{"id":111276,"date":"2024-07-08T01:50:35","date_gmt":"2024-07-08T05:50:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/?p=111276"},"modified":"2024-07-05T13:53:09","modified_gmt":"2024-07-05T17:53:09","slug":"the-christian-origins-of-religious-freedom-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2024\/07\/the-christian-origins-of-religious-freedom-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Christian Origins of Religious Freedom?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Almost anything by Robert Wilken is worth reading. I have benefitted immensely from his The Spirit of Early Christian Thought<\/em> (Yale University Press, 2003) and The First Thousand Years: A Global History of Christianity<\/em> (Yale University Press, 2012). Wilken does not disappoint in Liberty in the Things of God: The Christian Origins of Religious Freedom<\/em> (Yale University Press, 2019), which I have been rereading and pondering as we mark national independence day this July.<\/p>\n

Early on in the book Wilken offers the following quote: \u201cIt is only right . . . that every person should be able to worship according to his own convictions. For one person\u2019s religion neither harms nor hurts another.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you guessed these were the words of Thomas Jefferson or perhaps James Madison, you would be off by about sixteen centuries. They are from Tertullian, a second-century Latin church father, known especially for coining the term \u201ctrinity.\u201d <\/p>\n

Wilken seeks to reorient our understanding of the history of religious freedom. Today, many educated people believe that once upon a time history teemed with inquisitions, witch trials, and religious wars until, lo, the eighteenth-century Enlightenment arrived, paving the way for the American and French Revolutions and with them the constitutional protection of religious liberty. In this narrative, religious freedom is a relatively recent and secular <\/em>achievement. <\/p>\n

But the actual origins of religious freedom are far more complex and specifically indebted to Christian theology, according to Wilken. His argument proceeds in four stages.<\/p>\n

First, the spread of Christianity in the classical world redefined religious belief. In the Roman Empire, religious devotion was tethered to the state and manifested itself in outward acts of piety. It was not an inward matter of conviction and conscience. Christians were thus sometimes charged with \u201catheism\u201d and persecuted for failing to perform the customary rituals. Roman harassment inspired Tertullian and other early Christians writers, notably Lactantius and Origen of Alexandria, to insist that true religion resided in \u201cconscience\u201d apart from Caesar\u2019s domain. Tertullian in fact first coined the term \u201creligious freedom\u201d (libertas religionis<\/em>) and saw it as a \u201chuman right\u201d (humanum ius<\/em>). \u201cReligion cannot be imposed by force,\u201d echoed Lactantius against his Roman critics.<\/p>\n

Second, despite the Christianization of society in the Middle Ages, the notion of two distinct realms\u2013Caesar\u2019s and the things that are not Caesar\u2019s\u2014endured, generating regular conflicts between popes and emperors, church and state. Examining church canon law and the writings of medieval theologians, Wilken demonstrates the superlative importance attributed to \u201cconscience.\u201d Thomas Aquinas even argued that one must obey an \u201cerroneous conscience,\u201d because doing otherwise would contravene what one held to be right. \u201cOne sins more gravely in violating one\u2019s conscience\u2014even if it is in error\u2014than acting in accord with it,\u201d wrote Aquinas. To be sure, Wilken recognizes many shortcomings and abuses of \u201cChristendom,\u2019 but he successfully argues it upheld a high-minded regard for the inviolability of conscience and a sacrosanct realm apart from Caesar\u2019s as a matter of principle if not always in practice. <\/p>\n

Third, the fragmentation of Christendom after the sixteenth-century Reformation roused Christians to defend conscience against confessionally-opportunistic \u201cCaesars,\u201d whether Catholic or Protestant. With delicious irony, Wilken quotes Katharina Ebner, a Franciscan nun from Nuremberg, who, appealing to conscience, wrote \u201chere I stand and will not yield\u201d against city magistrates who desired to remake her city into a Lutheran stronghold. Not infrequently at this time, Wilken amply shows, scholars finding themselves in a religious minority quoting Tertullian and Lactantius to bolster their case for freedom. <\/p>\n

Finally, thinkers and statesmen in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries\u2014Jean Bodin, Roger Williams, William Penn, John Locke, as well as revolutionary-era thinkers\u2014inherited from post-Reformation debates a rich discourse on conscience and the limits of Caesar\u2019s reach. Long before Jefferson, the English Baptist Thomas Helwys (d. 1616) even sought equal protection for non-Christians. \u201cLet them be heretics, Turks, Jews, or whatsoever. It appears not to earthly power to punish them in the least,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

Yes, the American founders were also \u201cshaped by the Enlightenment,\u201d Wilken acknowledges, but the provenance of their thinking has a longer history. \u201cIt was early Christian teachers who first set forth ideas of the freedom of the human person in matters of religion; it was Christian thinkers who contended that conscience must be obedient only to God; and it was the dualism of political authority and spiritual authority in Christian history that led to the idea that civil government and religious beliefs must be kept separate.\u201d<\/p>\n

One might quibble with Wilken: Shouldn\u2019t he have said more about the Jews? Could he have connected his story to present-day debates over the scope of religious freedom? What about the transferability of Christian thinking on this topic to other traditions?<\/p>\n

