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Stanley Martin Hauerwas (born July 24, 1940) is an American
theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
,
ethicist An ethicist is one whose judgment on ethics and ethical codes has come to be trusted by a specific community, and (importantly) is expressed in some way that makes it possible for others to mimic or approximate that judgment. Following the advice of ...
, and
public intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the reality of society, and who proposes solutions for the normative problems of society. Coming from the world of culture, either as a creator or ...
. Hauerwas was a longtime professor at
Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist Jam ...
, serving as the Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Ethics at Duke Divinity School with a joint appointment at the Duke University School of Law. In the fall of 2014, he also assumed a chair in theological ethics at the
University of Aberdeen , mottoeng = The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom , established = , type = Public research universityAncient university , endowment = £58.4 million (2021) , budget ...
. Before moving to Duke and the University of Aberdeen, Hauerwas taught at the
University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main c ...
. Hauerwas is considered by many to be one of the world's most influential living theologians and was named "America's Best Theologian" by ''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...
'' magazine in 2001. He was also the first American theologian to deliver the prestigious Gifford Lectures at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland in over forty years. His work is frequently read and debated by scholars in fields outside of religion or ethics, such as
political philosophy Political philosophy or political theory is the philosophical study of government, addressing questions about the nature, scope, and legitimacy of public agents and institutions and the relationships between them. Its topics include politics, ...
,
sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation an ...
, history, and
literary theory Literary theory is the systematic study of the nature of literature and of the methods for literary analysis. Culler 1997, p.1 Since the 19th century, literary scholarship includes literary theory and considerations of intellectual history, mor ...
. Hauerwas has achieved notability outside of academia as a public intellectual, even appearing on ''
The Oprah Winfrey Show ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', often referred to as ''The Oprah Show'' or simply ''Oprah'', is an American daytime syndicated talk show that aired nationally for 25 seasons from September 8, 1986, to May 25, 2011, in Chicago, Illinois. Produced ...
''. Though Hauerwas is most well known for his work related to ethics and
political theology Political theology is a term which has been used in discussion of the ways in which theological concepts or ways of thinking relate to politics. The term ''political theology'' is often used to denote religious thought about political principled qu ...
, he has written widely on a range of subjects, including
philosophical theology Philosophical theology is both a branch and form of theology in which philosophical methods are used in developing or analyzing theological concepts. It therefore includes natural theology as well as philosophical treatments of orthodox and h ...
, political philosophy, the
philosophy of social science The philosophy of social science is the study of the logic, methods, and foundations of social sciences (psychology, cultural anthropology, sociology, etc...). Philosophers of social science are concerned with the differences and similarities be ...
, law,
education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...
,
bioethics Bioethics is both a field of study and professional practice, interested in ethical issues related to health (primarily focused on the human, but also increasingly includes animal ethics), including those emerging from advances in biology, me ...
, and
medical ethics Medical ethics is an applied branch of ethics which analyzes the practice of clinical medicine and related scientific research. Medical ethics is based on a set of values that professionals can refer to in the case of any confusion or conflict. T ...
. Hauerwas is known for his fierce criticism of
liberal democracy Liberal democracy is the combination of a liberal political ideology that operates under an indirect democratic form of government. It is characterized by elections between multiple distinct political parties, a separation of powers into ...
,
capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, private ...
, and
militarism Militarism is the belief or the desire of a government or a people that a state should maintain a strong military capability and to use it aggressively to expand national interests and/or values. It may also imply the glorification of the mili ...
. He is also a critic of both
Christian fundamentalism Christian fundamentalism, also known as fundamental Christianity or fundamentalist Christianity, is a religious movement emphasizing biblical literalism. In its modern form, it began in the late 19th and early 20th centuries among British and ...
and
liberal Christianity Liberal Christianity, also known as Liberal Theology and historically as Christian Modernism (see Catholic modernism and Fundamentalist–Modernist controversy), is a movement that interprets Christian teaching by taking into consideration ...
. He is commonly cited as a member of the
evangelical left Typically, members of the evangelical left affirm the primary tenets of evangelical theology, such as the doctrines of the incarnation, atonement, and resurrection, and also see the Bible as the primary authority for the Church. Unlike many eva ...
. Hauerwas's work draws from a number of theological perspectives, including
Methodism Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...
,
Anabaptism Anabaptism (from Neo-Latin , from the Greek : 're-' and 'baptism', german: Täufer, earlier also )Since the middle of the 20th century, the German-speaking world no longer uses the term (translation: "Re-baptizers"), considering it biased. ...
,
Anglicanism Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of t ...
, and
Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
. Among his most important contributions to modern theology are his advocacy of and work related to
virtue ethics Virtue ethics (also aretaic ethics, from Greek ἀρετή arete_(moral_virtue).html"_;"title="'arete_(moral_virtue)">aretḗ''_is_an_approach_to_ethics_that_treats_the_concept_of_virtue.html" ;"title="arete_(moral_virtue)">aretḗ''.html" ; ...
and
postliberal theology Postliberal theology (often called narrative theology) is a Christian theological movement that focuses on a narrative presentation of the Christian faith as regulative for the development of a coherent systematic theology. Thus, Christianity is ...
. Hauerwas's book, ''A Community of Character: Toward a Constructive Christian Social Ethic'', was named as one of the one hundred most important books on religion in the 20th century by ''
Christianity Today ''Christianity Today'' is an evangelical Christian media magazine founded in 1956 by Billy Graham. It is published by Christianity Today International based in Carol Stream, Illinois. ''The Washington Post'' calls ''Christianity Today'' "evan ...
''. His most widely known book, however, is likely '' Resident Aliens: Life in the Christian Colony'', which was co-written with William Willimon.


