Papers by Ben Wood
Chapter 3 from Renewing the Self: In an effort to contest John Milbank's reading of secularity, t... more Chapter 3 from Renewing the Self: In an effort to contest John Milbank's reading of secularity, this chapter argues that Quaker responses to the urban offer a distinctive vision of both self and secularity which reinvests space with the quality of enchantment. Far from being the heralds of a deep and pervasive secularisation of the city, I suggest that first-generation Friends demonstrated a remarkable loyalty to a pre-modern.
In the last two decades the Radical Orthodox theology of John Milbank has offered significant the... more In the last two decades the Radical Orthodox theology of John Milbank has offered significant theological tools for the analysis of contemporary liberal politics. At the centre of his account is the persistent claim that liberal societies represent a traumatic rupture with a holistic Christian past which was generous to both locality and tradition. In an effort to deconstruct this potent theological dichotomy as ahistorical and simplistic, the following article performs a close theological reading of the thought of the British Liberal Party leader Jo Grimond (1913-1993). Key to this portrait is the recognition of Grimond's debt to an older the Aristotelian notion of the 'mixed constitution'. As a liberal generous both to aristocracy and democracy, I illustrate the ways in which Grimond’s liberalism is both developed and sustained by a pre-modern Christian past.
In this chapter I suggest that an exploration of early Quaker responses to space and the urban of... more In this chapter I suggest that an exploration of early Quaker responses to space and the urban offer us key theological tools for conceptualising a terrain beyond the secular city. On initial inspection, such a project does not look promising based on the lines sketched above. While Milbank makes stark mention of Quaker theology in his work, it is easy to imagine that a radical sect of the English is likely to fall foul of Milbank’s critique of modernity and his Anglican/Byzantium model of Christendom. As a visible part of an emergent mercantile class (whom Christopher Hill calls ‘Masterless men’), Quaker participation in campaigns for both political and economic liberalization in 17th century Europe is suggestive of the kind of de-sacralising secularity against which Milbank rallies.
Alongside these political interventions, the charismatic and anti-ceremonial patterns of early Friends appear to utterly defy the enchanted world of Catholic Christendom. In an effort to contest such a reading, this chapter argues that Quaker responses to the urban demonstrate a notable resistance to such a rootless and fundamentally irreligious conception of both self and space.
In the first part of this chapter we will view early Quaker spirituality through the lens of the religious culture which spawned it. Far from being the heralds of a deep and pervasive secularisation of the city, I suggest that first-generation Friends demonstrated a remarkable loyalty to a pre-modern Medieval-Catholic conception of space as a sacred, multi-dimensional and symbolically rich conduit of divine activity. By drawing on the theoretical models of space and time offered by Henri Lefebve and Victor Turner, I endeavour to illustrate a number of ways in which Quaker approaches to the urban self, represent a radicalisation and internalisation of an older integrated cosmos, rather than its dismantlement. In the second part of the chapter the discussion moves to consider the ways in which, despite appearances, such a reading of spaces radically undercuts the logic of the secular. At the centre of this discussion will be innovative re-reading of the inward religious experiences of Quaker diarists and polemists under the rubric of carnival (‘flesh farewell’). Just as Medieval carnival served to both an expression and a defence against a sacred cosmos (transforming the mundane into a universal ‘no-place’) Quaker abandonment of the liturgical cycle, was intended to permit the experience of the sacred procession to persist beyond the localised and specific focuses of an older pre-industrial Christendom. In this vein, moves by Friends towards the evacuation of the public space of images ceremonies and festivities were not simple negations of public disorder or vice, but attempts to allow the sacred to be magnified and absorbing in all aspects of daily life- in opposition to the departmentalised and fragmenting reasoning of embryonic Capitalism. To conclude the discussion, the final part of this chapter attempts to apply these Quaker insights to the predicaments of Christians in the secular city.
Throughout his theological career Stanley Hauerwas has struggled to maintain a demarcation betwee... more Throughout his theological career Stanley Hauerwas has struggled to maintain a demarcation between liberal and Christian ethics. Is such a separation theologically defensible? In an effort to deconstruct Hauerwas’s hostility to liberalism through Hauerwasian categories, the following article examines areas of resemblance between liberal and Hauerwasian ethics. Through a comparative reading of the liberalisms of J. S. Mill (1806–1873) and E. M. Forster (1879–1970), the following argument retrieves a neglected form of liberal politics which in many respects conforms to the
structure of Hauerwas’s radical description of Christian discipleship. Instead of understanding the Church as an isolated colony embattled against non-Christian culture, Mill and Forster challenge Hauerwas to consider the liberal polity as both the child and responsibility of the Church.
