Liberty : rethinking an imperiled ideal
Tinder argues for "negative liberty"--The liberty that wants primarily to be left alone, with the authorities interfering as little as possible in the lives of people -- and against "positive liberty"--a liberty that seeks to guide people into a "fulfilling" life. The substance of the book lies at the intersection of several major themes -- communication, human fallenness, the necessity of liberty, standing alone, and eschatology -- each considered in light of learning what liberty truly is and how it will affect the world at large
Print Book, English, 2007
William B. Eerdmans Pub., Grand Rapids, Mich., 2007
xiv, 407 pages ; 24 cm.
9780802803924, 080280392X
133465476
1. Liberty, faith, and reason
Liberty : the ideal and the reality
The issue of faith and reason
Rational universalism
Christian universalism
Christianity as an inquiring faith
The present essay
2. Liberty and human evil
The Christian view of human nature
Sin as seen by reason
The naked human soul
The ordeal of liberty
Flight from freedom
Masses and minorities
3. Why liberty?
Choice and value
The value of truth
Individual, society, community
Righteousness and receptivity
Justification and the life of liberty
4. Personalism
The personalist idea
Reason, faith, and persons
The question of personal dignity
Reason, faith, and personal dignity
The idea of destiny
5. The flawed society
Liberty and the good society
Liberty against itself
Liberty and equality
The dangerous passion for purity
The lure of withdrawal
6. The liberal stance
Standing alone
Standing together
Solitude and private property
Liberty and character
7. Dialogue
The dialogic ideal
Reason and dialogue
Faith and dialogue
The mystery of being
The mystery of personality
Politics and the dialogic ideal
8. Tolerance
The issue of tolerance
Tolerance and reason
Tolerance and faith
The burden of tolerance
9. Universality : the public realm
Liberal universality
The public realm
Evanescent elites and occasional authorities
Church, culture, and politics
Church and state
10. Universality : history
The question of historical meaning
History and destiny
Taking part in history
The consummate community
Character and the prophetic stance
11. Limits on liberty
The spirit and the letter of liberty
The spirit of liberty and education
The fantasy of limitless liberty
Liberty and coercion : the issue
Coercion and personal dignity
The rule of universality
The rule of liberality
The rule of proportionality
The rule of enforceability
Society, community, and coercion
12. Liberation : action and suffering
Liberty and liberation
Liberty and suffering
The unsheltered society
Character as the capacity for waiting
13. Liberty and the last things
Liberty, righteousness, and the end of history
"God is light"
"Ecce homo"
Liberty and hope
Includes index