20170104-Approved Thesis-Butler

Through the device of the Military Covenant, a comparison of the ideas of John Rawls & Germain Grisez A thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of History, Archaeology & Religion University of Cardiff Year of Submission 2016 Colin Butler Summary It is the aim of this thesis to demonstrate that the concept of the covenant, as a traditional theological idea, has practical utility in public discourse in the UK. This is done with reference to the secular humanist outlook of John Rawls. It is concluded that such an outlook that sees no role for Christianity in the public realm of political and social policy, does not of itself contain sufficient conceptual resources to furnish the world as fully as an approach that is inclusive of a religious dimension. That such a non-sectarian approach is possible is indicated by the use of New Natural Law, associated with Germain Grisez. The Military Covenant is used as the vehicle to enable this project. The end of the Cold war led to a re-examination of the relationship between the people of the United Kingdom and the British army. After a lengthy and difficult process the connection was summarised by the Military Covenant. This bound together the nation, the state and the army in a solemn manner. However what is a covenant? In an increasingly secular society such concepts that have a theological root are little understood. This is to the impoverishment of national life. The rise of secular liberalism is examined through John Rawls’ Theory of Justice. This is presented as a significant text in understanding this change. Rawls’ misplaced reliance on the rationality of human nature means that secular liberalism is inadequate as a comprehensive model for public policy. In the light of the emergence of the covenant-idea as a robust example of Christian theology, a means of its accommodation is found in New Natural Law. Grisez and his colleagues propose a scheme of thought is based upon the general aspiration people have to live purposeful lives. The Military Covenant is found to find its home in this approach. The legitimate place of Christianity in British society is affirmed as a means to promoting the common good. Thesis Declaration and Statements DECLARATION This work has not been submitted in substance for any other degree or award at this or any other university or place of learning, nor is being submitted concurrently in candidature for any degree or other award. Signed ………………………………………… (candidate) Date …………………… STATEMENT 1 This thesis is being submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of ………………………… PhD Signed ………………………………………… (candidate) Date …………………… STATEMENT 2 This thesis is the result of my own independent work/investigation, except where otherwise stated. Other sources are acknowledged by explicit references. The views expressed are my own. Signed ………………………………………… (candidate) Date …………………… STATEMENT 3 I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loan, and for the title and summary to be made available to outside organisations. Signed ………………………………………… (candidate) Date ………………………… Through the device of the Military Covenant, a comparison of the ideas of John Rawls & Germain Grisez Contents Introduction 1 Part 1 – The Military Covenant Chapter One - The Development of the Military Covenant 14 Chapter Two - The Biblical and Historical Background to the Concept of 31 Covenant Part Two – John Rawls and The Theory of Justice Chapter Three - An Outline of A Theory of Justice 68 Chapter Four - An Evaluation of A Theory of Justice 82 Chapter Five - The Military Covenant and Rawls 106 Chapter Six - The Moral Theory of John Rawls in A Theory of Justice 120 Chapter Seven - Christianity and Rawls 134 Chapter Eight - The Influence of Rawls’ Ideas in the UK 146 Part Three – The Military Covenant and New Natural Law Chapter Nine - An Introduction to New Natural Law 164 Chapter Ten - Grisez and the Military Covenant 198 Conclusion 219 Bibliography 228 Introduction I The Importance of John Rawls in contemporary public ethics To offer an analysis that argues not just for the persistence of Christianity, but its continued potency, appears to fly in the face of reality. The contentious character of the role of religion in society is observable in many directions. The decline in those who identified themselves as Christian is apparent. The diminishing attendance at Sunday worship is taken for granted in the popular media. This decline has been accompanied by the emergence of the voice of those who oppose the role of religion in society. This thesis makes two proposals that are rebuttals of this picture. Firstly, it is argued that attempts, represented chiefly by John Rawls in his A Theory of Justice, to move society on to a thoroughgoing secular basis, are bound to be unsuccessful. Christianity is a fundamental and enduring part of political culture, and has a positive contribution to make, in