Community, Character, and the Governance of the Social Commons

Reviews / Votes

Drawing on an underappreciated intersection of Christian ecclesiocentrism, modern social science and conservative political theory, Ben Peterson insightfully demonstrates that society has humane, and humanizing, options to remedy social ills beyond the Scylla and Charybdis of living with chaos and disorder, on the one hand, or deploying the blunt tool of state coercion on the other. -- James R. Rogers, George Bush School of Government and Public Service, Texas A&M University, USA The adage "don't talk about politics and religion" has never served Americans well. As Ben Peterson meticulously argues throughout this timely and important book, a healthy society requires us to more intentionally think about the many factors that contribute to the well-established -- though often overlooked -- connections between religion and civil society. -- Byron R. Johnson, Baylor University, USA It is fashionable to suggest society has gone to hell in a handbasket without providing much in the way of explanation or remedy. Professor Ben Peterson's Community, Character, and the Governance of the Social Commons: Sanctuaries of Order examines multiple social problems and institutional crises through the competing and, at times, complementary aspects of formal and informal social control. Drawing on social science as well as his faith, Peterson suggests the surest path to justice and community relies on spiritual power. This is a powerful, thought-provoking book. -- Matt DeLisi, Iowa State University, USA Some on the left would abolish prisons and other serious penalties for crime, seeking instead to address what they consider its root causes-causes which they locate in traditional social structures and economic inequality. Others on the right would adopt a purely punitive law-and-order approach that seeks to deter wrongdoing while neglecting the underlying roots of human behavior. These approaches fail to take seriously the moral agency and responsibility of human beings, on the one hand, and the essential role that concrete, local communities play in their moral formation, on the other. In Sanctuaries of Order, Ben Peterson brilliantly and seamlessly weaves together political theory and social science to demonstrate the essential connection that exists between political order and the order of the soul and the necessity of local institutions like churches, families, and schools for shaping well-ordered souls. Peterson shows that human society is a commons that flourishes or suffers tragedy depending on whether we contribute to or neglect the common good, where such neglect leads to the failure of the social commons and increased reliance on the coercive power of the modern state. Whether we help or hurt the social commons depends on our moral formation and the institutions that shape us. Sanctuaries of Order is an enormously important and utterly compelling book-sober in its analysis of our social maladies but also uncommonly wise and resiliently hopeful about the way out: to wit, the restoration of those sanctuaries of order not only essential to human flourishing but that make human community possible at all. Sanctuaries of Order is a profound and humane feat of social analysis, a gift to all who seek to build and contribute to flourishing communities. -- Paul R. DeHart, Texas State University, USA