The End of Civility

Christ and Prophetic Division

Ryan Andrew Newson

• Publisher: Baylor University Press
• Year: 2023
• ISBN:
  9781481319041
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

"I have come not to bring peace, but a sword." These words of Christ echo in our current times. In recent years, a growing number ofcommentators have decried a lackof civility in public discourse.Considered in isolation this concern is innocent enough, but no call forcivility happens in a vacuum, and there is good reason to be suspicious ofcivility in our currentpolitical context. Calls for civility can encouragepassivity and blunt prophetic action againstinjustice; truly heinous policiescan be pursued under the guise of civility. And yet civilityshould not bedismissed outright, especially as presented by its more nuanced defenders—whenit ispresented as a limited good in a pluralist society.

In The End of Civility, Ryan Andrew Newson analyzes the development of the concept of "civility" as we know it in modern discourse and names some of the criteria Christians can use to judge between healthy and toxic appeals tocivility. Thechallenge, Newson contends, is discerning whencivility is called for and when itspursuit becomes vicious. Pleas forcivility cannot be assessed without considering the contextin which they are made. Some appeals to civility merely seek tolessen conflict, evenconflict necessary in the struggle for a more just world. But when issued bypeople strugglingfor justice on the margins of society, calls for civility canname the types of conflict that might lead to liberation.

One must be attentive to what counts as"civil" in the first place and who gets to make that determination. Which bodies are considered civil and"ordered, " and which people are under suspicion of being"uncivil" before they ever say a word? ForChristians, civility can never be an ultimate good but remains subordinate tothe call to follow Christ—in particular, the Christ who is not always "civil"but who calls people to an ethic of resistance to injusticeand solidaritywith people who are suffering.