In Christianity and Freedom, Volume 1 , leading historians uncover the unappreciated role of Christianity in the development of basic human rights and freedoms from antiquity through today. These include radical notions of dignity and equality, religious freedom, liberty of conscience, limited government, consent of the governed, economic liberty, autonomous civil society, and church-state separation, as well as more recent advances in democracy, human rights, and human development. Acknowledging that the record is mixed, scholars document how the seeds of freedom in Christianity antedate and ultimately undermine later Christian justifi cations and practices of persecution. Drawing from history, political science, and sociology, this volume will become a standard reference work for historians, political scientists, theologians, students, journalists, business leaders, opinion shapers, and policy makers.
Author(s): Timothy Samuel Shah, Allen D. Hertzke
Series: Law And Christianity
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Year: 2016
Language: English
Pages: 429
Tags: Liberty: Religious Aspects: Christianity
Contributing Authors page xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction: Christianity and Freedom: Ancient Roots
and Historical Innovations 1
Timothy Samuel Shah
1. The Roots of Religious Freedom in Early Christian Thought 33
Timothy Samuel Shah
2. The Christian Roots of Religious Freedom 62
Robert Louis Wilken
3. Lactantius on Religious Liberty and His Infl uence on Constantine 90
Elizabeth DePalma Digeser
4. Augustine and Religious Freedom 103
John Rist
5. Christianity and the Roots of Human Dignity in Late Antiquity 123
Kyle Harper
6. Liberty of Conscience and Freedom of Religion in the Medieval
Canonists and Theologians 149
Ian Christopher Levy
7. Faith, Liberty, and the Defense of the Poor: Bishop Las Casas
in the History of Human Rights 176
David M. Lantigua
8. Calvinist Contributions to Freedom in Early Modern Europe 210
John Witte Jr.
9. Constitutional Protection of the Freedom of Conscience
in Colonial America: The Rhode Island and
Pennsylvania Experiments 235
David Little
10. Christianity and Freedom in the American Founding 264
Matthew J. Franck
11. Vibrant Christian Pluralism and the Evolution and Defense of
Religious Liberty in America 290
Judge Ken Starr
12. Orthodox Christian Contributions to Freedom: Historical
Foundations, Contemporary Problematics 301
Elizabeth H. Prodromou
13. Christianity: A Straggler on the Road to Liberty? 333
Daniel Philpott
14. Protestant Missionaries and the Centrality of Conversion
Attempts for the Spread of Education, Printing, Colonial Reform,
and Political Democracy 367
Robert D. Woodberry
15. God and Freedom: Biblical Roots of the Western Idea of Liberty 391
Rémi Brague
Index 403
