Introduction.- The Last Christian Settlement: A Defence and Critique, in Debate with Samuel Moyn.- The Politics of Purpose: Christian Alternatives to Liberalism and Populism.- Challenges for Post-Liberalism: Can we have a Politics of Virtue with God on the Bench?.- Transliberalism: An Alternative to John Milbank and Adrian Pabst.- Beyond the Lib/Lab Societal Order: Towards a Relational Society?.- Oikos. Or the Man-Woman Relationship in the Frame of an Integral Ecology.- Christian Humanism: Fatherhood, Economics and Relational Ontology.- Post-Modernity and Relational Anthropology.- Conclusions.
Martin Schlag is full professor and holds the Alan W. Moss endowed Chair for Catholic Social Thought at the Center for Catholic Studies, University of St. Thomas (Minnesota, USA). Further, he is Director of the John A. Ryan Institute for Catholic Social Thought.
Giulio Maspero is full professor at the Faculty of Theology of the Pontifical University of Holy Cross (Rome, Italy). He is member of the Association Internationale des Etudes Patristiques (AIEP) and a full member of the Pontifical Academy of Theology (PATH). He has published mainly on Patristics and Trinitarian ontology.
The economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the unrest in the US following the unlawful death of George Floyd, and other sources of social unrest and insecurity, have brought to a head something that has been brewing in Western societies since the Great Recession of 2008: the disillusionment with liberal democracy as it evolved after World War II. Liberal political systems were characterized by a working compromise between capital and labor, between liberalism and socialism.
This book analyzes how, and to what extent, the rise of populism and “identitarian” political movements, as well as the acceptance of world leaders who embody an authoritarian style of government, has undermined this compromise. Written by scholars from various disciplines, all of which share the Christian faith, it offers a snapshot of an intellectual debate among Christians who are deeply concerned about the world they live in, and who share their constructive proposals for a way forward after “liberalism as we know it.”
The contributors address topics such as Christian alternatives to liberalism and populism, challenges to post-liberalism, trans-liberalism, and relational anthropology. Accordingly, the book will appeal to scholars who wish to reflect on the order of our society, and to anyone who shares the view that it is high time to rethink liberalism.