1. What is the difference between a contract and a covenant? What do you think is the appeal of a contract for many modern people? (Why might they prefer marriage, for example, to be a contract instead of a covenant?)
2. How was social contract theory modeled on Newtonian physics? Why did social thinkers take physics for their model?
3. Social contract theory is the source of classical liberalism. Describe the tenets of social contract theory.
4. Why did the early modern political thinkers propose what they called “the state of nature”? How was it meant to supplant the Garden of Eden, and how does it differ from the biblical account of the origins of human society? Summarize the impact of those differences on the resulting view of human nature and relationships.
5. Explain how social contract theory is shaping people’s attitudes in relation to each of the following issues. In each case, also explain how you would critique those attitudes.
6. Summarize how the two-story worldview, with its denigration of biology, is expanding the power of the state in relation to abortion, euthanasia, marriage, gender, and parenthood.
7. What are the implications of the Trinity for Christian social theory? (Refer to discussions of the Trinity in earlier sections of the book as well.)
8. Explain how Christians can welcome our biological nature as a gift from God without reducing our identity to the biological level.
9. Many Christians think the biblical argument against homosexual practice rests on a few scattered verses. How would you make the case that what is at stake is an entire worldview? (Use material from this entire chapter, especially pages 249 and 256–60.)
10. Why are families and local churches crucial for responding constructively to what Alasdair MacIntyre calls “the new dark ages”? What are some practical ways for doing that?
Dialogue
“I own my body and I decide what I allow to grow in it.” You are having a conversation about abortion with a young woman who makes this statement. Using material from the text, how will you respond? Write out your conversation.
“How does same-sex marriage hurt anyone else? A person’s sex life is no one else’s business.” A friend raises this objection in a discussion with you. How do you answer? Explain how a de-naturalized view of marriage leads to a de-naturalized view of the family, and a vast increase in the power of the state. (For this dialogue, draw material from chapter 6 as well.)