In a Christian Century interview, Nicholas Wolterstorff, longtime professor of philosophical theology at Yale, says: "I don't agree, then, with the view of many political theorists that when making up our minds about political issues or debating them in public, we have to appeal to some body of principles that we all accept, or would all accept if we did things right.(While We're At It)(Interview)(Brief article)

First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life, June, 2008 by Neuhaus, Richard John

In a Christian Century interview, Nicholas Wolterstorff, longtime professor of philosophical theology at Yale, says: "I don't agree, then, with the view of many political theorists that when making up our minds about political issues or debating them in public, we have to appeal to some body of principles that we all accept, or would all accept if we did things right.

I don't believe that there is any such body of principles. It's not that we Americans disagree about everything. But we don't agree about enough things to settle our basic political issues by reference to a body of agreed-on principles." He acknowledges that it is prudent when trying to persuade people who do not share your religious principles to use reasons they do find persuasive. Disagreeing...

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