Volume 9, 2004
Jeanne Heffernan
Pages 29-35
Making the Christian Case for Democracy
Robert Kraynak has identified profound tensions in the Christian-democratic synthesis that has been taken for granted for the past century. The best way to address what he identifies as problems associated with democracy, human rights, autonomy and the like, is not to abandon their usage but to clarify their deepest meaning. To do so requires a work of education involving nothing less than a full-scale renovation of our public philosophy. A Christian democratic theory, informed by such thinkers as Yves Simon and Pope John Paul II, would provide the framework for such a renovation.