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Christianity and the Welfare State

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2009

Glenn Tinder
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Extract

Tocqueville saw democracy as a form of government and society that was basically valid yet liable to produce unpleasant, even disastrous, surprises. Today we may look on one of the major manifestations of democracy, the welfare state, in like fashion. Although it marks an enhancement of economic justice, it has had some disturbing consequences. These include the rise of an immense federal bureaucracy and (if we understand the welfare state as comprising the phenomenon of “consumer capitalism”) a trivialization of liberty and public life. What, then, must we do? I suggest in this article that Christianity provides a clue — the value of which is not confined to Christians. Christianity indicates a radically new way of looking at political and social matters; spirit is prior to order, and suffering is prior to action. These principles suggest a way of countering the evil consequences of the welfare state and thus, not merely saving the welfare state, but giving it a new spiritual and prophetic value.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Review of Politics , Volume 49 , Issue 4 , Fall 1987 , pp. 549 - 569
Copyright
Copyright © University of Notre Dame 1987

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References

Notes

1 Dostoevsky, Fyodor, The Brothers Karamoazov, trans. Constance Garnett (New York: Modern Library), p. 2.Google Scholar

2 See Pascal, Blaise, Pensees, trans. Krailsheimer, A. J. (New York: Penguin Books, 1966), pp. 66–72.Google Scholar

3 Ibid., p. 68.

4 Romans 1:31 (Revised Standard Version)

5 Romans 7:10 (RSV)

6 Romans 4:10 (RSV)

7 Bonhoeffer, Dietrich, The Cost of Discipleship, trans. Fuller, R. H., rev. ed. (New York: Macmillan, 1949), p. 99.Google Scholar

8 Quoted in Barth, Karl, The Epistle to the Romans, trans. Hoskyns, Edwyn C. (London: Oxford University Press, 19), p. 42. My italics.Google Scholar

9 Matthew 16:2 (RSV)

10 Mark 4:28 (RSV)

11 II Corinthians 12:9–10 (RSV)