Franklin I. Gamwell

A scholar and educator, Gamwell defended without appeal to religious authority the necessity of God for morals and politics, argued for the importance of religious claims within democratic discussion and debate, and called for democratic political participation as an integral part of religious ethics. His books, including On Metaphysical Necessity: Essays on God, the World, Morality, and Democracy. Religion among We the People: Conversations on Democracy and the Divine Good (2015), Existence and the Good: Metaphysical Necessity in Morals and Politics (2011), Politics as a Christian Vocation: Faith and Politics Today (2005), The Meaning of Religious Freedom: Modern Politics and the Democratic Resolution (1995), and The Divine Good: Modern Moral Theory and the Necessity of God (1990) Beyond Preference: Liberal Theories of Independent Associations (1984), argued for the rationality of religion, religion and secularism, religious pluralism, and religion in public schools. He was involved in organizations advocating programs of social change, beginning with the civil rights movement and including, most recently, Protestants for the Common Good.