Description
Book SynopsisA collection of essays on civil religion in modern political philosophy, exploring the engagement between modern thought and the Christian tradition.
Trade Review“The question of civil religion deserves our renewed interest, as we witness the longstanding assumptions of modern secularization being shaken. This excellent collection of essays on that old and timely subject brings out both the common assumptions and a range of controversies among liberalism’s founding thinkers. Add to the mix a healthy dose of disagreement among the essays’ authors, and there is much food for thought here.”
—J. Judd Owen,author of Making Religion Safe for Democracy: Transformation from Hobbes to Tocqueville
“This accessible collection of thoughtful scholarship, written for scholars and students alike, explores the relations between politics and religion in early modern and modern political philosophy. There is a decided focus on the contemporary relevance of the subject matter. Each chapter offers in-depth analysis of primary texts that brings them alive for the reader.”
—Michael Brodrick The Review of Metaphysics
“This volume serves as an emblematic reminder that, since American religious pluralism defied the old European ideal of broad, comprehensive national churches that were coterminous with other state institutions, shared Christian rituals and symbols defined the public faith of Revolutionary Americans.”
—Ashley Walsh Eighteenth-Century Studies
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Introduction
1. Machiavelli, Christianity, and Civil Religion
Timothy Sean Quinn
2. How Francis Bacon’s New Organon Co-opts Biblical Theology for His New Atlantis
Martin D. Yaffe
3. Leviathan’s Reconquest of the Christian Person for the State
Mark Shiffman
4. Will Wonders Never Cease? Spinoza’s Critique of Miracles
Steven Frankel
5. Liberalism and Christianity: Locke’s Use of the Bible in the Second Treatise
Nasser Behnegar
6. Montesquieu’s Machiavellian Account of Civil Religion
Andrea Radasanu
7. Montesquieu and Christianity in the American Project: The Moderate Spirit
Paul Carrese
8. Hume on Church Establishments: History, Moderation, and Liberty
Aaron Szymkowiak
9. Rousseau’s Civil Religion “Problem”
John Ray
10. How the Founders Agreed About Religious Freedom but Disagreed About the Separation of Church and State
Vincent Phillip Muñoz and Kevin Vance
11. Tocqueville on Religion and Democratic Character: Equality, Mediocrity, and Greatness
Aaron L. Herold
List of Contributors
Index
