The Politics of Charity

For those that don’t know, I do have a Substack newsletter, where I write longer pieces and essays that go straight to your email inbox. Currently, I am in the midst of a longer series examining Stanley Hauerwas’ essay “The Politics of Charity”, from his book Truthfulness and Tragedy. The essay takes on the idea that Christian political action must take on the priorities of the world, or in Hauerwas’ construction, the myth that Christians have any obligation to be effective political actors. In my essays, I am unpacking Hauerwas a bit and drawing some connections to our own time and place, where we have a church beholden to the left and right and obsessed with the political fight between the two. How do we break out of that? I think Hauerwas’ prescription of more charity and less effectiveness is a good place to start. Check it out, and subscribe to my newsletter. It is free!