Renewing the Self

Over the last decade, the UK has witnessed a stunning resurgence of religious engagement in both politics and civil society. From the social pluralism of New Labour to the rise of post-liberalism, the recovery of religious sensibilities in areas like education and welfare continues to have a significant effect on the content of political debate on both the Right and Left. What unites these diverse projects is an effort to recover a neglected form of selfhood. Less acquisitive, more relational, this vision of human identity has led politicians and policy-makers to reject avaricious and atomist accounts of the self in favour of richer accounts of citizenship and common life.

What do these latter models mean for citizens and communities? This book analyses the roots, significance, and future of these developments through the lens of contemporary Christian communities. By drawing on disciplines as diverse as philosophy, theology, history, economics and political theory, Renewing the Self reflects on the prospects and challenges of this rich self in a globalised and rapidly changing world.