Early life and education

Stanley Hauerwas was born in
Dallas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...
,
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
, on July 24, 1940, and was raised in nearby Pleasant Grove, in a working-class family. He attended both Pleasant Grove High School (1954–56) and W. W. Samuell High School (1956–58). As the son of a bricklayer, Hauerwas was early on apprenticed to the craft of bricklaying under his father. The experience was extremely formative for his later life, as he himself has often compared the skill and hard work that bricklaying requires with both his own approach to theological work and the challenges of living a fully Christian life. Hauerwas's family attended Pleasant Mound Methodist Church, where he experienced baptism, confirmation, and communion. At the age of 15, he presented himself for ministry at a Sunday night worship service, presuming then that he would be saved. After leaving Pleasant Grove, Hauerwas matriculated at
Southwestern University Southwestern University (Southwestern or SU) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Georgetown, Texas. Formed in 1873 from a revival of collegiate charters granted in 1840, Southwestern ...
, a liberal arts college affiliated with the
United Methodist Church The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelica ...
. He received a
Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...
degree there in 1962. He was also a member of
Phi Delta Theta Phi Delta Theta (), commonly known as Phi Delt, is an international secret and social fraternity founded at Miami University in 1848 and headquartered in Oxford, Ohio. Phi Delta Theta, along with Beta Theta Pi and Sigma Chi form the Miami Triad. ...
while at Southwestern University. He went on to earn
Bachelor of Divinity In Western universities, a Bachelor of Divinity or Baccalaureate in Divinity (BD or BDiv; la, Baccalaureus Divinitatis) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded for a course taken in the study of divinity or related disciplines, such as theolog ...
,
Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...
,
Master of Philosophy The Master of Philosophy (MPhil; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. In the United States, an MPhil typically includes a taught portion and a significant research portion, during which a thesis project is conducted under supervision. An MPhil ...
, and
Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...
degrees from
Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...
. Upon delivering the Gifford Lectures in 2001, Hauerwas was also awarded an honorary
Doctor of Divinity A Doctor of Divinity (D.D. or DDiv; la, Doctor Divinitatis) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity. In the United Kingdom, it is considered an advanced doctoral degree. At the University of Oxford, doctors of divinity are ran ...
degree from the
University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1 ...
. Following his graduation from Yale University, Hauerwas taught first at Augustana College in Rock Island,
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rock ...
, before joining the faculty at the
University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main c ...
in 1970. He was later invited to assume a faculty position at the Divinity School of Duke University in 1983, where he taught in the area of theological ethics until his retirement in 2013, though he continues to write and speak at Duke as a senior research fellow. In 2014 he was appointed to a chair in theological ethics at the
University of Aberdeen , mottoeng = The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom , established = , type = Public research universityAncient university , endowment = £58.4 million (2021) , budget ...
. Hauerwas was influenced by a wide range of thinkers, including
Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ...
,
Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas, Dominican Order, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino, Italy, Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican Order, Dominican friar and Catholic priest, priest who was an influential List of Catholic philo ...
,
Søren Kierkegaard Søren Aabye Kierkegaard ( , , ; 5 May 1813 – 11 November 1855) was a Danish theologian, philosopher, poet, social critic, and religious author who is widely considered to be the first existentialist philosopher. He wrote critical texts on ...
,
Karl Barth Karl Barth (; ; – ) was a Swiss Calvinist theologian. Barth is best known for his commentary '' The Epistle to the Romans'', his involvement in the Confessing Church, including his authorship (except for a single phrase) of the Barmen Declar ...
,
Ludwig Wittgenstein Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrian- British philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. He is consi ...
, John Howard Yoder,
Alasdair MacIntyre Alasdair Chalmers MacIntyre (; born 12 January 1929) is a Scottish-American philosopher who has contributed to moral and political philosophy as well as history of philosophy and theology. MacIntyre's '' After Virtue'' (1981) is one of the mos ...
,
Michel Foucault Paul-Michel Foucault (, ; ; 15 October 192625 June 1984) was a French philosopher, historian of ideas, writer, political activist, and literary critic. Foucault's theories primarily address the relationship between power and knowledge, and ho ...
, and
William James William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was an American philosopher, historian, and psychologist, and the first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States. James is considered to be a leading thinker of the lat ...
.


