The Immanent Frame » David Hollinger

David Hollinger

David A. Hollinger is Preston Hotchkis Professor of History at the University of California at Berkeley. His recent books include Cosmopolitanism and Solidarity (University of Wisconsin Press, 2006), Postethnic America (Basic Books, 3rd edition, expanded, 2006), and The Humanities and the Dynamics of Inclusion (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006, edited for the American Academy of Arts and Sciences). His most relevant recent article is “Religious Ideas: Should They be Critically Engaged or Given a Pass?” in Representations #101 (January 2008). His other recent articles have appeared in Daedalus, Modern Intellectual History, Journal of American Ethnic History, and Chronicle of Higher Education.

Posts by David Hollinger:

Sunday, January 20th, 2008

Liberal Protestantism the key

Lilla alludes to the fact that “in the Anglo-American orbit, a liberal theological outlook could grow up alongside a liberal politics whose principles derived from Hobbes’s materialism,” but this crucial part of his story he covers only with the cryptic observation that it was made possible by “a strong constitutional structure and various lucky breaks.” At issue is more than a historically accurate understanding of liberal Protestantism. At issue, too, is the role that liberal Protestantism can play in today’s struggles over religion-and-politics.