Stanley Hauerwas
Stanley Hauerwas (born July 24, 1940) is an American theologian, ethicist, and public intellectual. Hauerwas is a longtime professor at Duke University, serving as the Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Ethics at Duke Divinity School with a joint appointment at the Duke University School of Law in the fall of 2014, he also assumed a part time position in Theological Ethics at the University of Aberdeen. Prior to coming to Duke, Hauerwas taught at the University of Notre Dame. Hauerwas is considered by many to be one of the world's most influential living theologians and was named "America's Best Theologian" by Time Magazine in 2001. He was also the first American theologian to deliver the prestigious Gifford Lectures at St. Andrew's in Scotland in over forty years. His work is frequently read and debated by scholars in fields outside of religion, theology, or ethics, such as political philosophy, sociology, history, and literary theory. Hauerwas has achieved notability outside of academia as a public intellectual, even appearing on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Though Hauerwas is most well known for his work related to Christian ethics, the relationship between Christianity and politics, and ecclesiology, he has written widely on a diverse range of subjects, such as systematic theology, philosophical theology, political philosophy, the philosophy of social science, law, education, bioethics, and medical ethics. Hauerwas is known for his outspoken advocacy of pacifism, as well of his fierce criticism of liberal democracy, capitalism, and militarism. He is also a critic of both Christian fundamentalism and liberal Christianity and American civil religion. Among his most important contributions to modern theology are his advocacy of and work related to virtue ethics and postliberal theology. Hauerwas's work draws from a number of theological perspectives, including Methodism, Anabaptism, Anglicanism, and Catholicism. He is commonly cited as a member of the evangelical left. Hauerwas's book, A Community of Character: Toward a Constructive Christian Social Ethic, was named as one of the one hundred most important books on religion in the 20th century by Christianity Today. His most widely known book, however, is likely Resident Aliens: Life in the Christian Colony, which was co-written with William Willimon.