Examines the Christian and natural law principles that inform Christian thinking about the role of government and law in free and virtuous societies, beginning with a survey of Christianity’s decisive moral and institutional contribution to limiting state power. Required course for those who have not previously attended a Toward a Free and Virtuous Society conference or Acton University.
Recommended Reading:
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Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, q.90-114.
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Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est (2005), paragraphs 19-42.
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Samuel Gregg, On Ordered Liberty: A Treatise on the Free Society, (2003), pp.51-104.
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Lord John Dalberg- Acton, The History of Freedom in Antiquity, (February 1877).
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Lord John Dalberg- Acton. (1877, May). History of Liberty in Christianity. (May 1877).
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Rodney Stark, The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success, (2005).
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The Birth of Freedom, (May 2008).
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David Gress, From Plato To NATO: The Idea of the West and Its Opponents, (1998).
