Political Theology Midterm 2- Catholic Thought

Liberalism

Refers to classical liberalism featuring individual rights and liberties, free markets and capitalism. Usually involves a constitution, protects individuals, due process law, and rule of law. 

Liberal Democracy

Can’t overturn the rights of constitution, individuals, due process law, and rule of law

Populism

Us vs. them mentality

LEFT: rich vs. poor

RIGHT: citizens vs. immigrants

Social Democracy

A form of liberal democracy that aims to have economic justice, social solidarity (shared values/norms), free markets, private property, and individualism.

Illiberal Democracy

AKA post-liberal democracy. Emphasizes nationalism, majority rule, and traditionalism. Orban in hungary is a post-liberal and JD Vance is heavily involved.

Americanism

Love of America. America is #1, Christ is #2. Contested if Americanism is compatible with Christianity

Natural Law

belief that all humans have a built-in moral compass, accessible through reason, that guides them to understand right from wrong and encourages them to pursue good. Set of universal principles.

Murray Overview

Tried to convince church to accept liberalism and helped Kennedy win over Protestants as a Catholic. Argued using the American proposition of God’s sovereignty over nation, the compatibility thesis of catholicism and liberalism, and natural law derived from God that is prioritized in US. If we lose sense of natural law, it will lead to illiberal democracy and Catholicism is the key because it is rooted on natural law. 

Murray - E Pluribus Unum

Uses America’s emphasis of nation under God, tradition of natural law derived from God, principle of consent and free will, virtuous people, and human and historical rights to proves that the Catholic principles are in play in the government and Catholics should participate in the American consensus.

Murray - Basket Weaving

Introduces eschatological (withdraw) and incarnational (participation) tendencies. Murray discusses how creation is graced and it is our job to be coworkers w/God and grow the body of Christ. 

Weigel Overview

Neoconservative, Murrayite, relativism is main threat

Weigel - American Democracy’s Moral and Cultural Foundations

Dictatorship of relativism will lead to tyranny of self-interested people, we cannot just stand by without enforcing objective truth. We are in danger of losing John Paul II’s 3 spheres of society. Through winning conservative in civil society issues of anti-feminism, pro-life, anti same sex marriage, anti stem cell research, and anti euthanasia, there will be a cultural shift politically and economically. 

Pope John Paul II’s 3 spheres of moral society

political, economic, and civil society. All of these spheres are endanger, if we correct #3, the rest will align. Incorporated in Weigel’s argument. 

Deneen- A Catholic Showdown Worth Watching

• liberal Catholicism has no future

• Debate is over Catholic Radicalism or Conservative Catholicism

• Conservative Liberalism and Progressive Liberalism both have self-interested tendencies and make up Liberalism as a whole. Deneen argues these self-interested beliefs go against catholic beliefs and are incompatible.

• Wants post-liberal/illiberal democracy

• America was never well founded so it needs to be differently refounded or at least endured, even survived

Conservative Catholicism

• Murray Compatibility Thesis

• Weigel - relativism is main threat

• Faggioli - tribalism is main threat

• No fundamental contradiction between liberalism and catholic

• pro-life, defense of marriage, laissez faire economics, neoconservative wing right party

Catholic Radicalism

• Baxter- anti state power, achieving anti violence is #1 concern

• Deneen- state power for illiberal ends, achieving social conservativism is #1 concern

• liberal democracy and Catholicism are not compatible

• liberalism holds humans as separate sovereign beings, contrasting God’s belief we are relational

• pro-life, pro-marriage, critical of capitalism, not comfortable in either party

• focuses on our end

Faggioli

• Murrayite but thinks there needs to be revision as we are being more polarized

• Murray’s distinction between church and state is essential for church’s survival

• Solution is to find secularity under democracy, find common ground, unite under democracy, and exclusive non-negotiable values are in effective

• main threat is tribalism

Baxter

• Catholic Radical Left

• says Murray has idealistic view of America (EX: there was no guiding light in slavery)

• Politics should take place outside of state like humanitarian efforts and feeding the hungry

• Anti-state power, pro-localist and direct action to help individuals and communities

Dreher - The Benedict Option

• strategic separation/withdraw from institutions that are distorted, sinful, and hostile towards Christianity

• form counter culture movement that can cause seemingly impossible cultural shifts to be the norm in 20 years

• primary task is to live out faith

• Benedict of Nursia displays how monasteries and these institutions of worship can help ride out social hostility

• Currently in a post-Christian society that has idea of liquid modernity causes people to have no allegiances beyond oneself

• eschatological

Peters - The Ignation Option

• continuous discernment between what may allow one to have room in their heart for God

• in between incarnational and eschatological

• emphasizes church as feild hospital

• Pope Francis

• (don’t stress)

Deneen - Why They Hate Us

“They” (neoconservatives and democratic socialists making up the liberal imperium) hate “us” (Deneen, Post-Liberals, Trump) because post-liberals won election and question liberal imperium’s sacred values of free market economics and interventionist foreign policy. Believes Ayn Rand and other democratic socialists are crazy because they want a world without laws, boundaries, and children.

