Kristin, thanks or responding. I agree that nearly every interaction includes a power differential. However, when one person uses nothing but that power that they possess, in such as way as to acquire unmerited benefit at the direct expense of another person , then that constitutes a moral wrong. This framework does not exclude or diminish the way some power works. Or, if you think that it does, I am very happy to hear your thoughts.
Please keep in mind, this exchange followed years of statements that demeaned and dehumanized a social group of which I am an immutable member. The way Hauerwas talks about the military has an effect on a great many more people than most other Christians, and he has agreed on several occasions to this point. It is preceisely the reason that he agreed to “co-teach” the course, then “supervise,” and also why he approved the posters ahead of time.
He certainly has the power to withdraw himself from it, but his reasons are not morally neutral. He did not withdraw for some virtuous cause, like preserving human life or dignity; he wanted a experience of life uncomplicated by the annoyance of anther powerful faculty member off his back. Leveraging my career to get that is vastly disproportionate to any claim that his decision was somehow without moral substance. He wanted something trivial, and to get it he wagered something substantial. That is a moral wrong, and it involves the exhange of power I describe above. What you “would hate to see” has already happened, just not to the person with more power.
