Religion and the State
EuropeLater Developments.
The basic issues concerning religion and the state that emerged during late classical, medieval, and early modern times framed later debates in those parts of the world (such as the Americas, the Middle East, and Africa) where revealed religions enjoy a considerable following. Specifically, one sees recurrent concern with whether political power is a hindrance or a boon to the spread and maintenance of religion, as well as whether the state should remain neutral to competing confessions. The early history of these discussions demonstrates that the dual questions of the role of religion in politics and politics in religion have always been settled in many different ways. There is no grand narrative of human progress in matters of religion, no progression from persecution to toleration or from unity to plurality or from superstition to secularity.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Black, Antony. The History of Islamic Political Thought: From the Prophet to the Present. New York: Routledge, 2001.
Morrison, Karl F. Rome and the City of God: An Essay on the Constitutional Relationships of Empire and Church in the Fourth Century. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society new series 54, pt. 1. Philadelphia: The American Philosophical Society, 1964.
Nederman, Cary J. Worlds of Difference: European Discourses of Religious Toleration, c.1100–c.1550. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2000.
O'Donovan, Oliver, and Joan Lockwood O'Donovan, eds. From Irenaeus to Grotius: A Sourcebook in Christian Political Thought. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1999.
Southern, R. W. The Making of the Middle Ages. New York: Hutchinson's University Library, 1953.
Walzer, Michael, Menachem Lorberbaum, and Noam J. Zohar, eds. The Jewish Political Tradition. 4 vols. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2000.
Cary J. Nederman
Additional topics
- Religion and the State - Europe - Bibliography
- Religion and the State - Europe - Christian Europe: The Reformation.
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