The Politics of Human Frailty

Publisher Description

This book addresses the fraught and topical issue of the relationship between political liberalism and theology. Political liberalism is frequently denounced by theologians as individualist, relativist and hubristic. Insole demonstrates that this negative characterisation of political liberalism is inadequate, both conceptually and historically. The book shows that a passion to protect the individual within liberal institutions can arise not from an illusory sense of self-sufficency, but from an insight into our fallen condition, characterised by frailty, sin and complexity. Insole uses the theological insight and humility of the liberal tradition to critique dangerous and utopian theological agendas, identified in sources as diverse as the Radical Orthodoxy movement and American presidential speeches.