History of Christian Political Thought in the West

Greg Forster had planned to write a book on the role of religion in the political thought of America’s Founding Fathers. His research led him to be critical of the view that the founders saw religion as dangerous and in need of restraint, but also the view that the founders wanted to ground government on the Bible. In places of these theses he intended to argue that the founders wanted a government based on natural law, not the Bible.

But he ran into a problem. He found that, in his words:

Advertise on TGC

I could not explain Madison without explaining Locke;

I could not explain Locke without explaining Luther;

I could not explain Luther with explaining Aquinas;

and I could not explain Aquinas without explaining Augustine, Peter, Paul, Aristotle and Plato.

So he set about writing a new, more foundational book instead. If you want to see the results, check out his book The Contested Public Square: The Crisis of Christianity and Politics (IVP Academic, 2008). I’m not sure you’d quite know it from the title, but it’s really an accessible, general introduction to the history of Christian political thought, with a focus on the politic effects on the Reformation and the Enlightenment in Western Europe.

Here is the table of contents:

1. Welcome Back to Babylon: How Persecution Permanently Shaped Christian Political Ideas
2. The Wisdom of the Gods: Theology Encounters Philosophy
3. Cities of God and Man: Augustine Formalizes the Idea of Dual Citizenship
4. Natural Law: The Medieval Church Develops the Most Important Political Idea in History
5. Regio Versus Religio: The Reformation and the Nation-State
6. On the Road to Jerusalem: The Emergence of Religious Freedom
7. An Appeal to Heaven: Revolution and Liberal Democracy
8. The Fiery Trial: Christian Responses to Totalitarianism