Cover
story Paths to Peace Even critics acknowledge his pervasive
influence
Stanley Hauerwas has a knack for
making friends and influencing people. Even his detractors recognize the Duke
Divinity School professors enormous influence in theological circles.
Stanley is easily the most provocative and prolific American
Christian theologian writing today, said Princeton religion scholar
Jeffrey Stout, who is one of Hauerwas strongest critics.
By getting Christians to reflect on the virtues, Hauerwas made
headway early in his career, Stout says. It was a great idea, and it had
a major impact on Christian theology, he said.
However, said Stout, Hauerwas began to spoil this good point
by adding that our society is essentially lacking in virtue because of its
commitment to liberalism. Hauerwas specializes in naughty sayings. One of his
favorites is that freedom and justice are bad ideas for the church. He put this
slogan into the subtitle of a book of his that sold like hotcakes to pastors
and study groups. Maybe he just meant to get people thinking by saying
something outrageous, but the actual effect of such rhetoric has been horrible.
He is tempting his followers to ignore their obligations to the poor and other
victims of injustice.
Before Sept. 11, many U.S. Christians ignored Hauerwas
pacifism while appropriating the rest of his rhetoric, Stout said, but
thats not so easy to do anymore.
Since 9/11, its beginning to dawn on his audience that
hes saying something they dont want to hear, which is one mark of
prophecy, I suppose, Stout said. Saying amen to Hauerwas now
requires more courage. But this doesnt make his pacifism right. It is
based on a very selective reading of the New Testament, it seems to me.
Luckily, most of us can see, when were under direct threat of terrorist
murder, that justice sometimes obliges us to resort to arms to protect the
innocent.
Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, editor in chief of First Things,
a monthly journal of religion, culture and politics, recently lost Hauerwas
from his editorial board after the journal ran an editorial calling the war on
terrorism a just war.
Neuhaus, who became a priest in the New York archdiocese 11 years
ago, following his conversion from the Lutheran church, calls Hauerwas a
dear friend, and says he tried to talk Hauerwas out of resigning from the
board.
His leaving the editorial board was entirely amicable, and I
urged him not to, but understand why he did, Neuhaus said. Our
essential disagreement is that for my friend Stan, pacifism is ... the doctrine
by which the church stands or falls, and I think thats not only not true,
I think it is dangerously schismatic, and about that we have been arguing in a
friendly manner I suppose going on 30 years.
Still, Neuhaus says Hauerwas is provocative, energetic and a
very, very useful person to have on the theological scene.
Duke Divinity School dean Gregory L. Jones, a former Hauerwas
student, says Hauerwas is an extraordinary hard worker who cares deeply
for his students, for the craft of teaching and for the life of a community.
His work and vision over the years has had a transformative impact on the field
of Christian theology and ethics, especially in reclaiming the significance of
character and the virtues, of Christian community and a Christian perspective
on medicine.
Known for speaking his mind, Hauerwas can ruffle some feathers.
Jones says Hauerwas style is to be provocative and clever, and that
does sometimes go over the line, but hes also someone who is remarkably
welcoming of criticism and chastening. He recognizes when he makes mistakes and
hes willing to engage people who object to him in either substance or
style.
Another former Hauerwas student, Fr. Michael Baxter, a Notre Dame
assistant professor of theology, said Hauerwas influence is best measured
by the large numbers of his former students who have gone on to do important
work of their own.
A lot of us influenced by Hauerwas have then gone back and
plumbed Catholic tradition and found things that were being ignored,
Baxter said. What Hauerwas has done for a lot of Catholics is help us see
those elements in our own tradition which brings out the theological features
of the moral life.
His influence is harder and harder to track, but thats
usually because his influence has become so pervasive.
-- Patrick ONeill
National Catholic Reporter, June 21,
2002
|