Christianity and the nation-state : a study in political theology /

Chartier (La Sierra) offers a Christian critique and rejection of the existence and operation of nation-states from a liberal Protestant theological perspective. Against the inherently coercive and oppressive state, he seeks to defend as an alternative a radically consociational model based on noncoercive, nonterritorial, and overlapping networks of associated individuals based on consensually affirmed common goods, each providing various levels of order maintenance. Chartier painstakingly lays out the presuppositions (chapters 1 and 2) that lead him to the total rejection of the state before expanding on (chapter 3) and applying (chapter 4) his consociational alternative as a path toward such goals as ending aggressive wars, the death penalty, restricted migration, and global poverty. Although his vision is cosmopolitan and nonterritorial, Chartier does not support a global government, as this would simply move the problematic existence of the state from a national to an international level. He denies that a consociational model is impossible and unworkable because he points to historical examples that could fit his definition. Summing Up: Optional. Graduate students, researchers, faculty. --David Beer, Malone University