Reason, Faith, and Politics

Edited by Arthur M. Melzer and Robert P. Kraynak - Contributions by Alan Arkush; Walter Berns; Francis Fukuyama; Leslie Friedman Goldstein; Lew Hinchman; Robert Kraynak; Ralph Lerner; Arthur Melzer; Jeremy Rabkin and William Shapiro

Behind many of the hottest political issues of the current moment -abortion, stem-cell research, Intelligent Design, Islamic fundamentalism-stands a resurgence of the centuries-old contest between religion and the Enlightenment. In such circumstances, a volume of essays honoring the thought of Werner J. Dannhauser is particularly timely. An expert on Nietzsche and Jewish political thought, Dannhauser's abiding concern was the issue of "reason, faith, and politics." Does secular rationalism, as promoted by the Enlightenment, provide an adequate basis for moral and political life? Or does the modern state ultimately require religious habits and beliefs even while tending to undermine them? Is the emergence of the religious right, then, a necessary and salutary phenomenon? Or does it pose dangers to our liberal constitution and to minority religious communities, such as Jews and Muslims? In short, is Enlightenment rationalism helpful or harmful to social life? And is Biblical religion necessary for or in tension with American liberal democracy? Questions such as these, which have concerned Dannhauser throughout a long scholarly career, have recently reemerged as front-page issues. In addressing this theme, the eleven essays comprising the present volume-by such scholars as Francis Fukuyama, Walter Berns, Jeremy Rabkin, and Ralph Lerner-range widely over Western intellectual history, from classical philosophy and ancient Israel, to the Medieval period and the Renaissance, to Nietzsche, and to contemporary neoconservative thought.

Chapter 1 Table of Contents Chapter 2 Acknowledgments Chapter 3 Introduction Part 4 I Reason: The Basis of Society or a Danger to Society? Chapter 5 1 On the Inherent Tension between Reason and Society Chapter 6 2 Dispersal by Design: The Author's Choice Chapter 7 3 Liberalism Before Disenchantment: Why Jean Bodin Advocated Witch-Hunting Chapter 8 4 Nietzsche and the Pre-Socratics Chapter 9 5 The Death of God and the Eternal Feminine Part 10 II Faith: The Role of Religion in Political Authority Chapter 11 6 Christianity and American Democracy: Harmony or Hostility? Chapter 12 7 Irving Kristol, Norman Podhoretz, and the Jewish Religion Chapter 13 8 Preserving the Third Temple: Geopolitics and Israel's Permanent Crisis Part 14 II Politics: Constitutionalism and Foreign Policy in Liberal Democracies Chapter 15 9 A Brief History of Neo-Conservative Foreign Policy Chapter 16 10 The Rule of Law and the European Union Chapter 17 11 Ancients and Moderns: The Emergence of Modern Constitutionalism