It's no secret that society is under profound pressure these days. Whether we think our side is winning or losing, have we stopped to examine how we're framing the situation? Do we want to be at war? If we're in social contract, what do we do when a contract isn't working out? There aren't many options. We can suffer or sue, wage war or wait it out.
But what if we adopted a different metaphor? From the beginning, philosophers have described society using the metaphor of living things, but we don't tend to use that language as often anymore. In Unity and Diversity, Donald Roth argues that we should recover this neglected way of thinking for the ways it reorients our engagement with the life of society. Drawing in particular on the insights of the Neo-Calvinist strand of Christianity, Roth challenges us to reimagine our role in society in a way that promotes both the flourishing of our communities and the pursuit of our ultimate purpose: the glory of God.