For many Christian ethicists the language of individualism serves as a philosophical short-hand f... more For many Christian ethicists the language of individualism serves as a philosophical short-hand for an atomistic and anti-social existence which refuses the invitation of a common life with others. Is this negative description deserved? This article undertakes a close reading of the categories of the individual and the person in order to formulate a theologically affirmative account of certain liberal strands of social and political individualism. In an effort to ground this project, dialogue is
initiated with the Quaker theological tradition. Through a close engagement with early Quaker accounts of community, selfhood and conversion, the discussion retrieves a social and teleological model of individuality which challenges key suppositions of individualism’s contemporary critics. This article concludes by considering ways in which Quaker formations of the individual can assist the Church in the task of faithfully engaging with liberal societies.
This article constructs a positive theological case for liberal multiculturalism through a close ... more This article constructs a positive theological case for liberal multiculturalism through a close interrogation of the exegetical methods of Augustine of Hippo (354–430). Drawing out the political implications of the charitable hermeneutics of De doctrina christiana, I suggest that Augustine authorizes
political theology to respond generously to multicultural practices of social co-existence and notions of ‘‘deep diversity.’’ In this guise, the Augustinian method of Scriptural reading provides a means of cherishing diverse cultural forms. Yet, alongside these inclusive affirmations, Augustine’s Scriptural
politics suggests that liberal multiculturalism should not be an uncontested project for the Church. In place of a politics of separatist autonomy or passive tolerance, Augustine points us towards a radical politics of difference rooted in a fusion of truthfulness and love
This article offers a decisive alternative to a growing consensus within public theology that pol... more This article offers a decisive alternative to a growing consensus within public theology that political liberalism represents the pro-Pelagian, atomistic and un-ecclesial face of modernity. Through a careful reappraisal of the sceptical theology of Michel de Montaigne I claim that contemporary Christian advocates of liberalism can develop a deeply Augustinian counter-account which has the ability to reconcile notions of individual autonomy and conscience with a strong sense of ecclesial authority. At the centre of this innovative settlement, I point to the value of Montaigne’s theological anthropology, which, in its sensitivity to human fragility and sin, offers
a rich validation of pluralistic and tolerant societies by contesting absolutist claims to both knowledge and power. In framing political liberalism in these explicitly theological terms, such an account comes into sharp confrontation with the movement known as Radical Orthodoxy, which has defined
the liberal tradition as intrinsically anathema to an uthentically Christian understanding of politics. In contrast, this article claims that political liberalism, far from being automatically antagonistic to Christian theological commitments, can be justified by them.
Conference Presentations by Ben Wood
Drafts by Ben Wood
It is perhaps useful to begin by sketching out what this essay is not. It is not principally an a... more It is perhaps useful to begin by sketching out what this essay is not. It is not principally an attempt to explore the legal or medical complexities of assisted dying. It does not advocate a particular model of care for those suffering from terminal illnesses. It is not a straightforward apology for or against those who advocate a change in the law to permit physician-assisted suicide. What it attempts to do instead is a deeper yet more limited task. It considers what a Quaker theological response to assisted dying might look like -acknowledging, at the same time, the pitfalls of undertaking such an enterprise. 'Theological' here is meant in the rich Quaker sense of speech and action arising from our experience of God.