Honors

''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...
'' magazine in 2001 named him "America's Best Theologian". He responded by saying, "'Best' is not a theological category." In 2001 Hauerwas was also invited to give the Gifford Lectures at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, which were published as ''With the Grain of the Universe'', a text in which Hauerwas argued that Karl Barth was the foremost "natural theologian" of the Gifford Lectures. Such an argument is controversial since Karl Barth is well known as an enemy of
natural theology Natural theology, once also termed physico-theology, is a type of theology that seeks to provide arguments for theological topics (such as the existence of a deity) based on reason and the discoveries of science. This distinguishes it from ...
. For Hauerwas, however, Barth argued that Christian convictions about the world describe God's good creation as it is while emphasizing that such convictions cannot be understood apart from Christian witness. This, according to Hauerwas, is what makes Barth a proper natural theologian in comparison to
Reinhold Niebuhr Karl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr (June 21, 1892 – June 1, 1971) was an American Reformed theologian, ethicist, commentator on politics and public affairs, and professor at Union Theological Seminary for more than 30 years. Niebuhr was one of Ameri ...
and
William James William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was an American philosopher, historian, and psychologist, and the first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States. James is considered to be a leading thinker of the lat ...
, who were also featured in the lectures. Earlier in 1997 he gave the '' Scottish Journal of Theology'' lectures at Aberdeen, published as ''Sanctify Them in Truth'' (1998).


Basic theological and philosophical views

Hauerwas has long been associated with narrative theology and
postliberal theology Postliberal theology (often called narrative theology) is a Christian theological movement that focuses on a narrative presentation of the Christian faith as regulative for the development of a coherent systematic theology. Thus, Christianity is ...
(which are closely related but not necessarily synonymous movements). Both of these movements are attached to Yale biblical scholars
Brevard Childs Brevard Springs Childs (September 2, 1923 – June 23, 2007) was an American Old Testament scholar and Professor of Old Testament at Yale University from 1958 until 1999 (and Sterling Professor after 1992), who is considered one of the most inf ...
, Hans Frei, and
George Lindbeck George Arthur Lindbeck (March 10, 1923 – January 8, 2018) was an American Lutheran theologian. He was best known as an ecumenicist and as one of the fathers of postliberal theology. Early life and education Lindbeck was born on March 10, 19 ...
. His ''Reforming Christian Social Ethics: Ten Theses'', published in 1981, serves to summarize the key presuppositions of his alternative to what was the dominant account in
Christian ethics Christian ethics, also known as moral theology, is a multi-faceted ethical system: it is a virtue ethic which focuses on building moral character, and a deontological ethic which emphasizes duty. It also incorporates natural law ethics, whic ...
at that time. The ten theses are listed as follows: # The social significance of the Gospel requires the recognition of the narrative structure of Christian convictions for the life of the church. # Every social ethic involves a narrative, whether it is concerned with the formulation of basic principles of social organization and/or with concrete policy alternatives. # The ability to provide an adequate account of our existence is the primary test of the truthfulness of a social ethic. # Communities formed by a truthful narrative must provide the skills to transform fate into destiny so that the unexpected, especially as it comes in the form of strangers, can be welcomed as gift. # The primary social task of the church is to be itself - that is, a people who have been formed by a story that provides them with the skills for negotiating the danger of this existence, trusting in God's promise of redemption. # Christian social ethics can only be done from the perspective of those who do not seek to control national or world history but who are content to live "out of control." # Christian social ethics depends on the development of leadership in the church that can trust and depend on the diversity of gifts in the community. # For the church to be, rather than to have, a social ethic means we must recapture the social significance of common behavior, such as acts of kindness, friendship, and the formation of families. # In our attempt to control our society Christians in America have too readily accepted liberalism as a social strategy appropriate to the Christian story. # The church does not exist to provide an ethos for democracy or any other form of social organization, but stands as a political alternative to every nation, witnessing to the kind of social life possible for those that have been formed by the story of Christ. Hauerwas writes of narrative as "the necessary grammar of Christian convictions" in that Christian claims are inextricably linked to what God has done in history and to the ongoing story of God's people as they move through time. This sense of a "hypertemporal God" Hauerwas claims to have gotten from John Howard Yoder, who impressed upon him the need of always locating God's actions in the "timeliness" of the created order as witnessed by the Bible.Hauerwas, ''Hannah's Child'', 158. He has explained this understanding of a people (i.e., church) constituted by their ongoing story with God in terms of a pointed and oft-repeated aphorism:
My claim, so offensive to some, that the first task of the church is to make the world the world, not to make the world more just, is a correlative of this theological metaphysics. The world simply cannot be narrated - the world cannot have a story - unless a people exist who make the world the world. That is an eschatological claim that presupposes we know there was a beginning only because we have seen the end ... eation names God's continuing action, God's unrelenting desire for us to want to be loved by that love manifest in Christ's life, death, and resurrection.
As indicated in the quotation above, Hauerwas believes that the strong distinction between the church and the world is a necessary mark of the Christian life. He collaborated with William H. Willimon (now a retired bishop in the
United Methodist Church The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelica ...
) in 1989 to offer an accessible version of his vision of the Christian life in the book '' Resident Aliens: Life in the Christian Colony''. This understanding of the church is based on both his narrative and postliberal approach to theology, as well as his reading of
Ludwig Wittgenstein Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrian- British philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. He is consi ...
's understanding of language and
language games A language game (also called a cant, secret language, ludling, or argot) is a system of manipulating spoken words to render them incomprehensible to an untrained listener. Language games are used primarily by groups attempting to conceal their c ...
. Hauerwas works from within the tradition of
virtue ethics Virtue ethics (also aretaic ethics, from Greek ἀρετή arete_(moral_virtue).html"_;"title="'arete_(moral_virtue)">aretḗ''_is_an_approach_to_ethics_that_treats_the_concept_of_virtue.html" ;"title="arete_(moral_virtue)">aretḗ''.html" ; ...
, having been deeply influenced by
Alasdair MacIntyre Alasdair Chalmers MacIntyre (; born 12 January 1929) is a Scottish-American philosopher who has contributed to moral and political philosophy as well as history of philosophy and theology. MacIntyre's '' After Virtue'' (1981) is one of the mos ...
and his work '' After Virtue''. Hauerwas is also known as an ardent critic of
liberal democracy Liberal democracy is the combination of a liberal political ideology that operates under an indirect democratic form of government. It is characterized by elections between multiple distinct political parties, a separation of powers into ...
. In recent years, however, Hauerwas has become conversant with the tradition of radical democracy. In 2007 he collaborated on a book on the subject with political theorist and ethicst Romand Coles entitled ''Christianity, Democracy, and the Radical Ordinary: Conversations Between a Radical Democrat and a Christian''. Among Hauerwas's most well-known critics are Jeffrey Stout of Princeton and
Nicholas Wolterstorff Nicholas Paul Wolterstorff (born January 21, 1932) is an American philosopher and theologian. He is currently Noah Porter Professor Emeritus Philosophical Theology at Yale University. A prolific writer with wide-ranging philosophical and theologi ...
of Yale, though both have often praised his work as well. In January 2017, Hauerwas wrote an op-ed for ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...
'' in which he argues that US President
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
is an exemplar of
American civil religion American civil religion is a sociological theory that a nonsectarian quasi-religious faith exists within the United States with sacred symbols drawn from national history. Scholars have portrayed it as a cohesive force, a common set of values that ...
and distorted theology.


