The priest-activist Daniel Berrigan has been largely overlooked as a leading representative of the antiwar religious left during the twentieth century. This paper is written by Clyde Ray, Assistant Professor at Holy Cross College in Indiana, where he seeks to correct that neglect at a moment when most religiously-informed cultural and political critiques of the United States tend to issue from conservative scholars and intellectuals. Drawing on his activism and writings, Berrigan advanced a disruptive, radical Christianity that rejected utopianism and coalesced into a constructive ethical-political practice, “peace-making”, whose relevance endures in today’s polarized politics. This paper is a sharp retrospective of Berrigan’s “peace-making” that reframes radical Christianity as a practical, enduring response to political polarization.
About the authors
Clyde Ray is Assistant Professor of Politics and Public Service at Holy Cross College in Notre Dame, Indiana, USA. He has written books on John Marshall’s Constitutionalism (SUNY Press) and Defining Statesmanship (Lexington Press), as well as several articles on American constitutionalism, political theory, and jurisprudence. An award-winning instructor who has taught at a range of institutions across North America, his recent work focuses on the relationship between religion and civil disobedience.