The following chapter attempts to discern renewed foundations for environmental activism through ... more The following chapter attempts to discern renewed foundations for environmental activism through a constructive dialogue between Luther’s Theologia Crucis and Stanley Hauerwas’ theological ethics. At the heart of this discussion is the suggestion that the Pauline declaration of the ‘foolishness’ of the Cross provide the basis for an ethic of environmental concern which confronts the reality of life’s finitude, without succumbing to inaction. According to such an ethic, Christians must exist in a continual state of tension. They must act in the name of the solidarity enacted by Christ, yet they must not expect to achieve their object as the world understands achievement. By relating Paul's declaration of “Christ crucified” (1 Cor. 1:23) to environmental praxis, I suggest that Christians must do their utmost to work for the preservation of life without being fixated on notions of 'final' destiny. We must give up such a fixation, offering up our actions to 'the grace' of God. How should such a position of tension be conceptualised? We begin this discussion with an analysis of Luther's approach to the cross, as outlined in the Heidelberg Disputation (1518). In particular I will focus on Luther’s notion of the ‘hidden God’ and ask what resources this concept may have for Christians seeking justification for contemporary environmental protection. While secular environmentalists seek points of security in practices of sustainability or conservation, Luther’s claim that the truth of the world is revealed in the desolation of the cross, is suggestive that such points of stability are nothing but illusionary and potentially idolatrous expressions of our desire for self-glorification.
This article offers a decisive alternative to a growing consensus within public theology that pol... more This article offers a decisive alternative to a growing consensus within public theology that political liberalism represents the pro-Pelagian, atomistic and un-ecclesial face of modernity. Through a careful reappraisal of the sceptical theology of Michel de Montaigne I claim that contemporary Christian advocates of liberalism can develop a deeply Augustinian counter-account which has the ability to reconcile notions of individual autonomy and conscience with a strong sense of ecclesial authority. At the centre of this innovative settlement, I point to the value of Montaigne's theological anthropology, which, in its sensitivity to human fragility and sin, offers a rich validation of pluralistic and tolerant societies by contesting absolutist claims to both knowledge and power. In framing political liberalism in these explicitly theological terms, such an account comes into sharp confrontation with the movement known as Radical Orthodoxy, which has defined the liberal tradition as intrinsically anathema to an authentically Christian understanding of politics. In contrast, this article claims that political liberalism, far from being automatically antagonistic to Christian theological commitments, can be justified by them.
Teaching Documents by Ben Wood
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Papers by Ben Wood
Alongside these political interventions, the charismatic and anti-ceremonial patterns of early Friends appear to utterly defy the enchanted world of Catholic Christendom. In an effort to contest such a reading, this chapter argues that Quaker responses to the urban demonstrate a notable resistance to such a rootless and fundamentally irreligious conception of both self and space.
In the first part of this chapter we will view early Quaker spirituality through the lens of the religious culture which spawned it. Far from being the heralds of a deep and pervasive secularisation of the city, I suggest that first-generation Friends demonstrated a remarkable loyalty to a pre-modern Medieval-Catholic conception of space as a sacred, multi-dimensional and symbolically rich conduit of divine activity. By drawing on the theoretical models of space and time offered by Henri Lefebve and Victor Turner, I endeavour to illustrate a number of ways in which Quaker approaches to the urban self, represent a radicalisation and internalisation of an older integrated cosmos, rather than its dismantlement. In the second part of the chapter the discussion moves to consider the ways in which, despite appearances, such a reading of spaces radically undercuts the logic of the secular. At the centre of this discussion will be innovative re-reading of the inward religious experiences of Quaker diarists and polemists under the rubric of carnival (‘flesh farewell’). Just as Medieval carnival served to both an expression and a defence against a sacred cosmos (transforming the mundane into a universal ‘no-place’) Quaker abandonment of the liturgical cycle, was intended to permit the experience of the sacred procession to persist beyond the localised and specific focuses of an older pre-industrial Christendom. In this vein, moves by Friends towards the evacuation of the public space of images ceremonies and festivities were not simple negations of public disorder or vice, but attempts to allow the sacred to be magnified and absorbing in all aspects of daily life- in opposition to the departmentalised and fragmenting reasoning of embryonic Capitalism. To conclude the discussion, the final part of this chapter attempts to apply these Quaker insights to the predicaments of Christians in the secular city.
structure of Hauerwas’s radical description of Christian discipleship. Instead of understanding the Church as an isolated colony embattled against non-Christian culture, Mill and Forster challenge Hauerwas to consider the liberal polity as both the child and responsibility of the Church.
initiated with the Quaker theological tradition. Through a close engagement with early Quaker accounts of community, selfhood and conversion, the discussion retrieves a social and teleological model of individuality which challenges key suppositions of individualism’s contemporary critics. This article concludes by considering ways in which Quaker formations of the individual can assist the Church in the task of faithfully engaging with liberal societies.
