Argues that among democracy's supporters there is a belief in the need to "transform" human beings in order to reconcile the reality of human self-interest with the ideal of selfless commitment. This book proposes a form of "democratic realism" that recognizes democracy the regime appropriate for imperfect humans.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xi PREFACE:WORSHIPING DEMOCRACY:THE PANTEON AND THE GODDESS OF DEMOCRACY xiii INTRODUCTION Dynamics of Democratic Faith 1 PART I: DEMOCRATIC FAITH AND ITS DISCONTENTS CHAPTER 1: Faith in Man 15 CHAPTER 2: Democratic Transformation 50 CHAPTER 3: Democracy as Trial: Toward a Critique of Democratic Faith 84 PART II: VOICES OF THE DEMOCRATIC FAITHFUL CHAPTER 4: Protagoras Unbound: The Democratic Mythology of Protagoras's "Great Speech" 119 CHAPTER 5: Civil Religion and the Democratic Faith of Rousseau 140 CHAPTER 6: American Faith: The Translation of Religious Faith to Democratic Faith 166 PART III: FRIENDLY CRITICS OF DEMOCRATIC FAITH CHAPTER 7: "A Pattern Laid Up in Heaven": Plato's Democratic Ideal 191 CHAPTER 8: The Only Permanent State: Tocqueville on Religion and Democracy 214 CHAPTER 9: Hope in America: The Chastened Faith of Reinhold Niebuhr and Christopher Lasch 239 CONCLUSION: A Model of Democratic Charity 270 NOTES 289 INDEX 361

"This book offers a serious philosophical and historical basis for current democratic theory. It makes a valuable contribution to the topic of religion and politics and is worthy of careful study. It is well written and immensely readable."--Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae "Following in the footsteps of Christopher Lasch, [Patrick Deneen] is concerned to expose what he perceives as the ill-placed object of the democratic faithful -- a trust in human capacities for self-government and progress so perfectionist that it entails the transformation of humans into the divine creatures they can never be... Unlike so much Christian commentary on democracy, Deneen pursues his critique not as prolegomena for the advocacy of an alternative faith but as a way of proposing a 'chastened' democratic faith, one that might count him among the faithful."--J. Ronald Engel, Journal of Religion "Whether they be 'deliberative liberals,' whose confidence in rationality, science, and technique inspires their democratic quest, or 'agonistic democrats,' those animated by a foundational belief in the citizenship-forming capacity of conflict, these true believers insist on the possibility of profound social transformation with a hope that leans far more on faith than on empirical evidence. Deneen's probing of the origins of this faith is brilliant--an exacting, at times exciting venture into pivotal texts... What we all need, Deneen implies, is not the absence of faith but a better faith, one that clarifies vision, forges better ties, forces a different reading of our past, and takes us down, down, into the depths of who we, as Americans, as Westerners, and as human beings are."--Eric Miller, Books & Culture

"This is a powerful and poignant work in that it refines and deepens contemporary democratic theory. It literally resurrects the perennial wisdom of Reinhold Niebuhr and Christopher Lasch for serious democrats in a fascinating dialogue with Plato, Tocqueville, and Rousseau. Its relevance for our time resounds loudly."—Cornel West, Princeton University, author of Democracy Matters"Democratic Faith is truly a tour de force, a tremendously important, even magisterial contribution to democratic theory. With this book, Patrick Deneen establishes himself as the worthy exponent and even spiritual heir to the line of American political thinkers that ranges from Tocqueville to Whitman to Dewey to contemporaries Richard Rorty and Benjamin Barber. It is an amazing piece of scholarship, both rigorous and capacious, offering careful yet novel re-readings of the above authors as well as, to mention a few of the highlights, Plato, Aeschylus, Aristotle, Rousseau, and other luminaries. Deneen succeeds in bringing these disparate authors into a compelling narrative that assembles the various pieces into a synthetic perspective without any undue compromise along the way. Moreover, the book is gorgeously written and wonderfully readable—the beautiful prose and the scintillating argument flow."—John Seery, Pomona College. author of Political Theory for Mortals"This book is an important contribution to studies of democratic theory, to studies of such authors as Dewey, Arendt, and Rorty, and to the burgeoning literature on the topic of religion and politics. After the first chapter my reaction came to be: get this book out fast!"—Robert Faulkner, Boston College, author of The Jurisprudence of John Marshall

This is a powerful and poignant work in that it refines and deepens contemporary democratic theory. It literally resurrects the perennial wisdom of Reinhold Niebuhr and Christopher Lasch for serious democrats in a fascinating dialogue with Plato, Tocqueville, and Rousseau. Its relevance for our time resounds loudly. -- Cornel West, Princeton University, author of "Democracy Matters" Democratic Faith is truly a tour de force, a tremendously important, even magisterial contribution to democratic theory. With this book, Patrick Deneen establishes himself as the worthy exponent and even spiritual heir to the line of American political thinkers that ranges from Tocqueville to Whitman to Dewey to contemporaries Richard Rorty and Benjamin Barber. It is an amazing piece of scholarship, both rigorous and capacious, offering careful yet novel re-readings of the above authors as well as, to mention a few of the highlights, Plato, Aeschylus, Aristotle, Rousseau, and other luminaries. Deneen succeeds in bringing these disparate authors into a compelling narrative that assembles the various pieces into a synthetic perspective without any undue compromise along the way. Moreover, the book is gorgeously written and wonderfully readable--the beautiful prose and the scintillating argument flow. -- John Seery, Pomona College. author of "Political Theory for Mortals" This book is an important contribution to studies of democratic theory, to studies of such authors as Dewey, Arendt, and Rorty, and to the burgeoning literature on the topic of religion and politics. After the first chapter my reaction came to be: get this book out fast! -- Robert Faulkner, Boston College, author of "The Jurisprudence of John Marshall"