Beyond Individualism: Toward a Retrieval of Moral Discourse in America

The seven provocative essays that comprise Beyond Individualism reflect on the American religious tradition in order to discover in it an ethical alternative to the ideology of individualism.

The contributors include Donald L. Gelpi, Stephen C. Rowntree, Drew Christiansen, Frank M. Oppenheim, John M. Staudenmaier, Carl F. Starkloff, and John R. Stacer. They provide an interdisciplinary approach to their criticism of individualism and suggest unique strategies for counteracting the moral and social fragmentation that such an ethos motivates. The first essay argues that a contemporary theology of conversion points the way beyond the moral impasses of individualism, including those encountered in family life. It is followed by a piece that ponders romantic and marital love from a philosophical standpoint. The next section argues that recent papal teaching about the common good provides an alternative to an individualistic politics of self-interest. The fourth essay addresses many of the issues raised in the first three from the standpoint of Josiah Royce's philosophy of community. The next article examines technology's capacity to create and impose values that both undermine community and foster individualism. And the last two essays explore some of the moral consequences of commitment to the human community's common good by examining the treatment of Native Americans in the United States and, in the latter essay, William Ernest Hocking's reflections on global political responsibility.

Throughout, these accessible essays exhibit thematic unity and consistency. They can be read by all inquisitive readers as a discussion on our national character or can be used as a companion volume for courses on American culture along with Habits of the Heart.