SE/ET625: Social and Political Ethics: Conservative & Liberal Perspectives Fall Semester, 2020-21

Course Purpose and Overview:

The purpose of this course is to introduce the student to basic principles and perspectives on how the Christian’s relationship to the state and to the economic, social, and natural orders should be understood, with particular attention to specific current issues in which political liberals and conservatives differ in their analytical frameworks and policy prescriptions. Issues to be examined may include American identity and identity politics; capitalism and socialism; social impacts of digital technology and social media; race and racism; feminist, men’s, and LGBT gender concerns; pacifism and just war doctrines; global climate change and human contributions to climate change; immigration, and gun violence. The specific selection of current topics will be adjusted to reflect the particular interests of class members, and may include topics not specifically listed here.

Course Textbooks:

Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion. New York: Vintage Books, 2013. Pp. 371.

Thomas Sowell, A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggles. New York: Basic Books, 2007. Pp. 265.

Jennifer L. Eberhardt, Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do. New York: Penguin Books, 2020.

Stephen Charles Mott, Biblical Ethics and Social Change. New York: Oxford University Press, 1982. Pp. 208. [Recommended: not required]

Learning Objectives:

1. The student will gain increased background knowledge for better understanding the historical, political, economic, and cultural factors that shape controversial social and political issues in our modern culture:

2. The student will obtain a better understanding of the factors that cause political liberals and conservatives to differ and disagree about social and political issues:

3. The student will formulate his or her own theological framework for understanding the roles of state and church, and the nature of social justice:

4. The student will formulate a personal statement for the practice of social justice ministries

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In the local church, or parachurch or mission settings:

Course Requirements:

1. Each student will write a 10-12 page personal statement in which a) the student’s biblical and theological understanding of the proper roles of the state and the church are clarified, and the nature of social justice are spelled out; and b) how this biblical and theological statement would be carried out in practice in the context of a local church, parachurch ministry, or mission organization.

2. Each student will make a 15 minute class presentation, focusing on a featured book for the issue in question. The presentation will consist of a Powerpoint presentation, together with a one-page handout giving a brief bio of the author, an overview and key points of the featured book , and suggestions for further reading.

3. Each student will post a weekly 100 word response to one of the discussion questions assigned for that week’s readings.

4. Each student is expected to read not less than 1250 pages for the course, including required texts. At the conclusion of the course, a briefly annotated bibliography of all books and articles read will be submitted.

Course Evaluation:

For the final grade, the course requirements will be weighted as follows: written statement, 50%; class presentation, 30%; annotated bibliography, 10%; and weekly postings, 10%.

Grade Scale:.

A+ = 98-100; A = 93-97; A- = 90-92; B+ = 88-89; B = 83-87; B- = 80-82; C+ = 78-79; C = 73-77; C- = 70-72; D = 65-69; F = 0-64.

Outline of Topics, Parallel Readings [“+”], and Featured Books:

Week 1: Introduction (I): Ethical Theory: History, Methodology, and Frameworks:

+John Jefferson Davis, Evangelical Ethics: Issues Facing the Church Today. 4th ed. Phillipsburg, New Jersey, 2015. “Dimensions of Decision Making,” pp. 1-16.

David W. Gill, Doing Right: Practicing Ethical Principles. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2004.

Dennis P. Hollinger, Choosing the Good: Christian Ethics in a Complex World. 3

Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2002.

Richard B. Hays, The Moral Vision of the New Testament: Community, Cross, New Creation. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1996.

Alasdair MacIntyre. After Virtue, 2nd ed. Notre Dame: Univ. of Notre Dame, 1984.

Wayne Grudem, Christian Ethics: An Introduction to Biblical Moral Reasoning. Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, 2018.

Week 2: Introduction (II): Biblical & Historical Frameworks for Social and Political Ethics:

+Sowell, Conflict of Visions, chpts. 1,2 +Haidt, The Righteous Mind, chpts. 1-3 +Mott, Biblical Ethics and Social Change. Chpt.5, “The Reign of God,” pp. 82-106. +Peter Heltzel, “The Holy Spirit of Justice,” in Brian McLaren, Elisa Padilla, and Ashley Seeber, eds., The Justice Project (Baker, 2009), pp. 44-50.

John Howard Yoder, The Politics of Jesus, 2nd ed. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994; Chpt. 1, “The Possibility of a Messianic Ethic,” pp. 1-20.

H. Richard Niebuhr, Christ and Culture. New York: Harper, 1951; 2001.

*Alan Kreider, The Patient Ferment of the Early Church: The Improbable Rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker, 2016

*Craig A. Carter, Rethinking Christ and Culture: A Post-Christendom Perspective. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Brazos Press, 2006. Chpt.1, “Reading Niebuhr in a Post-Christendom Situation,” pp. 13-31.

Rod Dreher, The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation. New York: Penguin Random House, 2017; “Antipolitical Politics,” pp. 88-99.

