Not available to order
Publication date:
27 February 2014Length of book:
304 pagesPublisher
Lexington BooksISBN-13: 9780739186909
“I no sooner perceived myself in the world,” wrote English philosopher John Locke, “than I found myself in a storm.” The storm of which Locke spoke was the maelstrom of religious fanaticism and intolerance that was tearing apart the social fabric of European society. His response was A Letter Concerning Toleration (1689), arguably the most important defense of religious freedom in the Western tradition. In God, Locke, and Liberty: The Struggle for Religious Freedom in the West, historian Joseph Loconte offers a groundbreaking study of Locke’s Letter, challenging the notion that decisive arguments for freedom of conscience appeared only after the onset of the secular Enlightenment. Loconte argues that Locke’s vision of a tolerant and pluralistic society was based on a radical reinterpretation of the life and teachings of Jesus. In this, Locke drew great strength from an earlier religious reform movement, namely, the Christian humanist tradition. Like no thinker before him, Locke forged an alliance between liberal political theory and a gospel of divine mercy. God, Locke, and Liberty suggests how a better understanding of Locke’s political theology could calm the storms of religious violence that once again threaten international peace and security.
To read an interview with the author about the book on Patheos.com, see here: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/2015/01/10/under-locke-and-key/
To read an interview with the author about the book on Patheos.com, see here: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/2015/01/10/under-locke-and-key/
Religious freedom is the key to the whole modern world, the foundation stone upon which all other forms of freedom rest. Yet most of us no longer think that religious freedom is the central organizing principle of a humane social order, as our forefathers did. One reason for this myopia is that the real story of religious freedom’s origins and first purposes is almost completely unknown beyond a few academic specialists. Joe Loconte draws upon an extensive array of historical scholarship to weave the story for us, and show why the modern world so desperately needs to remember it. He treats the evidence with conscientious care, uncovering Locke’s connections to an ancient tradition of Christian humanism neglected by most scholars. But he also keeps the story flowing and the reader engaged; this is one of those rare books that scholars and ordinary lovers of history alike will profit from. And it comes not a moment too soon. In a world where the foundations of freedom are buckling under the weight of both religious and secular fanaticisms, this book cannot find too wide a readership.