Lincoln and the Politics of Christian Love

217 Pages·2009·0.89 MB·English

by  Grant N. Havers

Lincoln
and the
Politics of
Christian
Love

LincolLni nacnodln the
and the
Politics of
Politics of
Christian Love
Christian
Love
j
Grant N. Havers
University of Missouri Press
Columbia and London
Copyright © 2009 by
The Curators of the University of Missouri
University of Missouri Press, Columbia, Missouri 65201
Printed and bound in the United States of America
All rights reserved
5 4 3 2 1 13 12 11 10 09
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Havers, Grant N., 1965-
Lincoln and the politics of Christian love / Grant N. Havers.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8262-1857-5 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865—Religion. 2. Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-
1865—Political and social views. 3. Charity—Political aspects—United
States—History—19th century. I. Title.
E457.2.H38 2009
973.7092—dc22 2009028216
This paper meets the requirements of the
American National Standard for Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials, Z39.48, 1984.
Designer: FoleyDesign
Typesetter: BOOKCOMP
Printer and binder: Integrated Book Technology, Inc.
Typeface: Minion
To the memory of my father,
Murray Hall Havers (1919–2007),
and to my mother,
Wendy Havers

Contents
w
Preface ix
Introduction 1
1
The Demanding Politics of Charity 15
2
The Concept of Charity before Lincoln 33
3
“With Charity for All”: Lincoln Raises the Sights 54
4
Charity and “We, the People” 87
5
Natural Right, Charity, and Political Realism 113
6
Charity and Chosenness 146
7
Conclusion: The Future Past of a Charitable Politics 174
Bibliography 185
Index 199

Preface
w
T
his book is the culmination of my long-standing interest in the
implications of biblical religion for politics in the United States.
While my primary training is in political philosophy, my inter-
ests have always combined the humanities and social sciences. Now that
the second Bush presidency has left the stage of world history, having
inspired a torrent of mainly critical literature on the effects of faith on
politics, it is long overdue for Christian scholars to defend their faith
traditions with the tools of political philosophy, history, and theology.
The ethic of Christian charity, to which even secular figures often lay
claim, is worthy of defense in the political realm and beyond. As a life-
long student of the complex legacy of Abraham Lincoln, I have learned
to appreciate both the positive effects of faith on politics as well as the
misuse of religion for political purposes. Charity, the ethic that pro-
motes humility and moral consistency in all realms of life, can help us
understand the difference, as Lincoln taught.
The debate over the religiosity of Lincoln’s legacy reminds us that
our secular age has never transcended the need for religion. Both reli-
gious and secular scholars living in the post-Bush era would do well to
critique the idolatrous implications of promoting liberal democracy as
the best regime for all human beings, a quasi-religious project that is
often falsely attributed to Lincoln’s legacy. The elevation of democracy
to a “god word” dangerously exaggerates the depth of commitment and
understanding that all human beings are likely to have for this regime. As
a result, wars for democracy have made the world a more unsafe place.
It was not always charitable for the Bush administration to assume that
the rest of the world desires the same mode of statecraft that Americans
enjoy. Let us hope that the new Obama administration shows greater
realism and prudence.
ix