Interaction with the thought of the Niebuhrs

Hauerwas's theological views may be best illuminated by his engagement with the work of
Reinhold Niebuhr Karl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr (June 21, 1892 – June 1, 1971) was an American Reformed theologian, ethicist, commentator on politics and public affairs, and professor at Union Theological Seminary for more than 30 years. Niebuhr was one of Ameri ...
and
H. Richard Niebuhr Helmut Richard Niebuhr (September 3, 1894 – July 5, 1962) is considered one of the most important Christian theological ethicists in 20th-century America, best known for his 1951 book ''Christ and Culture'' and his posthumously published book ...
, often considered two of the most influential American theologians of the 20th century. Hauerwas frequently discusses the work of both Niebuhr brothers, mentioning them in some form in most of his books. Reinhold was also one of the primary subjects of Hauerwas' 2000–2001 Gifford Lectures, which were later republished in book form under the title ''With the Grain of the Universe''. In the early years of his career Hauerwas was deeply influenced by the work of both brothers. Later, primarily as a result of encountering the work of John Howard Yoder, he came to disagree with fundamental elements of their theology, while continuing to affirm other elements of their work that he found important. While many believe that the Niebuhrs' advocacy of Christian realism represents a rejection of
liberal Christianity Liberal Christianity, also known as Liberal Theology and historically as Christian Modernism (see Catholic modernism and Fundamentalist–Modernist controversy), is a movement that interprets Christian teaching by taking into consideration ...
, Hauerwas argues that the brothers actually belong to that theological tradition. For him, while they both placed a strong emphasis on the sinfulness of humanity (which stood in stark contrast to most liberal thinkers), he believes that the Niebuhrs based their theologies on the presuppositions of secular philosophy rather than those of Christianity, thus placing them in the liberal tradition of modern Christian thought. In particular, Hauerwas argues that Reinhold Niebuhr was deeply influenced by
William James William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was an American philosopher, historian, and psychologist, and the first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States. James is considered to be a leading thinker of the lat ...
, accepting a pragmatist
epistemology Epistemology (; ), or the theory of knowledge, is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge. Epistemology is considered a major subfield of philosophy, along with other major subfields such as ethics, logic, and metaphysics. Epi ...
. For Hauerwas, the Niebuhrs are important figures in part because the flaws in their thinking represent the same flaws which are endemic to much of modern Christianity, with the Church often being shaped more by the culture of
liberal democracy Liberal democracy is the combination of a liberal political ideology that operates under an indirect democratic form of government. It is characterized by elections between multiple distinct political parties, a separation of powers into ...
than the message of Jesus. In Hauerwas' view, this has led the Church (and Christians in general) to compromise their values and place too much faith in secular political ideologies, often leading to a misplaced passion for political power. This represents the thesis of Hauerwas in his most popular book, ''
Resident Aliens In law, an alien is any person (including an organization) who is not a citizen or a national of a specific country, although definitions and terminology differ to some degree depending upon the continent or region. More generally, however, ...
'' (which was co-written by William Willimon). In the book, Hauerwas and Willimon argue that the Church's accommodation to secular culture has led to tragedies like the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima Hauerwas, therefore, believes that the Niebuhrs' thinking is subject to the same flaws as
Jerry Falwell Jerry Laymon Falwell Sr. (August 11, 1933 – May 15, 2007) was an American Baptist pastor, televangelism, televangelist, and conservatism in the United States, conservative activist. He was the founding pastor of the Thomas Road Baptist Church, ...
, with Hauerwas and Willimon stating that "few books have been a greater hindrance to an accurate assessment of he Church'ssituation" than H. Richard Niebuhr's famous book ''Christ and Culture''. Thus according to Hauerwas, while they may have disagreed when it comes to policy, both the Niebuhrs and Falwell fell prey to the notion Christians have a duty to use the political process as a means to enact "Christian" legislation or pursue justice. In his book ''The Peaceable Kingdom'' Hauerwas offers commentary on two classic essays written by the Niebuhrs for '' The Christian Century'' on the subject of the Conflict in Manchuria. In the first essay, entitled "The Grace of Doing Nothing", H. Richard Niebuhr argues that humans are self-interested and egoistic and that Christians, because they are subject to these same flaws, should remain non-violent even in a time of war. In his essay in response, entitled "Must We Do Nothing?", Reinhold Niebuhr argues that Christians must have a self-awareness about their own sinfulness and self-interestedness, but must sometimes use force to protect certain ideals and people. In his commentary Hauerwas acknowledges that both brothers make important points, but critiques Reinhold's view, ultimately agreeing with H. Richard Niebuhr.


