Civil Religion in Modern Political Philosophy: Machiavelli to Tocqueville

Published by Penn State University Press 2020

Civil Religion in Modern Political Philosophy

Machiavelli to Tocqueville

Edited by: Steven Frankel and Martin D. Yaffe

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780271087450

Overview
Contents

About this book

Inspired by Machiavelli, modern philosophers held that the tension between the goals of biblical piety and the goals of political life needed to be resolved in favor of the political, and they attempted to recast and delimit traditional Christian teaching to serve and stabilize political life accordingly. This volume examines the arguments of those thinkers who worked to remake Christianity into a civil religion in the early modern and modern periods.

Beginning with Machiavelli and continuing through to Alexis de Tocqueville, the essays in this collection explain in detail the ways in which these philosophers used religious and secular writing to build a civil religion in the West. Early chapters examine topics such as Machiavelli’s comparisons of Christianity with Roman religion, Francis Bacon’s cherry-picking of Christian doctrines in the service of scientific innovation, and Spinoza’s attempt to replace long-held superstitions with newer, “progressive” ones. Other essays probe the scripture-based, anti-Christian argument that religion must be subordinate to politics espoused by Jean-Jacques Rousseau and David Hume, both of whom championed reason over divine authority. Crucially, the book also includes a study of civil religion in America, with chapters on John Locke, Montesquieu, and the American Founders illuminating the relationships among religious and civil history, acts, and authority. The last chapter is an examination of Tocqueville’s account of civil religion and the American regime

Detailed, thought-provoking, and based on the careful study of original texts, this survey of religion and politics in the West will appeal to scholars in the history of political philosophy, political theory, and American political thought.

Author / Editor information

Frankel Steven :

Steven Frankel is Professor of Philosophy at Xavier University.

Reviews

“The question of civil religion deserves our renewed interest, as we witness the longstanding assumptions of modern secularization being shaken. This excellent collection of essays on that old and timely subject brings out both the common assumptions and a range of controversies among liberalism’s founding thinkers. Add to the mix a healthy dose of disagreement among the essays’ authors, and there is much food for thought here.”
—J. Judd Owen, author of Making Religion Safe for Democracy: Transformation from Hobbes to Tocqueville

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. Machiavelli, Christianity, and Civil Religion Timothy Sean Quinn Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	13
2. How Francis Bacon’s New Organon Co-opts Biblical Theology for His New Atlantis Martin D. Yaffe Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	34
3. Leviathan’s Reconquest of the Christian Person for the State Mark Shiffman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	53
4. Will Wonders Never Cease? Spinoza’s Critique of Miracles Steven Frankel Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	70
5. Liberalism and Christianity: Locke’s Use of the Bible in the Second Treatise Nasser Behnegar Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	94
6. Montesquieu’s Machiavellian Account of Civil Religion Andrea Radasanu Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	114
7. Montesquieu and Christianity in the American Project: The Moderate Spirit of Religious Liberty Paul Carrese Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	131
8. Hume on Church Establishments: History, Moderation, and Liberty Aaron Szymkowiak Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	157
9. Rousseau’s Civil Religion “Problem” John Ray Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	183
10. How the Founders Agreed About Religious Freedom but Disagreed About the Separation of Church and State Vincent Phillip Muñoz and Kevin Vance Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	198
11. Tocqueville on Religion and Democratic Character: Equality, Mediocrity, and Greatness Aaron L. Herold Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	214
List of Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	235
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	239

Language: English
Publisher: Penn State University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 256

eBook

Published: July 15, 2020
ISBN: 9780271087450