by Robert P George and Brandon Van Dyck, Public Discourse (Image: Pixaby)
On the Christian account, human relations are not only or even primarily an arena of conflict and oppression; people are friends, cooperators, and good Samaritans who contribute to structures of grace as well as to structures of sin.
A new anthology of essays, After DEI? A Theological Exploration, has just appeared. It is a slim volume comprising a dozen readable chapters. Contributors include Erik Varden and Mark Lilla. Our goal in this essay is simply to pique readers’ interest in the collection.
For a few years, the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) were a source of explicit partisan division in the United States. Then, the DEI label fell out of favor in light of concerns about the fairness of programs and policies being advanced under it. Some institutions gutted DEI programs and personnel. Others rebranded DEI programs without changing their substance. But most institutions are navigating a middle course, seeking to replace DEI—and what it represents—with a fairer, less divisive, and more effective set of values.
That is where this volume comes in. Instead of merely defending or attacking DEI, the volume pursues the more difficult, but ultimately more fruitful, tasks of reconciliation and moral reconstruction. Siding with neither “camp,” it asks why DEI proved divisive and what a better framework might look like. Along the way, it engages irenically with DEI supporters and critics, presenting their views fairly and addressing them substantively.
The volume’s most important and unique feature is its Christian theological lens. The book assumes little, save that truth is real and coherent, and that the Christian intellectual tradition offers underutilized resources for thinking about diversity, equality, inclusion, belonging, and related values such as justice, charity, and friendship. Its goal is not to argue for Christianity or belief in God, but to show how religious perspectives can provide valuable insights, point toward shared commitments and common objectives, and help to break the partisan impasse that burdens American politics.
One might ask what value religion can add to a discussion of diversity, equity, and inclusion. In Paul J. Griffiths’s formulation, a religion, from the perspective of adherents, is comprehensive, unsurpassable, and central: comprehensive in that it “takes account of everything,” unsurpassable in that it cannot be “replaced by or subsumed in a better account,” and central in that it answers, or helps to answer, the most important questions in one’s life. The values of diversity, equity, and inclusion bear on essential questions, including how we should relate to other human beings and how we should understand ourselves. Religion is therefore richly, directly, and often explicitly relevant to them.