Abstract
It would be hard to overestimate the importance of democracy as a subject for Churches today. Societies that can legitimately be described as democratic are facing significant challenges, not least in relation to participation in the political process and the polarization of groups and ideologies; elsewhere, people are still risking their lives for the sake of a more truly democratic polity. Do the Churches have anything to say in this context – when they themselves are in many cases grappling with questions about how the whole body of believers participates in reflection and deliberation?
Norwood’s latest book is both a passionate plea for Christians to consider these issues and a helpful introduction to central themes and significant thinkers. It is broad and generous in its scope, ranging from Calvin and the early Reformation through revolutionary England in the seventeenth century to responses more recently to fascism and apartheid. As the subtitle indicates, there is conscious attention both to the distinctive contributions of different Churches and theological traditions, and to how they can learn from one another – and, indeed, how they have done, especially over the past hundred years. Moreover, Norwood continually brings the reader back to the two dimensions of his subject already noted: what do the Churches have to say about democracy as a political project, and what do the principles of democracy have to say to the Churches about their institutional life? In exploring those two dimensions, he gives space to political theorists as well as theologians; the dialogue between Pope Benedict XVI and the German philosopher Jürgen Habermas gives him an example of the interaction between these different streams of thinking.
The book is divided into two parts. The first, ‘Reformed and Catholic convictions about democracy’, surveys first the Reformed tradition and then Roman Catholicism, with a particular focus in the latter case on changing evaluations of democracy since the later nineteenth century and the significance of Vatican II. The picture that emerges for Norwood is one in which Reformed Churches pioneered democracy in their own polities first and so came also to embrace it in the societies in which they lived, while the Roman Catholic Church, having initially resisted it on both fronts, became a powerful advocate for democracy in society while remaining ambivalent about its relevance for its own life.
The second part is organized thematically, with chapters on accountability, the role of women, religious pluralism (briefly) and public theology. Here, too, Norwood’s range is impressive, covering such diverse topics as consensus decision making, feminist hermeneutics and the political philosophy of John Rawls. A different aspect of ecumenism also becomes visible here, as Norwood shows how the ecumenical movement served as a place where men and women learned through practice as well as the exchange of ideas about the participation of all in church and society. Wherever Norwood’s mind may roam, however, one situation is never very far from it: Brexit, as a popular referendum in a representative democracy. His frustration with the Churches’ role is palpable, even if it remains unclear what they could have done, or indeed should do now.