political theology to respond generously to multicultural practices of social co-existence and notions of ‘‘deep diversity.’’ In this guise, the Augustinian method of Scriptural reading provides a means of cherishing diverse cultural forms. Yet, alongside these inclusive affirmations, Augustine’s Scriptural
politics suggests that liberal multiculturalism should not be an uncontested project for the Church. In place of a politics of separatist autonomy or passive tolerance, Augustine points us towards a radical politics of difference rooted in a fusion of truthfulness and love
a rich validation of pluralistic and tolerant societies by contesting absolutist claims to both knowledge and power. In framing political liberalism in these explicitly theological terms, such an account comes into sharp confrontation with the movement known as Radical Orthodoxy, which has defined
the liberal tradition as intrinsically anathema to an uthentically Christian understanding of politics. In contrast, this article claims that political liberalism, far from being automatically antagonistic to Christian theological commitments, can be justified by them.
Conference Presentations by Ben Wood
Drafts by Ben Wood
Teaching Documents by Ben Wood
Alongside these political interventions, the charismatic and anti-ceremonial patterns of early Friends appear to utterly defy the enchanted world of Catholic Christendom. In an effort to contest such a reading, this chapter argues that Quaker responses to the urban demonstrate a notable resistance to such a rootless and fundamentally irreligious conception of both self and space.
In the first part of this chapter we will view early Quaker spirituality through the lens of the religious culture which spawned it. Far from being the heralds of a deep and pervasive secularisation of the city, I suggest that first-generation Friends demonstrated a remarkable loyalty to a pre-modern Medieval-Catholic conception of space as a sacred, multi-dimensional and symbolically rich conduit of divine activity. By drawing on the theoretical models of space and time offered by Henri Lefebve and Victor Turner, I endeavour to illustrate a number of ways in which Quaker approaches to the urban self, represent a radicalisation and internalisation of an older integrated cosmos, rather than its dismantlement. In the second part of the chapter the discussion moves to consider the ways in which, despite appearances, such a reading of spaces radically undercuts the logic of the secular. At the centre of this discussion will be innovative re-reading of the inward religious experiences of Quaker diarists and polemists under the rubric of carnival (‘flesh farewell’). Just as Medieval carnival served to both an expression and a defence against a sacred cosmos (transforming the mundane into a universal ‘no-place’) Quaker abandonment of the liturgical cycle, was intended to permit the experience of the sacred procession to persist beyond the localised and specific focuses of an older pre-industrial Christendom. In this vein, moves by Friends towards the evacuation of the public space of images ceremonies and festivities were not simple negations of public disorder or vice, but attempts to allow the sacred to be magnified and absorbing in all aspects of daily life- in opposition to the departmentalised and fragmenting reasoning of embryonic Capitalism. To conclude the discussion, the final part of this chapter attempts to apply these Quaker insights to the predicaments of Christians in the secular city.
structure of Hauerwas’s radical description of Christian discipleship. Instead of understanding the Church as an isolated colony embattled against non-Christian culture, Mill and Forster challenge Hauerwas to consider the liberal polity as both the child and responsibility of the Church.
initiated with the Quaker theological tradition. Through a close engagement with early Quaker accounts of community, selfhood and conversion, the discussion retrieves a social and teleological model of individuality which challenges key suppositions of individualism’s contemporary critics. This article concludes by considering ways in which Quaker formations of the individual can assist the Church in the task of faithfully engaging with liberal societies.
political theology to respond generously to multicultural practices of social co-existence and notions of ‘‘deep diversity.’’ In this guise, the Augustinian method of Scriptural reading provides a means of cherishing diverse cultural forms. Yet, alongside these inclusive affirmations, Augustine’s Scriptural
politics suggests that liberal multiculturalism should not be an uncontested project for the Church. In place of a politics of separatist autonomy or passive tolerance, Augustine points us towards a radical politics of difference rooted in a fusion of truthfulness and love
a rich validation of pluralistic and tolerant societies by contesting absolutist claims to both knowledge and power. In framing political liberalism in these explicitly theological terms, such an account comes into sharp confrontation with the movement known as Radical Orthodoxy, which has defined
the liberal tradition as intrinsically anathema to an uthentically Christian understanding of politics. In contrast, this article claims that political liberalism, far from being automatically antagonistic to Christian theological commitments, can be justified by them.