Views on human experimentation


Deontological and utilitarian thought

The basic
utilitarian In ethical philosophy, utilitarianism is a family of normative ethical theories that prescribe actions that maximize happiness and well-being for all affected individuals. Although different varieties of utilitarianism admit different charac ...
rationalization for research on human beings is the ends justify the means. Therefore, any sort of research on a human being is justified by the possibility of successfully saving others. For example, all cancer research would be justified by the possibility of finding a cure for cancer, which would inevitably save the life of many others. The utilitarian argument focuses on the greatest good for the greatest number of people or the greater good. Under the utilitarian justification it is a person's duty to sacrifice himself or herself if it would save others as long as the individual person's societal worth is less than the combined societal worth of the others. Therefore, if either a doctor or a homeless person must die to save the lives of many others, the homeless person must sacrifice himself since he is worth less to society than the doctor. The
deontological In moral philosophy, deontological ethics or deontology (from Greek: + ) is the normative ethical theory that the morality of an action should be based on whether that action itself is right or wrong under a series of rules and principles, ...
argument against research on human beings is that persons are an ends in themselves. This means we cannot use people for any purpose. The deontological argument relies on the belief that we should treat others as we would like to be treated. If someone was suffering from a terminal illness and they were likely to die shortly, under deontological assumptions research could not be done on them even if it meant saving the lives of millions.


Understanding of experimentation

Hauerwas finds these two moral theories very limiting because they are quandary ethics, cases that rely on extreme situations. He believes that there needs to be a third reasoning that falls somewhere in between these two. He believes that the basic doctor–patient relationship should be built on trust and caring. This characterizes him as more of deontological thinker; however, he does believe in research on human beings. Hauerwas's perspective is that there needs to be a middle ground between these two perspectives. The patient becomes dehumanized through research; however, without this research there would be little medical improvement. Hauerwas therefore believes this middle ground should focus on caring for the patient instead of curing. With this, Hauerwas believes we do not have the moral understanding to handle current medicine. As mentioned above, Hauerwas believes that the moral issue of experimentation on humans cannot be answered from a utilitarianism versus deontological perspective. He believes that society lacks a cohesive understanding of the notions of "the good of mankind" and "the rights of the individual". Only when this issue is solved can society come to a conclusive decision on how science should be used to serve humans needs. Therapeutic and nontherapeutic experimentation on humans are differentiated by the intent of the procedure. Therapeutic experimentation is meant to help the patient with their current needs, while nontherapeutic experimentation has no intention of helping the patient, but to collect research for the benefit of future patients. The issue becomes: should medical progress be helping the current patient or the future patient? Stanley Hauerwas believes society has no consensus of the meanings of health and illness, which contributes to the issue of how patients should be treated. Only when society comes to a universal understanding of these issues can the moral dilemma of experimentation on humans be resolved.


