Christianity, Democracy, and the Radical Ordinary

This book gives me hope. It takes the conversation over Christianity and democracy in a most welcome direction: away from ism-mongering and abstractions, down to earth, where instructive and inspiring examples can be found. In the practices of people like Ella Baker, Ernesto Cortes, and Jean Vanier, Hauerwas and Coles find intimations of a politics worth emulating. That, it seems to me, is exactly where we should be looking. --Jeffrey Stout, Princeton University, author of Democracy and Tradition (2005)

Romand Coles and Stanley Hauerwas have probed the practices of radical democracy and radical Christianity, respectively, for some years. Here they present a series of exchanges in which each is electrified--both shocked and enlivened--by currents from the other. This book is indispensable for those seeking to animate democratic spirituality. --William E. Connolly, Johns Hopkins University, author of Capitalism and Christianity, American Style (2008)

Organizers and leaders are always looking for tools to develop a deeper conversation between faith traditions and democracy. For those of us who are working to develop institutional strategies, Hauerwas and Coles' work is an important resource. --Ernesto Cortes Jr., Southwest Regional Director of the Industrial Areas Foundation

Stanley Hauerwas is the Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Ethics at Duke Divinity School, Duke University.
--------Romand Coles engages in grassroots politics in Durham, North Carolina, and is Associate Professor of Political Science and Germanic Languages & Literature at Duke University. His previous publications include Beyond Gated Politics: Reflections for the possibility of Democracy, Rethinking Generosity: Critical Theory and the Politics of Caritas, and Self/Power/Other: Political Theory and Dialogical Ethics.