Abstract

America is in the process of overcoming the modern, which is expressed negatively as hyper-individualism, materialism, moral disease, fundamentalism, and nihilistic terrorism. In its positive expression the modern develops beyond itself, into a post-traditional ethic and spirituality in which it becomes possible to affirm life and reappropriate the wisdom of traditions, in a genuinely pluralistic environment of dialogue, continuous growth, and ever-expanding horizons of “liberty and justice for all.”