Informed consent

Hauerwas finds little justification for human experimentation through informed consent. He argues that a patient's understanding of an experimental procedure will never approach that of his or her physician. He questions even the possibility of a patient reaching a state of "informed consent". He further believes that if individuals reach such a state of "informed consent", this does not mean individuals should consent, or fully understand the meaning of their consent. "For persons can misuse themselves even if they do so voluntarily and with full knowledge." Individuals consenting to experimentation through the justification of the human good turn themselves into objects for the use of the experimentation. The issue is further complicated for Hauerwas as to who should be considered for medical experimentation. The use of prisoners only proliferates social stereotypes and denigration. He believes that informed consent is necessary for human experimentation, but it does not provide justification for one's willingness to submit and participate in experimentation.


Language of rights

Hauerwas finds the language of "rights" to be disturbing as it assumes that people relate to others as strangers, and lends even the understanding of the family to that of a contractual society. He argues that being part of a family, however, is not a voluntary undertaking. As such, when one is part of a family, the kinds of responsibilities each member holds are in relation to each other. Hauerwas finds that as a parent, you have a duty to your children, not just because you brought them into existence, but because the role of parent is to ensure the children are brought up in a way that is conducive to the community's values. Thus, the issue with "rights" language is that it attempts to prevent maltreatment of individuals to the point of exclusion of familial and communal responsibility. Hauerwas's bottom line is that there can be no real society if its members only relate in terms of noninterference. The language of rights destroys society because we regard people as strangers instead of assuming the responsibility towards them as family and members of the community that we share.


Views on death and dying well

Hauerwas believes that there is a difference between the concept of death and the criteria for death. The concept of death "involves a philosophical judgment of a significant change that has happened in a person"Hauerwas, ''Suffering Presence'', p89. and therefore "is a correlative of what one takes to be the necessary condition of human life, e.g., ... the potential for consciousness". The criteria of death, however, are "those empirical measurements that can be made to determine whether a person is dead, such as cessation of respiration or a flat EEG". Thus, brain death is a criterion of death that may serve "as a symbol of when it is time to die". A person must not delay death so long that it is no longer possible to die a good death. On the subject of suicide, Hauerwas challenges the claim that autonomous suicide is morally acceptable, but also wants to distinguish himself from the position that denies rational suicide. He believes that suicide can be and often is a rational decision of an "autonomous" agent, but does not agree with the notion that it is justified. He contends that suicide as an institution must be considered morally doubtful, as the life that we are given should be considered a gift bestowed upon us by God. To many, the term "rational suicide" is based on the assumption that the decision to live or die depends on whether life has a meaning or purpose. Hauerwas, however, contends that the reason we should live on, is because our lives are not ours, and as such, reminds us that there is a commitment to keep on living. Yet, while there may be times in our lives where suicide may seem rational, mere existence allows us to enjoy certain joys, such as helping another, or healing the sick, that should be enough to sustain our commitment to living. According to Hauerwas, a "good death is a death that we can prepare for through living because we are able to see that death is but a necessary correlative to a good life." A long life may give a person more of a chance to have a good death because he may be able to get himself morally in line during that time period, but it is also possible to die well quickly if you have lived morally. A good death also requires that the death be morally in proportion with the way one lived and was sustained, and occurs in a way that allows those caring for us to see that they are sustaining us. On the subject of abortion, Hauerwas notes that "Christians in America are tempted to think of issues like abortion primarily in legal terms such as ''rights.''" Another move is to view abortion in medical terms. Hauerwas observes that "Christians maintain that the description ''abortion'' is more accurate and determinative than the description ''termination of pregnancy.''" Seeing abortion rightly is akin to understanding that ''abortion'' is "as much a moral description as ''suicide.''" A community maintains a description like "suicide" to remind itself to practice enhancing life, even when difficult—just as the people of God have an obligation to protect vulnerable human life even when it is "unplanned."