That fact that he omits fully addressing these issues should not detract from regarding this book as erudite and well-argued. It poses a fundamental challenge to those inclined to see religious freedom simply as a modern, secular idea. <\/p>\n

This review originally appeared in the magazine Touchstone<\/em> (January\/February 2020).<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Almost anything by Robert Wilken is worth reading. I have benefitted immensely from his The Spirit of Early Christian Thought (Yale University Press, 2003) and The First Thousand Years: A Global History of Christianity (Yale University Press, 2012). Wilken does not disappoint in Liberty in the Things of God: The Christian Origins of Religious Freedom […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1189,"featured_media":111288,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[831,1516,5685],"class_list":["post-111276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-christianity","tag-religious-freedom-2","tag-robert-wilken"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Christian Origins of Religious Freedom?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Almost anything by Robert Wilken is worth reading. I have benefitted immensely from his The Spirit of Early Christian Thought (Yale University Press,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2024\/07\/the-christian-origins-of-religious-freedom-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Christian Origins of Religious Freedom?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Almost anything by Robert Wilken is worth reading. I have benefitted immensely from his The Spirit of Early Christian Thought (Yale University Press,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2024\/07\/the-christian-origins-of-religious-freedom-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Anxious Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-07-08T05:50:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-07-05T17:53:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/168\/2024\/07\/wilken-1-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"509\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Thomas Albert Howard\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Thomas Albert Howard\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2024\/07\/the-christian-origins-of-religious-freedom-2\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2024\/07\/the-christian-origins-of-religious-freedom-2\/\",\"name\":\"The Christian Origins of Religious Freedom?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-07-08T05:50:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-07-05T17:53:09+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/#\/schema\/person\/fc69e5b65a13ea30a509aff04ab68c24\"},\"description\":\"Almost anything by Robert Wilken is worth reading. I have benefitted immensely from his The Spirit of Early Christian Thought (Yale University Press,\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2024\/07\/the-christian-origins-of-religious-freedom-2\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2024\/07\/the-christian-origins-of-religious-freedom-2\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2024\/07\/the-christian-origins-of-religious-freedom-2\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Christian Origins of Religious Freedom?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/\",\"name\":\"Anxious Bench\",\"description\":\"The Relevance of Religious History for Today\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/#\/schema\/person\/fc69e5b65a13ea30a509aff04ab68c24\",\"name\":\"Thomas Albert Howard\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9f6ab4fc83ab6e12341cf551c3446b78?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9f6ab4fc83ab6e12341cf551c3446b78?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Thomas Albert Howard\"},\"description\":\"Thomas Albert (Tal) Howard is Professor of Humanities and History in Christ College, the honors of college of Valparaiso University, where he holds the Phyllis and Richard Duesenberg Chair in Christian Ethics. He has recently published Broken Altars: Secularist Violence in Modern History (Yale University Press, 2025).\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/christ-college\/thomas-albert-howard\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/author\/talhoward\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Christian Origins of Religious Freedom?","description":"Almost anything by Robert Wilken is worth reading. I have benefitted immensely from his The Spirit of Early Christian Thought (Yale University Press,","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2024\/07\/the-christian-origins-of-religious-freedom-2\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Christian Origins of Religious Freedom?","og_description":"Almost anything by Robert Wilken is worth reading. I have benefitted immensely from his The Spirit of Early Christian Thought (Yale University Press,","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2024\/07\/the-christian-origins-of-religious-freedom-2\/","og_site_name":"Anxious Bench","article_published_time":"2024-07-08T05:50:35+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-07-05T17:53:09+00:00","og_image":[{"width":509,"height":768,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/168\/2024\/07\/wilken-1-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Thomas Albert Howard","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Thomas Albert Howard","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2024\/07\/the-christian-origins-of-religious-freedom-2\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2024\/07\/the-christian-origins-of-religious-freedom-2\/","name":"The Christian Origins of Religious Freedom?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/#website"},"datePublished":"2024-07-08T05:50:35+00:00","dateModified":"2024-07-05T17:53:09+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/#\/schema\/person\/fc69e5b65a13ea30a509aff04ab68c24"},"description":"Almost anything by Robert Wilken is worth reading. I have benefitted immensely from his The Spirit of Early Christian Thought (Yale University Press,","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2024\/07\/the-christian-origins-of-religious-freedom-2\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2024\/07\/the-christian-origins-of-religious-freedom-2\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2024\/07\/the-christian-origins-of-religious-freedom-2\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Christian Origins of Religious Freedom?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/","name":"Anxious Bench","description":"The Relevance of Religious History for Today","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/#\/schema\/person\/fc69e5b65a13ea30a509aff04ab68c24","name":"Thomas Albert Howard","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9f6ab4fc83ab6e12341cf551c3446b78?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9f6ab4fc83ab6e12341cf551c3446b78?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Thomas Albert Howard"},"description":"Thomas Albert (Tal) Howard is Professor of Humanities and History in Christ College, the honors of college of Valparaiso University, where he holds the Phyllis and Richard Duesenberg Chair in Christian Ethics. He has recently published Broken Altars: Secularist Violence in Modern History (Yale University Press, 2025).","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/christ-college\/thomas-albert-howard\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/author\/talhoward\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1189"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111276\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}