what is widely called "public space". Secondly, a suggestion is made for an approach to public ethics which is consistent with Christian belief, and which cannot be fairly regarded as unreasonable. The main thrust of this work is that the common good should have many authors, even if individually some seem to barely acknowledge the others. The tone in which this thesis is written is, hopefully, moderate. The central concern of Rawls is for justice, and that should be acknowledged as a well intentioned contribution to the common-good. A Theory of Justice is written with a positive intent. Its antagonism toward religion is not its primary ambition. The thread which runs through the thesis is provided by the Military Covenant. This strikes me as being so patently redolent of Christianity that I am surprised it seems to be little recognised. Indeed, as I show, it is a connection that commentators seem to go out of their way to evade. Why they do this is something that I believe is accounted for by the emergence of a culture that is either ignorant of or unwilling to engage with Christianity. !1 This thesis arose out of a sense of intrigue I have long had about Rawls. I first came across him when I was a social science undergraduate at an unremarkable plate- glass university in the north of England, with all due apologies to that institution. I vividly remember how, when I visited the university bookshop, the volumes I wanted to browse were always surrounded by a barricade of A Theory of Justice (abbreviated henceforth to TJ) books. They were literally stacked in piles on the floor. From that experience, I hope it is not unreasonable to extrapolate that in other universities there was a similarly wide exposure to TJ. While TJ cannot be regarded as the single cause for the emergence of this significant change in public policy, if a canon of texts was put together that have contributed to it, then I would expect it to be a leading one. II The context of this thesis: Army Chaplaincy and the Decline in Formal Religion in Britain What follows in this thesis is pitched at a conceptual level. However the context in which it is written, is provided by my service in the army since 1995 as both a volunteer and a regular army chaplain. Therefore the voice of a practitioner and not an academic lies behind it. The enterprise of writing what follows, has felt akin to a voyage or a journey. It has been the process rather than just the completion of the work that has been of value to me. Good chaplaincy is based upon praxis. It involves the application of a developing understanding, derived from faith and other sources, in such a way that practice is heightened. My experience leads me to believe that without the inclusion of a religious perspective, the army, as a part of society, would be hugely diminished and suffer significant damage. The setting for this study is Britain. That means that Rawls is approached from that perspective and my evaluation of him inevitably is shaped by that. On the other hand, because TJ proposes a public philosophy that is intended to be truthful, to use one of Rawls own terms, it is not inappropriate that it is tested in the situation I provide. To understand Rawls and the humanistic perspective he advocated in the British environment, there are two important and relevant topics to be acquainted !2 with, namely secularism and the theory of secularization. These help explain the context within which chaplaincy, which is representative of public Christianity, operates, and provide helpful tools of analysis in navigating the rapids of the river that are the perceptions of officers and soldiers. A significant contemporary academic figure in the UK who writes on these topics is Steve Bruce, who is also a notable proponent for the decline of Christianity. In his book Secularization, he argues for a theory of secularization that applies to “modern industrial liberal democracies” (Bruce 2011:4). Implicit in Bruce’s approach is a distinction between secularization theory, which he regards as a dispassionate social science that explains the decline in religion (Bruce 2002:xiii), and secularism, which is a commitment as a minimum to the neutral role of religion in the public square. Bruce claims to be an “old-fashioned positivist” (Bruce 2011:vi), a worldview discussed in Chapter Eight that claims to be scientific, and distinguishable, at least in the minds of people like Bruce, from those who oppose religion on other, more ideological, grounds. There are two key aspects to Bruce’s approach. Firstly, he demonstrates the gradual but consistent decline in religious adherence and, secondly, he offers an explanation for it which is due to a “synthesis of various attempts to explain the general observation that modernization undermines the power, popularity, and prestige of religious beliefs, behaviour, and institutions” (Bruce 2011:24).

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