Views of patience and courage

According to his essay, "Practicing Patience: How Christians Should Be Sick", in ''Christians Among the Virtues'', he said that Christians are called to be patient patients in sickness and in health because "patience is integral to the Christian life". Patience cannot be first learned while being a patient. To learn patience, Christians are to exercise the virtue through deeds, truth, practice, and living it. Hauerwas also says that patience is a virtue we have in common with God. "In Him, patience has its beginning, and from Him as its source it takes its splendor and dignity." He also says that God showed us the best example of patience when it comes to the life of Jesus. Because God is the foundation, Hauerwas stated that "only patience shaped by Christ is true patience". As well as this, he later emphasized that patience is not developed by human will, but given through the Holy Spirit, who gives us the capacity to love, for "without ovein us there cannot be patience because in good men it is the oveof God which endures all things." In the author's essay, he gave people a framework of how to learn to practice patience when we are not sick: 1. We have been given one another to learn to live with one another. 2. We've been given time and space to develop habits from activities that require patience. Hauerwas speaks about courage in his essay "Courage Exemplified", in ''Christians Among the Virtues''. He first looked to Aristotle, who firmly believed soldiers could only show courage. He also said that courage is acquired through imitation of action and emotion, and virtue required practice before it was mastered. Hauerwas indicated that to Aristotle, "without war, courage could not be fully known." The philosopher also spoke of Aquinas' view of courage. To begin, he expressed that to Aquinas, charity is the central trunk from which all the other virtues branch out, which includes courage. In contrast to Aristotle, courage isn't just for battlefield; it adds any situation one might face danger and death, such as tending to the sick bed of loved one or going on a walk into the unknown with a friend. According to the essay, Aquinas "treats fortitude in such a way that its ends are transformed by charity." Even though a situation might be dangerous, the individual is courageous because they possess love for the person they are helping. Courage, then, is more accessible opposed to Aristotle's view. To transition, Hauerwas added the Christian to the mix when he narrated that Christianity requires courage which is "a kind of endurance in the face of difficulty, danger, or oppression." To tie in the first essay, he went on to say that patience and perseverance are "integral to the very meaning of virtue." All of this is to say that the Christian must have the patience to get through tough times. To him, the ultimate display of courage is through the martyr, who is "required to patiently persevere, since they have the confidence that enduring wrong is the gift of charity." The philosopher also highlighted that true courage is a gift of the Holy Spirit when he said that "courage is a gift of the Spirit that protects the martyr from the 'dread of danger.'" The martyr is the best example because they believe that "God will complete God's work in hemeven if
heir Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Offic ...
lives are taken by heenemies." In the eyes of both Aquinas the Hauerwas, "those formed by the courage necessary to face death well will be more easily led to the fuller amount of courage offered by Christians." Overall, Hauerwas believes that America is not courageous because it does not act out of charity. He believes that the church can do it, but he questions whether America as a whole is able to. His answer is that it cannot. "We in America have lost our moral vision precisely as we have lost our courage to fight for what is right and good."


Bibliography

Hauerwas is a prolific writer. Many of his books are collections of essays; some are structured monographs. * ''Vision and Virtue: Essays in Christian Ethical Reflection'' (1974) * ''Character and the Christian Life: A Study in Theological Ethics'' (1975) * ''Truthfulness and Tragedy: Further Investigations into Christian Ethics'' (with Richard Bondi and David Burrell) (1977) * ''A Community of Character: Toward A Constructive Christian Social Ethic'' (1981) * ''Responsibility for Devalued Persons: Ethical Interactions Between Society, Family, and the Retarded'' (1982) * ''The Peaceable Kingdom: A Primer in Christian Ethics'' (1983) * ''Revisions: Changing Perspectives in Moral Philosophy'' (with
Alasdair MacIntyre Alasdair Chalmers MacIntyre (; born 12 January 1929) is a Scottish-American philosopher who has contributed to moral and political philosophy as well as history of philosophy and theology. MacIntyre's '' After Virtue'' (1981) is one of the mos ...
) (1983) * ''Should War Be Eliminated? Philosophical and Theological Investigations'' (1984) * ''Against the Nations: War and Survival in a Liberal Society'' (1985) * ''Suffering Presence: Theological Reflections on Medicine, the Mentally Handicapped, and the Church'' (1986) * ''Christian Existence Today: Essays on Church, World, and Living in Between'' (1988) * '' Resident Aliens: Life in the Christian Colony'' (with William Willimon) (1989) * ''Naming the Silence: God, Medicine and the Problem of Suffering'' (1990) * ''After Christendom: How the Church Is to Behave If Freedom, Justice, and a Christian Nation Are Bad Ideas'' (1991) * ''Abortion Theologically Understood (1991) * ''Schooling Christians: Holy Experiments in American Education'' (with John Westerhoff) (1992) * ''Unleashing the Scripture: Freeing the Bible from Captivity to America'' (1993) * ''Character and the Christian Life: A Study in Theological Ethics'' (1994) * ''God, Medicine, and Suffering'' (1994) * ''Theology Without Foundations: Religious Practice and the Future of Theological Truth'' (with
Nancey Murphy Nancey Murphy (born 12 June 1951) is an American philosopher and theologian who is Professor of Christian Philosophy at Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, CA. She received the B.A. from Creighton University (philosophy and psychology) in 1973 ...
and Mark Nation) (1994) * ''Dispatches from the Front: Theological Engagements with the Secular'' (1994) * ''In Good Company: The Church as Polis'' (1995) * ''Lord, Teach Us: The Lord's Prayer and the Christian Life'' (with William Willimon) (1996) * ''Where Resident Aliens Live'' (with William Willimon) (1996) * ''Christians Among the Virtues: Theological Conversations with Ancient and Modern Ethics'' (with Charles Pinches) (1997) * ''Wilderness Wanderings: Probing Twentieth Century Theology and Philosophy'' (1997) * ''Sanctify Them in Truth: Holiness Exemplified'' (1998) * ''Prayers Plainly Spoken'' (1999) * ''The Truth About God: The Ten Commandments in Christian Life'' (with William Willimon) (1999) * ''A Better Hope: Resources for a Church Confronting Capitalism, Democracy and Postmodernity'' (2000) *
The Hauerwas Reader
' (2001) * ''With the Grain of the Universe: The Church's Witness and Natural Theology'' (2001) * ''Dissent from the Homeland: Essays after September 11'' (2002) (Co-Editor with Frank Lentricchia) * ''Growing Old in Christ'' (2003) * ''The Blackwell Companion to Christian Ethics'' (with Samuel Wells) (2004) * ''Performing the Faith: Bonhoeffer and the Practice of Non-Violence'' (2004) * ''The Wisdom of the Cross: Essays in Honor of John Howard Yoder'' (co-edited with Chris Huebner and Harry Huebner) (2005) * ''The State of the University: Academic Knowledges and the Knowledge of God'' (2007) * ''Matthew'' (''Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible'') (2007) * ''Christianity, Democracy, and the Radical Ordinary: Conversations between a Radical Democrat and a Christian'' (with Romand Coles) (2007) * ''Living Gently in a Violent World: The Prophetic Witness of Weakness'' (with
Jean Vanier Jean Vanier (, September 10, 1928 – May 7, 2019) was a Canadian Catholic philosopher and theologian. In 1964, he founded L'Arche, an international federation of communities spread over 37 countries for people with developmental disabilities a ...
) (2008) * ''A Cross-Shattered Church: Reclaiming the Theological Heart of Preaching'' (2009) * ''Hannah's Child: A Theologian's Memoir'' (2010) * ''Cross-Shattered Christ: Meditations on the Seven Last Words'' (2011) * ''Working with Words: On Learning to Speak Christian'' (2011) * ''War and the American Difference: Theological Reflections on Violence and National Identity'' (2011) * ''Without Apology: Sermons for Christ's Church'' (2013) * ''Approaching the End: Eschatological Reflection on Church, Politics, and Life'' (2013) * ''The Holy Spirit'' (with Will Willimon) (2015) * ''The Work of Theology'' (2015) * ''Beginnings: Interrogating Hauerwas'' (with Brian Brock) (2017) * ''The Character of Virtue: Letters to a Godson'' (with an introduction by Samuel Wells) (2018). *Series co-editor (with Peter Ochs) of ''Radical Traditions: Theology in a Postcritical Key'', published by Westview Press/Harper Collins and SCM Press/Eerdmans *Series co-editor (with Peter Ochs and Ibrahim Moosa) of ''Encountering Traditions'', published by Stanford University Press.


