Christian Realism

Recognizing the place for a genuine religious hope born of faith and for an enthusiasm for realization of social and ethical gains in any historical situation, Christianity will nevertheless, when true to itself, set its face against utopianism or popular brands of optimism.

The BBC should bring back the skepticism of pacifism that Doctor Who used to have.

At the end of Reinhold Niebuhr’s travels across Western Europe in 1947, he spent a week at the Ecumenical Institute, a facility near Geneva. He was hopeful of how this project would bless the church life of the world, and he offered observations about discussions there about communism, church-state relations, Christian political parties, and more.

Now what is here symbolized has been the most fundamental idea in our American democracy. Ours is a government by discussion.

The war in Ukraine is proving to be a tragic proving ground for trends that will almost certainly be replicated in other twenty-first-century warfare. Decentralized decision-making, the targeting of population centers, tactical speed in decision-making, the rise of artificial intelligence, vital intelligence sharing, and the strategic impact of moral and spiritual injury demonstrate the boundaries for future combat.

In this episode the editors discuss Rebeccah Heinrichs’ article about John Kirby’s emotional statement about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Mark Tooley’s editorial about Poland and Ukraine as martyr nations, and Christian realist articles from 1947 debating whether the Chinese communists could exist and thrive in a democracy.

George Marshall’s attempt to create peace between the Chinese nationalists and communists failed. Christian realists in 1947 considered why.

This week the editors discussed a Providence event where Yoram Hazony talked about his forthcoming new book “Conservatism: A Rediscovery,” how Christian realists disagreed over US foreign policy as the Cold War began, Mark Tooley’s article about democracy and decadence, and J. Daryl Charles’ article about deterring nuclear blackmail.

“Unless we accept the Russian view of the nature of man, we cannot work with the USSR to a common end for human society.”