In Pursuit of Justice: ChristianDemocratic Explorations

by James W. Skillen

This is a series of eight essays on diverse public policy concerns that asks the questions: What does racial justice, or environmental protection, or family policy look like when approached from a Christian-democratic perspective? And what about the civil-society questions of welfare, education, and political participation? The author, James W. Skillen, argues that the roots of a Christian-democratic approach are neither liberal nor conservative, but pluralistic, opening the way to a healthy regard for both social complexity and government's responsibility to uphold political community.

Published in cooperation with the Center for Public Justice

192 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2004

About the author

James W. Skillen (PhD, Duke University) helped found the Center for Public Justice, an independent, nonpartisan organization devoted to policy research and civic education, which he served as executive director and president. Now retired from the Center, he is engaged in full-time writing, mentoring, and speaking on political thought and public policy. Skillen has authored or edited numerous books, including Recharging the American Experiment, and lives in Birmingham, Alabama.

Reviews

[Timothy Hoiland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Skillen argues persuasively in favor of a Christian-Democratic approach to politics as a needed corrective to both the right and the left in our country. The book culminates with a call for proportional representation (at least in the House of Representatives), which would make it possible for us to vote for candidates who actually most closely represent our views – not just settling for the so-called “lesser of two evils.” While the book is now almost 15 years old, somehow it feels timelier than ever.

[Joyce del Rosario · Rating 3 out of 5]

Skillen provides a different approach to understanding what it means to be Christian in a democratic society. He constructs his overall argument as “a Christian-democratic approach to government represents a positive advance, a move away from past accommodations to imperialist and statist structures and ideologies toward a more normative Christian realization of public justice.” (p2.) This idea provides a new way for Christian public engagement and an imaginative approach to providing religious conversation in spaces that have been separated by Church and State approaches.

He does this by introducing a new form of pluralism that allows for Christian democracy as well as other religions to fully participate in the public forum while still remaining true to each organization's ideologies. Instead of privatizing religious views, the new pluralism, or E Pluribus Unum, allows for the public forum to be enriched by all. Skillen uses the example of chaplaincy in the military. Each religion is represented and participates in the areas where they are skilled. Meanwhile, the public forum of the military branch operates separately but alongside the chaplains, in the areas the military is skilled at operating.

The military example provides an interesting argument when used in the conversation about education. Skillen argues a completely new approach to education by stating, “government should begin to deal with schools, including its own, as distinct agencies of education rather than as an extension or department of the government. Then it should do what a just government ought to do, namely, treat all agencies of education justly and without discrimination” (p. 105). While Skillen does describe how this is possible, he does not address how this would be funded in an equal and just way. The current system of education is funded by local taxes. killen’s description of a pluralistic education system does not cover who will provide the financial support for each of the various school options. In order to provide a pluralistic education system, the whole funding structure would need to change as well as the way teachers are paid. If the goal is more equitable education, then funding will need to reflect this goal as well.

While the complex details of how to practically shift to this new way of civic engagement are not explained by Skillen, the main idea of how to engage in society as Christians remains strong. Christians should no longer answer pluralism by sheltering around each other through privatization. Pluralism means engagement and enrichment with one another in religious and secular faiths.

[Hilary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am impressed by Skillen's cohesive and coherent argumentation in this book. He states his assumptions clearly and traces out their foundations and implications for the reader without being overbearing. I especially like his chapters on welfare reform and the environment. He raises good questions about the nature of democracy and the need for justice, something we all too often overlook in thinking about politics.