Burkean Christianity or Radical Christianity?

Steve's post about what he regards as the Burkean character of CST does capture an important aspect of CST, but not the whole picture. That becomes apparent when CST is thought of as part Christian thought more broadly. Christianity indeed has had an inherently "conservative" character in the Burkean sense of a lived tradition that carries meaning and justice in a way that abstract reason cannot; in its incremental approach to change (particularly in Catholicism); in its distrust of utopian (ie totalitarian) politics; in its Augustinian sense of the state's limited claims on the human person and so on. Indeed, as Charles Taylor pointed out in his recent book, MODERN SOCIAL IMAGINARIES, Christianity tended to sacralize existing social orders, to give them a spiritual framework and a mythology (i.e., the medieval concept of the "king's two bodies"). Taylor also points out, however, that Christianity has also always had a radically subversive nature, forcing the individual believer to challenge what he finds in the world around him in light of the Gospel. That subversiveness can lead to profoundly anti-conservative movements, such as the abolitionist and civil rights movements, both of which sought to disrupt traditional social arrangements by explicitly invoking natural law and the Gospel. The Catholic labor movement, long associated with the CST, also had some pretty subversive qualities. My sense is that the constant tension between a kind of conservativism and an explosive critique of the established order is what is most characteristic of Christianity. Of course, different Christian traditions emphasize different things. Christianity has had its share of utopian movements that are profoundly non-Burkean. Catholic Social Thought, in contrast, is very non-utopian, and certainly repects the situatedness (if that's a word) of human beings in their peculiar local and historical contexts. It does also emphasize the incremental, communal development of doctrine. So I guess it does have some of the characteristics Steve describes. I would say, however, that its Christian character -- and its profound critique of many of our social arrangements-- makes CST a bit more of a bomb-thrower (figuratively speaking) than Steve might think.

PS Steve, how can such a devoted contractarian in corporate law be such an anti-contractualist re morality? Is that because economic relations and morality are different?

- Mark