PDF In the Shadow of Freedom: The Politics of Slavery in the National Capital (Perspective Hist of Congress 1801-1877) by From Finkelman Paul EDT in History

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This is a book about the need for redemptive narratives to ward off despair and the dangers these same narratives create by raising expectations that are seldom fulfilled. The quasi-messianic expectations produced by the election of President Barack Obama in 2008; and their diminution; were stark reminders of an ongoing struggle between ideals and political realities.Redemptive Hope begins by tracing the tension between theistic thinkers; for whom hope is transcendental; and intellectuals; who have striven to link hopes for redemption to our intersubjective interactions with other human beings.Lerner argues that a vibrant democracy must draw on the best of both religious thought and secular liberal political philosophy. By bringing Richard Rorty’s pragmatism into conversation with early-twentieth-century Jewish thinkers; including Martin Buber and Ernst Bloch; Lerner begins the work of building bridges; while insisting on holding crucial differences in dialectical tension. Only such a dialogue; he argues; can prepare the foundations for modes of redemptive thought fit for the twenty-first century.