A Critique of Hauerwas and Cavanaugh

Before beginning the constructive work of Part II, I need to explain why Hauerwas and Cavanaugh will not be my interlocutors in the chapters to come. While they serve well as tools of critique, the limitations and problems of their political theology become apparent when they develop their alternative models of how church and state should be interrelated. The critique presented in this chapter of the problematic aspects of their thought in this chapter will therefore serve the constructive work of Part II by identifying the mistakes of ecclesial ethics that my framework of church-state relations will need to avoid, in addition to the problems already identified in Vatican II’s teachings.