Deneen - JD Vance Could Lead The Post-Liberal Elite

Believes JD Vance is right for the job of leading Post-Liberal Elite because he knows the government shouldn’t just get out of the way, it can be used to serve conservative ends. Positive affirmations of Trump’s 2nd term.

Deneen overview

• Catholic Radicalist, Post Liberal on Right

• believes in state intervention for conservative means

• liberty is currently primary focus, wants order to replace liberty

• regime change = fundamental change in core values of a social and political order

• bounded freedom = freedom bound by 4 things - family, religion, robust community, and healthy patriotism

• wants ordered regime where certain nobles (JD Vance) listen to populist and serve common good

Dreher overview

• Post Liberal on Right

• Withdraw from state

• the benedict option

Cavanaugh Overview

• post liberalism on left

• Nationalism as Idoltry

Idoltry

devotion to created reality that is not God

Defining religion for post liberals on left

Intertwine of substantive (belief of God) and functional practices (ultimate concern of life is what you devote your time to).

What does Cavanaugh say American’s religion order is

1. capitalism

2. nationalism

3. Christianity

Cavannaugh - Nationalism as Idolatry

• problems of idoltry is that it directs people to wrong ends, it is violent, and exclusion

• Know capitalism and nationalism as religions

• Inner war and outer war

Cavanaugh Capitalism as religion

• God → Market

• Telos/End → wealth accumulation

• Human Person → homo economics/ self-interested

• Desire → restlessness of consumerism

• Rituals → malls

• Cav says capitalism is idolatry on ground that it directs us towards wrong ends, it is violent towards workers, and it is exclusionary to homeless/rich and poor gap

Cavanaugh nationalism as religion

• we are more willing to die for the country than for God

• Cross → flag

• Bible → Constitution

• Theologians → lawyers

• Saints → Founding fathers

• these features of nationalism function as religion

Cavanaugh Inner War

• the New Right

• Immigration/ICE

• puts American citizen above the universal/global citizen/body of Christ christian beliefs

Cavanaugh Outer War

• Neoconservatives

• the War on terror → US response was seen as unproportional and killed many more than US citizens were killed

• our nationalism blinds us from our own nations acts

Catholic Social Teaching

Three principles:

• affirms private property

• solidarity (common good, prioritize poor)

• Subsidiarity (most local body should respond to particular social challenges)

Three spheres:

• economy (exchange of goods)

• political ( justice, rights, etc.)

• civil society (family, religion, community)

• each of these needs to flourish for functioning society and work as checks and balances for each other

Errors:

• when they aren’t checking and balancing, there is absolute of political which forms communism

• economizations of everything (think idolatry)

Out of Bounds: communism and completely free market

In Bounds: Democratic socialism, social democracy, democratic capitalism

Brooks

• Democratic capitalism

• Argument is 3 points: social justice work, most effective system of eliminating poverty is capitalism, defend and celebrate capitalism

• economic miracle: since 1980s, % of people living by a dollar a day has shrunk by 80% because of capitalism

• critiques: inequality gaps (Brooks would counter that tide lifts all boats) and capitalism of soul (brooks would counter that it is an amoral system and we need to form people morally in order to be used for just end)

Jacobs

• Democratic socialism/ social democracy

• people should be valued over markets, labor, and profits

• God created the world to enjoy benefits and we need to either coercively or non coercively attain basic human rights for all society

• private property is subordinate to universal destination of goods’

• distributive justice

• criticism would be that it is impractical

Social Democracy

Social democracy is a political ideology that advocates for a balance between a capitalist market economy and social justice through government intervention. It supports a mixed economy, combining private enterprise with a robust social welfare state funded by progressive taxation to provide universal services like healthcare, education, and social security.

Democratic Capitalism

political and economic system that combines a market-based capitalist economy with a democratic government. This system emphasizes individual rights, private property, and free markets, while also relying on democratic elections for governance.

Basic categories of catholic approaches to violence

1. Pacificsm - strictly nonviolent

2. Just War - procedures for violence

3. Just Peace - institutional peacebuilding

Just War (Bellum Justum) Theory

• Fundamental concern: when/how to correct injustice

• How to justly approach war: Just Cause, Legitimate Authority, Right Intention, Reasonable Chance of success, Last Resort

• How to engage in war after it has been decided: discrimination (don’t attack innocent), proportionality, no unjust means

• After War: peace treaties, reparations, war crime trials

• Critiques: focuses on negative peace and instilling order, done by elites

Just Peace

• done at the grassroots level

• before war: need more preventative measures, allocate money to humanitarian efforts rather than defense

• In war: resolve conflicts non-violently if possible and subdue US knee-jerk reaction

• After war: forgiveness and reconciliation, restorative justice and transformative justice

Weigel

Just War

3 Principles:

• Just war theory as a statescraft, political leaders lead rather than presumption against violence from theologians

• Tranquility of Order

• Defend and Develop Just War Tradition. Develop the use of preventative strikes and last resort justification

Cahill

Just Peace critique of Iraq

• We justified the attack as their possession of weapons of mass destruction. However, the underlying motivations where selfish (oil, democratization of middle east)

• Preemptive/preventable strikes are not legit Just War principles

• Practices during war contradict Just War Principles

• we haven’t even been following just war principles ^

• “In practice, just war theory helps produce unjust cultural, political and institutional war habits”