'How are we to respond to the threats to liberty we are facing? Starting to answer that question begins with this book. We are remarkably unaware of our own Christian history.' ~From Slaying Leviathan
Leviathan is rising again, and the first weapon we must recover is the Christian tradition of resisting governmental overreach. The bloated bureaucratic state we have now would have been unrecognizable to the Founders, and our acceptance of its encroachments on liberty would have infuriated them. But here is the point: our Leviathan would not have surprised them. They were well acquainted with the tendency of governments to turn tyrannical. A popular quote in the nineteenth century was 'Eternal vigilance is the price we pay for liberty.'
In Slaying Leviathan, Glenn S. Sunshine surveys some of the stories and key elements of Christian political thought from Augustine to the Declaration of Independence. Specifically, the book introduces theories of unalienable rights, resistance, and limited government that were synthesized into a coherent political philosophy by John Locke. It was Locke who influenced the American founders and was, like us, fighting against the spirit of Leviathan in his day. Christians first expressed these political truths under Caesars, kings, popes, and emperors. We need them in the age of presidents.
People often talk about worldview when describing the philosophy that guides their lives. But how have we come by our worldviews, and what impact did Christianity have on those that are common to Western civilization?
This authoritative, accessible survey traces the development of the worldviews that underpin the Western world. It demonstrates the decisive impact that the growth of Christianity had in transforming the outlook of pagan Roman culture into one that, based on biblical concepts of humanity and its relationship with God, established virtually all the positive aspects of Western civilization.
The two-pronged assault in our time on the biblically based worldview by postmodern philosophy and the writings of neo-atheists has made it even more crucial that we acknowledge and defend its historical roots.
Unique among books on the topic, this work discusses Western worldviews as a continuous narrative rather than as simply a catalogue of ideas, and traces the effects changes in worldview had on society. It helps readers understand their own worldviews and those of other people and helps them recognize the consequences that worldviews hold. Professors, students, and armchair historians alike will profit from this book.