Notes


References


Further reading

*''The Church as Polis: From Political Theology to Theological Politics as Exemplified by Jurgen Moltmann and Stanley Hauerwas'' by Arne Rasmusson (1995) *''Transforming Fate into Destiny: The Theological Ethics of Stanley Hauerwas'' by Samuel Wells (1998) *''Faithfulness & Fortitude: In Conversation with the Theological Ethics of Stanley Hauerwas'' edited by Mark Thiessen Nation and Samuel Wells (2000) *''Beyond Universal Reason: The Relation between Religion and Ethics in the Work of Stanley Hauerwas'' by Emmanuel Katongole (2000) *''The Ecclesiology of Stanley Hauerwas: A Christian Theology of Liberation'' by John Bromilow Thompson (2003) *''Critical Reflections on Stanley Hauerwas' Theology of Disability: Disabling Society, Enabling Theology'' by John Swinton (2005) *''God, Truth, and Witness: Engaging Stanley Hauerwas'' edited by L. Gregory Jones, Reinhard Hutter, and C. Rosalee Velloso Ewell (2005) *''Unsettling Arguments: A Festschrift on the Occasion of Stanley Hauerwas's 70th Birthday'' edited by Charles R. Pinches, Kelly S. Johnson, and Charles M. Collier (2010) *''Postliberal Theology and the Church Catholic: Conversations with George Lindbeck, David Burrell, and Stanley Hauerwas'' by John Wright (2012) *''Hauerwas: A (Very) Critical Introduction'' by Nicholas M. Healy (2014) *''The Difference Christ Makes: Celebrating the Life, Work, and Friendship of Stanley Hauerwas.'' Edited by Charlie M. Collier. Cascade Books. (2015)


External links


Wunderkammer Magazine Interview, 2010

Interview with Hauerwas, 2004

Interview with Hauerwas, 2008

Stanley Hauerwas Reading Room at Tyndale Seminary

A few articles and one audio lecture by Hauerwas at Jesus Radicals
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hauerwas, Stanley 1940 births Living people 20th-century American Episcopalians 20th-century American philosophers 20th-century Anglican theologians 21st-century American Episcopalians 21st-century American philosophers 21st-century Anglican theologians American anti-capitalists American anti-war activists American Christian pacifists American Episcopal theologians American ethicists American evangelicals American people of German descent Anglican pacifists Arminian theologians Christian ethicists Christian radicals Converts to Anglicanism from Methodism Communitarianism Duke Divinity School faculty Ecclesiologists Episcopalians from North Carolina Evangelical Anglican theologians Methodist theologians Philosophers of social science Political theologians Systematic theologians University of Notre Dame faculty Writers from Dallas Yale Divinity School alumni