Prophetic Citizenship

Of late a more negative view has developed regarding the role of religion in promoting citizenship. This view reflects three main themes: a concern about the spillover of illiberal values into public life due to socialization infused with patriarchy; a concern for individual autonomy due to uncritical adherence of inherited beliefs and minimal exposure to a broad range of alternative views; and a concern for the cultivation of democratic values due to a kind of radical sectarianism that places them at risk. Arguments advancing these themes largely focus on religious groups that are fundamentalist and isolationist. This book explores an alternative religious orientation whose educational implications for civic virtue differ quite significantly from isolationists and fundamentalists: the prophetic Christian tradition. The strand of faith encountered within the prophetic tradition necessarily implicates involvement within the political dimension of life in all its aspects and sustains a vision of citizenship broadly compatible with central liberal democratic values like reciprocity, mutual respect, tolerance, and social justice.