A Critique of Impractical Reason

Toward Mature Dialogues about Black Religions

Bibliographic Data

ID20206493
AuthorsJulius Crump (Carthage College, corresponding author)
Year2026
Pages1-13
Publication date2026-06-25
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePolitical Theology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1462-317X • E-ISSN: 1743-1719
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/1462317x.2026.2692793
OpenAlexW7166056890
LanguageEN
References cited17

Black religions serve as proxies for protest publics that spur and deter progress. Illiberal critics assume insurgent politics are permanent, corrosive features of American public life. Critics who argue about such features view black religions as a cause for the depreciation of depoliticized friendships. This causal account presumes that argument requires friendship among equals. Although friends are often guilty of presuming what is good for conversation, this position is impractical. Disagreement can be generative. After describing black religions, the remaining sections describe the process by which Stanley Hauerwas identifies a method for embracing, not performing, disagreement. Interpreting Hauerwas’s reasons for feigning argument yields a method – ad hominem – few thought he would acknowledge. Through a description of his engagement with a peer, adversaries learn to appreciate how arguments about black religions depoliticize friendships and facilitate mature dialogue

Argument (complex analysis) · Criticism · Friendship · Politics · Position (finance) · Publics · Rhetorical criticism · Rhetorical question · Karl Barth and Christian Theology · Study and Philosophy of Religion · Theological Perspectives and Practices

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