Sigma Nu Award
The collapse of communism in eastern Europe has forced traditionally Eastern Orthodox countries to consider the relationship between Christianity and liberal democracy. Contributors examine the influence of Constantinianism in both the post-communist Orthodox world and in Western political theology. Constructive theological essays feature Catholic and Protestant theologians reflecting on the relationship between Christianity and democracy, as well as Orthodox theologians reflecting on their tradition’s relationship to liberal democracy. The essays explore prospects of a distinctively Christian politics in a post-communist, post-Constantinian age.
Many of us in the field of political theology are poorer for the lack of conversation most of us experience between Eastern and Western political theologies. Even if we are open and sympathetic to one another—and historically that is a big ‘if’—the traditions are so distinct from one another that few can claim expertise in both, and so we continue to focus narrowly on our own traditions. This volume represents a welcome change to this pattern, opening a conversation between theologians across Eastern and Western traditions on the timely topics of church and state, democracy, and liberalism.——Elizabeth Phillips, Tutor in Theology and Ethics, Westcott House, Cambridge
…by bringing together powerful thinkers from Eastern and Western Christian traditions, [this volume] greatly enriches the growing literature on political theology and shows the promise of such encounters.—Reading Religion
...deserve[s] wide attention from all theologians and scholars of religion who wish to understand how Orthodoxy is speaking to issues of politics today.—Journal of Church and State
The essays in this volume make good on the editors' hopes: they have demonstrated that Orthodoxy has fundamental contributions to make to contemporary political discourse.—Modern Theology
This is an encouraging collection which points towards the hope that the resources of the Orthodox tradition may contribute to political theology as they have in other areas, not only through greater confidence in restating the now-ubiquitous ideas of personhood, but in challenging and creative ways.—Journal of Anglican Studies
Drawing together political theologians, ethicists, and historical theologians, [this] volume creates an encounter between "East" and "West" that addresses some critical questions facing the whole of Christianity.—Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics
Christianity, Democracy, and the Shadow of Constantine... boasts contributions from prominent Western figures in political theology, such as Stanley Hauerwas, Eric Gregory and Luke Bretherton. The pieces from this Protestant cast, along with Catholics Mary Doak and J. Bryan Hehir, are all worthy contributions to political theology in their own right.—Studies in Christian Ethics
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