This book has had two intertwined themes: the first is the question of how far a liberal democratic society has to be seen to have positive and substantive moral grounding; the second has been the contribution, if any, that the Christian tradition, which has been a major force within that liberal democratic tradition and still has significance within liberal societies, could or should make to the development and defence of these fundamental norms. In this part I want to draw some of these threads more tightly together and to make some kind of assessment of the different strands of thought, both secular and theological, we have encountered in the process of this argument and discussion. However, before going on to that, I want to consider two other possibilities for explaining the nature of the normative basis of a liberal order. These are: utilitarianism and contractualism. The aim is to say something about each of these approaches and to consider how they do or do not fit some of the preoccupations of Christian social and political thought we have been considering so far.