Stanley Hauerwas, The Peaceable Kingdom: A Primer in Christian Ethics. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1983.

William H. Willimon, Resident Aliens. Nashville: Abingdon, 1989.

Week 3: Introduction (III): A Conservative Framework:

+Thomas Sowell, A Conflict of Visions, chpts. 3,4 +Haidt, The Righteous Mind, chpts. 4-6 +The United States Constitution and Bill of Rights (on Canvas) 4

+ The Federalist Papers (No. 10, and 51) ( on Canvas)

*Thomas Sowell, Knowledge and Decisions (New York: Basic Books, 1980).

Russell Kirk, The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Eliot. 7th ed. (Chicago, Ill.: Regnery Books, 1986).

.. Paul Johnson, Modern Times, rev. ed. (New York: HarperCollins, 1991).

.. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago, 3 vols. (New York: Harper and Row, 1973-76).

Week 4: Introduction (IV): A Liberal Framework:

+Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind, chpts. 7-9 +Sowell, Conflict of Visions, chpts. 5-7

*John Rawls, A Theory of Justice. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, 1971.

*Mark Lilla, The Once and Future Liberal: After Identity Politics. New York: HarperCollins, 2017.

Week 5: National Identity, Identity Politics, and Electoral Politics:

+Sowell, Conflict of Visions, chpts. 8,9 +Haidt, The Righteous Mind, chpts. 10-12 +Jason Willick, “Does America Still Have a Common Creed?” Wall Street Journal, Nov.30 – Dec. 1, 2019, p. A11.

*Morgan Maretta and David Barker, One Nation, Two Realities: Dueling Facts in American Democracy. New York: Oxford University Press, 2019.

*James Davison Hunter, To Change the World: the Irony, Tragedy and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World. New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 2010.

Heather MacDonald, The Diversity Delusion. New York: St. Martin’s, 2018.

Francis Fukuyama, “American Liberty Depends on the ‘Deep State’”, Wall Street Journal, December 21-22, 209, p. C3.

*______, State Building: Governance and World Order in the 21st Century. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 2004.

Week 6: Race, Racism, and Gun Violence: 5

+Derald Wing Sue, “My Personal and Professional Journey as a Person of Color” and “White Racial Identity Development: Therapeutic Implications”, in Counseling the Culturally Diverse, 6th ed., pp. 23-29; 313-320 (on Canvas) New York: Oxford University Press, 2014.

+Eberhardt, Biased, Introduction; Chpts. 1, 2:

+Emerson & Smith, “Color Blind,” chpt. 4 in Divided by Faith

+Richard Rothstein, “The Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated the United States,” https://www.zinnedproject.org/if-we-knew-our-history/forgotten-history- government-segregated-united-states/ +______“The Segregation Myth, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2roWLzrqOjQ

+ Starbucks training video on implicit bias: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDPTVEqkGa4

*Ta-Nehisi Coates, “The Case for Reparations,” The Atlantic, June 2014, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-case-for-reparations/361631/

Steven Pinker, Enlightenment Now, chpt. 12, “Safety,” pp. 167-176, on homicide deaths.

*Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. New York: New Press, 2010, 2012.

*Michael Emerson and Christian Smith, Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.

*Edward E. Baptist, The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism. New York: Basic Books, 2014.

*Ta-Nahesi Coates, Between the World and Me. New York: Random House, 2015.

Heather Mac Donald, “The Myth of Systemic Police Racism,” Wall Street Journal, June 3, 2020, p. A19.

H. Shelton Smith, In His Image, But: Racism and Southern Religion, 1780 – 1910. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1974.

Ronald Takaki, A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America. New York: Little, Brown, and Company, 1993.

*Jim Wallis, America’s Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege, and the Bridge to a New America. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Brazos Press, 2016.

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John Jefferson Davis, Evangelical Ethics, 4th ed. Chpt. 13, “Slavery, Race, and Racism in America”

David Hemenway, Private Guns, Public Health. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press, 2004.

Michael W. Austin, God and Guns in America. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2020.

Radley Balko, The Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America’s Police Forces. New York: Public Affairs, 2013.

Week 7: Capitalism: Friends and Foes:

+Eberhardt, Biased, chpts. 3, 4: +Tunku Varadarajan, “A Feminist Capitalist Professor under Fire,” Wall Street Journal, Sept. 1, 2019, A11. “Interview with Camille Paglia.”

*Kenneth J. Barnes, Redeeming Capitalism. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2018.

*Michael Novak, The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1982.

Milton Friedman, Free to Choose. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1990.

*Ronald J. Sider, Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger. 6th ed. Thomas Nelson, 2015.

Sharon Delgado, Shaking the Gates of Hell:Faith-Led Resistance to Corporate Globalization, 2nd ed. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2007.

Week 8: The Media Landscape:

+Eberhardt, Biased, chpts. 5, 6:

*James Williams, Stand Out of Our Light: Freedom and Resistance in the Attention Economy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018.

