Christianity and Liberal Democracy: Recovery and Renewal
In light of Christianity's often unrecognized role in the birth of liberal democracy, Ryan Murphy here presents a Christian theological defense of secular liberalism as an antidote to Christian nationalism.
With the fall of fascism in the mid-twentieth century and the fall of Soviet communism at that century's end, liberal democracy seemed like a global inevitability. Global trade, multilateral foreign policy, universal human rights, and growing prosperity were to be the central characteristics of an open society--what George H. W. Bush called "the new world order." But as the twenty-first century has come of age, that new order shows signs of significant stress. The vanquished foes of nationalism, populism, and anti-liberalism are once again on the march, not just in places haunted by an authoritarian past, but even among democracy's Western advocates. The rise of Christian nationalism in the US crystallizes this trend.
As Ryan Murphy's important work reveals, Christianity's role in democracy and its relationship to the liberal tradition have always been complicated. In America, Christians tend to reject democracy's legitimacy either to retreat into sectarian, apocalyptic community or to assert the right of Christians to rule. In The Promise of Christian Liberalism, Ryan Murphy argues for a quite distinct vision. He maintains that modern liberal democracy and the secularism that defines it are themselves products of a Christian theological imagination, and that there are compelling theological reasons for Christians to labor to maintain this arrangement. Murphy insists that an authentic and vibrant Christianity can both express itself and influence worldly affairs through the liberal political project, while rejecting efforts to politicize the faith that have deeply distorted the faith and failed to achieve their political aims.
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