Volume 17, 2012
Kenneth L. Grasso
Pages 47-54
Taking Religion Seriously: Reflections on Tocqueville, Catholicism, and Democratic Modernity
The contributions to this symposium raise several issues that extend beyond an examination of Tocqueville’s Democracy in America. For example, is the conventional distinction between ancient and modern in political philosophy too simplistic? Is religion necessary to preserve democracy, and if so, what kind of religion must it be? Theological and sociological sources both suggest that the fate of democracy in the modern world is inextricably, not merely accidentally, connected with the fate of Christianity.