Hopeful Realism: Evangelical Natural Law and Democratic Politics, By Jesse Covington and Bryan T. McGraw and Micah Watson

Hopeful Realism

Evangelical Natural Law and Democratic Politics

by Jesse Covington, Bryan T. McGraw, and Micah Watson

Hopeful Realism
paperback
  • Length: 256 pages
  • Dimensions: 6 × 9 in
  • Published: January 07, 2025
  • Imprint: IVP Academic
  • Item Code: A0770
  • ISBN: 9781514007709

*affiliate partner

A Natural Law Framework for Evangelicals Today

During a time when political conversations are marked by deep polarization and difficult decision-making, what resources do evangelicals have to think critical and theologically about public life?

For political theorists Bryan T. McGraw, Jesse Convington, and Micah Watson, a crucial resource is to be found in natural law, a rich tradition of Christian political thought often neglected by evangelicals. Grounded in the hope and realism of the gospel, their evangelical natural law theory is deep in moral conviction yet oriented toward practical political decision-making. Relevant to all dimensions of political life, they show how an evangelical natural law framework can speak into debates about the economy, family life and marriage, violence and war, and religious freedom.

Hopeful Realism is a generous guide for evangelicals concerned with bringing their theological commitments to bear on their political judgments. A volume that brings together robust theory with practical cases, Covington, McGraw, and Watson show how evangelicals can participate as evangelicals in a pluralistic, often polarized, democracy.

CONTENTS

Introduction

1. The Bible and Politics
2. Hopeful Realism: An Evangelical Theory of the Natural Law
3. Hopeful Realism's Political Principles
4. Making Hopeful Realism Practical
5. Economics
6. Marriage, Sex, and the Family
7. Coercion, Violence, and War
8. Religious Liberty
9. Conclusion

Bibliography

More

You May Also Like