Stanley Hauerwas

Time magazine nominated Stanley Hauerwas as ‘America’s Best Theologian’. He has been described as ‘contemporary theology’s foremost intellectual provocateur. His depth charges are just as frequently aimed within that world as outside it.’

Whether he is writing about war and peace, medical ethics or the care of the mentally ill, Hauerwas combines unnerving intensity and plain speaking with intellectual subtlety and moral and religious depth.

Hauerwas is Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Ethics at the Divinity School of Duke University. His work involves questions many associate with ethics, but his primary intent is to show in what way theological convictions make no sense unless they are actually embodied in our lives.

To that end, he was among the first to reclaim the importance of character and the virtues for the display of Christian living. He has also drawn attention to the importance of narrative for explicating the interrelation of practical reason and personal identity, and correlatively, the significance of the church as the necessary context for Christian formation and moral reflection. Accordingly, his work draws on a great range of literature – from classical, philosophical, and theological texts to contemporary political theory.

A Community of Character: Toward a Constructive Christian Social Ethic, was selected as one of the 100 most important books on religion of the 20th century. He has published over 30 books. His most recent publications include: The State of the University: Academic Knowledges and the Knowledge of God, Christianity, Democracy, and the Radical Ordinary: Conversations between a Radical Democrat and a Christian (with Romand Coles), Hannah’s Child: A Theologian’s Memoir, Working with Words: On Learning to Speak Christian and War and the American Difference: Theological Reflections on Violence and National Identity.