Theology
Mortal Goods Reimagining Christian Political Duty Ephraim Radner
What is our calling as Christians regarding the good life and en- gagement in the public sphere? In Mortal Goods , Ephraim Radner examines how Christians might more faithfully and realistically imagine their political vocation. Radner explains that our Christian calling is to limit our political concerns to the boundaries of our created lives: our birth, par- ents, siblings, families, brief persistence in life, raising of children, relations, decline, and death. He demonstrates that a Christian approach to politics is aimed at tending and protecting these “mor- tal goods” and argues for a more constrained view of our mortal life and our political duty than is common in both progressive and conservative Christian perspectives. Radner encourages us to take seriously what is most valuable in our lives and allow this to shape our social posture. He also shows how “catastrophe” reveals our time to be fragile, bounded, and easily overturned. And he exposes “betterment,” which lies behind most modern politics, as a false motive for human life. The book concludes with a vision of the good life articulated in the form of a letter to his adult children.
“Vintage Radner—erudite and incisive—with a twist: at times conversational and even personal.”— KATHRYN GREENE-McCREIGHT, priest affiliate, Christ Church, New Haven, Connecticut
MARCH 2024 • 280 pp. • paper • $36.99 • 9781540963802
Ephraim Radner (PhD, Yale University) is professor emeritus of historical theology at Wycliffe College, University of Toronto. He is the author or editor of numerous books, including A Profound Ignorance , All Thy Lights Combine , Time and the Word , A Time to Keep , and A Brutal Unity . A former church worker in Burundi and an Anglican priest, he has served parishes in the United States and has been active in the affairs of the global Anglican Communion.
“Radner asks us to rethink what we mean by ‘the good life.’ The book begins with a self-imposed challenge to write a letter to his children about what makes life valuable. The letter he eventually pens is worth the price of the book—and has the potential to reori- ent, rehabilitate, and redeem our present political morass.” —KEVIN J. VANHOOZER, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School “Radner shows that we need a politics of finitude, one that is grateful and not grudging. A must-read in our difficult times.” —R. R. RENO, editor, First Things “At once groundbreaking and deeply traditional, Mortal Goods is a wonder, a gift from one of the most creative theologians writing today. Whether or not one concurs with Radner’s conclusions, readers hungry for fresh insights on modern responses to mortal calamity will be deeply enriched by this volume.” —J. TODD BILLINGS, Western Theological Seminary, Holland, Michigan; author of The End of the Christian Life
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LEVITICUS 9781587435218 • $32.00p
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