The Mighty and the Almighty

Questions how the church and state should be related, through an examination of the relationship between divine and political authority.

This book addresses the relationship of church to state and divine to political authority and asks what religion has to say about the limits of state authority and political obedience. It will be of interest to scholars of political theology, law and religion, philosophy of religion and social ethics.For a century or more political theology has been in decline. Recent years, however, have seen increasing interest not only in how church and state should be related, but in the relation between divine authority and political authority, and in what religion has to say about the limits of state authority and the grounds of political obedience. In this book, Nicholas Wolterstorff addresses this whole complex of issues. He takes account of traditional answers to these questions, but on every point stakes out new positions. Wolterstorff offers a fresh theological defense of liberal democracy, argues that the traditional doctrine of 'two rules' should be rejected and offers a fresh exegesis of Romans 13, the canonical biblical passage for the tradition of Christian political theology. This book provides useful discussion for scholars and students of political theology, law and religion, philosophy of religion and social ethics.