Abstract

Whether on the left or the right, most social critics agree that our society is experiencing a moral and social crisis. From the breakdown of the family, to the crumbling of social infrastructures, to individual pathology, the signs of decay are everywhere. Western society has lost its sense of purpose and direction. With this loss of telos comes the loss of any reliable standard of truth and morality. Selfhood becomes hollow at the core. Character and commitment fade. This, in turn, leads to the dissolution of community. Forlorn, the lonely individual thus turns to the welfare state, exchanging his freedom for security. Tocqueville's benign despotism is a reality. What is the solution to the crisis of modernity? ;After a brief survey of the failure of modern philosophical thought to extricate us from the quagmire of postmodernity, this dissertation contends that a good place to look for insight into our present discontents and concrete steps toward recovery is in the thought of John Calvin, the sixteenth century reformer. This is true for two reasons. First, like our present time, sixteenth century Europe experienced great social upheaval and societal transition. Second, living through this civilizational crisis, he anticipated and successfully battled the philosophical and political arguments that threatened to tear his society apart. These same arguments are now at the heart of our own postmodern condition. ;Therefore, after describing the crisis of the medieval world, this dissertation describes in three separate chapters Calvin's struggle to regain a robust sense of selfhood, truth, and community, each one foundational for securing meaningful life. In the end, as history has borne out, Calvin and the Reformation succeeded in holding off the corrosive forces of modernity for almost two hundred years. ;In the final chapter, this dissertation reviews the thought of principled pluralism, a modern effort to contextualize Calvin's political and social thought to our constitutional democracy. Although not without flaws, principled pluralism argues persuasively for a return to Calvinist political theory as our last best hope for lasting recovery