Jean M. Twenge, iGen: Why Today’s Superconnected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy – and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood.. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2017.

Sherry Turkle, Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age. New York: Penguin Press, 2015. 7

*Neal Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business. New York: Penguin Books, 1986.

Week 9: Global Politics, the Rise of Radical Islam, and the Rise of China:

+Eberhardt, Biased, chpts. 7, 8: +Liza Tobin, “Xi’s Vision for Transforming Global Governance: A Strategic Challenge for Washington and Its Allies,” Texas National Security Review 2:1 (Nov 2018) at http://dx.doi.org/10.26153/tsw/863 (on Canvas) +Ross Douthat, “The Chinese Population Crisis,” New York Times, 19 January 20 +Kasra Aarabi, “The Fundamentals of Iran’s Islamic Revolution,” Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, 11 February 2019 (on Canvas)

*Samuel Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1996.

*Sayyid Qutb, Milestones. Indianapolis, Ind.: American Trust Publications, 1990.

Nabeel Qureshi, Answering Jihad: A Better Way Forward. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2016.

Miroslav Volf, Allah: A Christian Response. New York: HarperOne, 2011.

Week 10: Gender and LGBTQ Issues:

+Eberhardt, Biased, chpts. 9, 10:

*Stanton Jones and Mark Yarhouse, Homosexuality: The Use of Scientific Evidence

*Mark A. Yarhouse, Understanding Gender Dysphoria: Navigating Transgender Issues in a Changing Culture. Downers Grove, Ill.: IVP Academic, 2015.

John Jefferson Davis, Evangelical Ethics, 4th ed. Phillipsburgh, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed, 2015. Chpt. 5, “Homosexuality,” pp. 106-130.

Dennis Hollinger, The Meaning of Sex. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2009. Chpt. 7, “The Challenge of Homosexuality,” pp. 171-198.

Megan K. DeFranza, Sex Differences in Christian Theology: Male, Female, and Intersex in the Image of God. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2015.

Robert A.J. Gagnon, The Bible and Homosexual Practice: Texts and Hermeneutics. 8

Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 2001.

*Deborah Jian Lee, Rescuing Jesus: How People of Color, Women and Queer Christians Are Reclaiming Evangelicalism. Boston: Beacon Press, 2015.

Feminism and Its Critics; Ordination of Women:

Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. New York: Vintage Books, 2009.

Daisy Hernandez and Bushra Rehman, Colonize This: Young Women of Color on Today’s Feminism. New York: Seal Press, 2002.

*John Jefferson Davis, “First Timothy 2:12, the Ordination of Women, and Paul’s Use of Creation Narratives,” Priscilla Papers 23:2 (2009):5-10.

Wayne Grudem, Evangelical Feminism and Biblical Truth. Sisters, Ore.: Multnomah, 2004.

Philip B. Payne, Man and Woman, One in Christ: An Exegetical and Theological Study of Paul’s Letters. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2009.

Christina Hoff Sommers, Who Stole Feminism? How Women Have Betrayed Women. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994.

Underrepresented Problems of Men and Women:

*Roy Baumeister, Is There Anything Good About Men? How Cultures Flourish By Exploiting Men. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.

Guest Lecture:. Dr. Robin Davis, “Lesser Known Problems of Women and Men”

Video: The Red Pill: A Feminist’s Journey into the Men’s Rights Movement. Gravitas Ventures, 2017.

Week 11: Global Climate Change, Environment, and Immigration:

+Jose Vargas, “My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant,” New York Times Magazine, June 22, 2011, (on Canvas) +Aristide Zolberg, “Rethinking the Last 200 Years of U.S. Immigration Policy,” MPI: Migration Policy Institute, June 1, 2006 (on Canvas)

“Marcos Doesn’t Live Here Anymore”: PBS/Frontline documentary

Aristide R Zolberg, A Nation by Design : immigration policy in the fashioning of America. 9

Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2009. Dennis Hollinger, “The Role of Government and the Immigration Issue,” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, 2020 (forthcoming).

+Randy Woodley, “The Fullness Thereof: How Indigenous Worldviews Offer Hope to a Besieged Planet,” Sojourners, May 2019, 15-19 (on Canvas)

+Jeffrey Bennett, A Global Warming Primer. Boulder, Col.: Big Kid Science, 2016; 25-52.

+Sasha Adkins, “Poison to Body and Soul,” Sojourners, Feb 2020, 25-27 (on Canvas)

*Randy Woodley, Shalom and the Community of Creation: an Indigenous Vision. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012.

Video: “Why Climate Change is an All-Encompassing Threat,” PBS Newshour, March 1, 2019

Bjorn Lomborg, The Skeptical Environmentalist. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2001.

*Steven Pinker, Enlightenment Now. New York: Viking, 2018; chpt. 10, “The Environment”

John Jefferson Davis, Evangelical Ethics, 4th ed. Chpt. 11, “Environmental Ethics”