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Mormons and Creedal Christians: Common Ground?

Ralph Hancock

Mormons must appreciate Richard Mouw’s good faith effort to find common ground between us and “orthodox” Christians, as well as First Things’s according him the space to publish this...

Keeping Faith in Provo

Ralph Hancock

Oh say, what is truth? ’Tis the fairest gem / That theriches of worlds can produce, / And priceless the value of truth will be when /The proud monarch’s...

Leo Strauss for Believers

Ralph Hancock

These thoughts are offered as an addendum and complement (mostly) to Peter Lawler’s recent  “Leo Strauss and Postmodern Conservatism.” Whatever Leo Strauss’ personal disposition on the question of Biblical...

Progressivism Among the Mormons

Ralph Hancock

I recently argued that the doctrine of “continuing revelation” held by Latter-Day Saints tends to be read through a progressive lens. In response, many asked whether this view really...

Our One-Sided “Openness” to Continuing Revelation

Ralph Hancock

The great Jerry Seinfeld once observed that a man doesn’t care what’s on TV. He only cares what else is on TV. ( Seinfeld late-night re-runs being displaced by...

Ralphism Redivivus

Ralph Hancock

Naturally I appreciate the kind and intelligent attention to my ideas from Peter Lawler, Richard Reinsch , and Carl Scott.  (I would not be dismayed in the unlikely event...

“Gay Marriage” and the End of Lockean Conservatism (Part 3, Conclusion)

Ralph Hancock

Finally, as an example of such vision of substantive goods (as evoked by Roger Scruton, above), let me share a tidbit from an important essay against same-sex marriage (made...

“Gay Marriage” and the End of Lockean Conservatism (Part 3, Conclusion)

Ralph Hancock

Finally, as an example of such vision of substantive goods (as evoked by Roger Scruton, above), let me share a tidbit from an important essay against same-sex marriage (made...

“Gay Marriage” and the End of Conservative Lockeanism (Part 2 of 3)

Ralph Hancock

(This is a continuation of a post from yesterday; it will make most sense in that context.) When Maggie Gallagher answers John Corvino’s individualist argument for “gay marriage” (in...

“Gay Marriage” and the End of Conservative Lockeanism (Part 2 of 3)

Ralph Hancock

(This is a continuation of a post from yesterday; it will make most sense in that context.) When Maggie Gallagher answers John Corvino’s individualist argument for “gay marriage” (in...

“Gay” Marriage and the End of Conservative Lockeanism (Part 1 of 3)

Ralph Hancock

Tom West – who, I want to make clear at the outset, can easily run circles around me in his knowledge of Locke’s writings – does well to remind...

Politics and Christianity: The Rule and The Exception (Continued)

Ralph Hancock

(Please read my previous post first, if you haven’t.) Try to follow me here: Christianity, I was arguing, necessarily implies an ambivalence towards any moral-political culture. On the one...

Politics & Christianity: the Rule and the Exception

Ralph Hancock

The essence of Christianity is to love one another, to have compassion, not to judge, but to forgive, to accept – no? Applied to politics, the implication seems obvious:...

Come Let Us Reason Together

Ralph Hancock

The outrage in Arizona has sparked another cycle of mutual recriminations between liberals and conservatives that points up what seems to be a growing chasm running through our political...

Propadeutic to a Thumotic and Erotic Ontology

Ralph Hancock

[The following is the preface to my forthcoming The Responsibility of Reason: Theory and Practice in a Liberal-Democratic Age (Rowman & Littlefield)] Propadeutic to a Thumotic and Erotic Ontology....