Theological Origins of Liberalism

This eye-opening book offers a critical survey of the true origins of liberalism. It challenges the widely held belief among social scientists that liberalism was developed in opposition to Christianity. Beginning with the Protestant Reformation, it illustrates how Christian thinkers reinterpreted Christianity and used a set of indemonstrable biblical presuppositions from their reinterpretations to develop the first liberal ideas, starting a process that culminates in the birth of the first liberal political theory in the writings of a devout Christian philosopher, John Locke. It explains how the Protestant Reformation, covenant theology, anti-trinitarianism and medieval Christian natural law theories formed the foundations of liberalism. Thus, the central claim of this book is that liberalism is better understood as a radical reinterpretation of Christianity that emerged in the post-Reformation and early modern period. As a logical consequence of revealing the hitherto generally neglected roots of liberalism, it eventually proposes that a legally pluralist liberal political theory is the best way to maintain human dignity and peace in multi-religious societies of today’s globalized world.

Overall, the book is a very intriguing and worthwhile read for those who are interested in history, theology, ethics, and political science. . . . The author’s use of sources is noteworthy. . . . I hope that we will see more from Kurun, especially works that fill out the skeletal structure of the legal pluralism with which he concludes his book. He seems to have a fine handle on the dangers of approaching religion, politics, and morality in a compartmentalized fashion. His book is refreshing., İsmail Kurun’s book fills a gap in the literature on the emergence of liberalism., This thoughtful book by İsmail Kurun builds upon earlier investigations of the religious foundations of modern social and political life. Kurun focuses in particular upon the theological and largely Protestant origins of liberalism. We must thank Kurun for his industry and courage in bringing into print an important work of such scope and circumspection., Schmitt said ‘All significant concepts of the modern theory of the state are secularized theological concepts not only because of their historical development but also because of their systematic structure.’ This hypothesis is still controversial: however, Kurun valiantly follows several other major scholars in showing that it cannot be ignored if we want to understand the nature of liberal ideas., The notion that the modern world is primarily a creation of secular Enlightenment thinkers has long been discredited. Yet it is a myth which continues to persist. By making a significant contribution to explaining Christian theology’s role in shaping modernity, İsmail Kurun’s new book will help readers see the surprising ways in which the modern world has been shaped by Christian thought and practice.

İsmail Kurun is a faculty member at the Department of Political Science and Public Administration, University of Necmettin Erbakan.