“Let Us Be Saints if We Can”: A Reflection on Stanley Hauerwas's With the Grain of the Universe

Author: Levinson, Henry Samuel

Source: Journal of Religious Ethics, Volume 32, Number 1, March 2004 , pp. 219-234(16)

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Abstract:

Stanley Hauerwas's Gifford Lectures are, at least in part, an interpretation of the Giffords that came before him. As a contribution to intellectual and theological history, however, I wish Hauerwas had given witness to Santayana's Hermes the hermeneut, along with the considerable, indeed considerate, witness he does give to his own Christian faith. Hauerwas seems to dislike Reinhold Niebuhr and, by my account, misreads William James. Thus I have to conclude that With the Grain of the Universe does not measure up to his own more capacious and incisive works.

Keywords: Hauerwas; William James; supernaturalism; Reinhold Niebuhr; Barth; Christian witness

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.0384-9694.2004.00161.x

Publication date: 2004-03-01