A playful mind

Interview: Duke University’s Stanley Hauerwas relishes a good dose of controversy along with his theology | Marvin Olasky

"America's Best Theologian." That's what Time magazine in 2001 called Stanley Hauerwas, the Duke University Divinity School professor known for his feisty pacifism. Hauerwas, 66, is a United Methodist who receives academic applause but conservative opposition when he critiques American patriotism and individualism.

Hauerwas refuses to compromise concerning pacifism even when alternative approaches have seemed more successful. I asked, "In retrospect, was Ronald Reagan right to insist that arms race pressure would force the disintegration of the Soviet Union and an end to the Cold War, or do you think an American unilateral disarmament would have more quickly accomplished that objective?" He responded, "America should have unilaterally disarmed in the face of the unjust targeting character of nuclear weapons. That America was able to send the Soviet Union into bankruptcy is not what I would regard as a moral victory."