The Egalitarian Spirit of Christianity: The Sacred Roots of American and British Government

by Strehle,Stephen

• ISBN13: 9781412808163
• ISBN10: 1412808162
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-12-15
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

"Religion no longer serves a dominant role in the everyday consciousness of modern Western society. Most people view life as a practical set of problems and look to secular and rational resources for answers, yet fail to recognize the underlying role of religious beliefs and practices in forming their way of thinking. Strehle shows the significance and ongoing influence of religion in contemporary views of life by revealing the sacred roots of modern political ideas in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Unlike many other authors, he goes beyond the typical emphasis upon English literature in discussing the role of the church in government, probing into the sources of democratic, federal, and egalitarian ideas on the continent of Europe during the Reformation." "Strehle explores some of the most cherished political ideals of modern society, including equality and democracy, liberty and natural rights, progress and capitalism, federalism and mixed government. He has no illusions about forging an exhaustive study that includes all possible forces - inside or outside the religious community. He does not dismiss the vital contribution of other possible sources of inspiration from the world of religion or undermine the well-established place of "secular" sources. Instead Strehle demonstrates that certain ideas associated with the religious community were entangled within the overall process and have left an indelible mark upon significant aspects of the emerging American landscape."--BOOK JACKET.

Table of Contents

Introduction
The Priesthood of the Believers: The Growth of Congregationalism	p. 1
Power to the People: The Origin of Democratic and Federal Government	p. 41
Countervailing Government: The Separation, Balance, and Limitation of the Powers that Be	p. 83
Three Pillars: The Development of Natural Rights, Common Law, and Mixed Government	p. 129
The Protestant Work Ethic: The Origin of Capitalism and the Use of Money	p. 167
Manifest Destiny: The March toward the Future	p. 213
The Noble Lie: The Growth of Toleration, Pluralism, and Separation	p. 239
Conclusion	p. 277
Index	p. 285
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