John Locke, Christian Liberty, and the Predicament of Liberal Toleration
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6350996 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jakob De Roover (0000-0001-8790-320X, Ghent University), N Balagangadhara, S N Balagangadhara (Ghent University) |
| Year | 2008 |
| Volume | 36 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 523-549 |
| Publication date | 2008-08-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Political Theory (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0090-5917 • E-ISSN: 1552-7476 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0090591708317969 |
| OpenAlex | W2135814823 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 10 |
| References cited | 15 |
Recently, scholars have disputed whether Locke's political theory should be read as the groundwork of secular liberalism or as a Protestant political theology. Focusing on Locke's mature theory of toleration, the article raises a central question: What if these two readings are compatible? That is, what would be the consequences if Locke's political philosophy has theological foundations, but has also given shape to secular liberalism? Examining Locke's theory in the Letter Concerning Toleration (1689), the article argues that this is indeed the case. The liberal model of toleration is a secularization of the theology of Christian liberty and its division of society into a temporal political kingdom and the spiritual kingdom of Christ. Therefore, when liberal toleration travels beyond the boundaries of the Christian West or when western societies become multicultural, it threatens to lose its intelligibility
Classical liberalism · Liberalism · Political philosophy · Political science · Political theology · Politics · Protestantism · Secularization · Sociology · Theology · Toleration · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Law · Philosophy · Political Philosophy and Ethics · Religion, Gender, and Enlightenment · Religious studies
“Hard Borders”? Locke, Liberalism, and Eurocentrism
Framing the Predicament of Indian Thought
The Sacred Stays Central
Gandhi, Conversion, and the Equality of Religions
On the Dark Side of the “Secular”
Evangelical Toleration
Liberal Political Theory and the Cultural Migration of Ideas
Lockean Toleration
Atheism, secularism and toleration
Decolonizing the Hindu Mind
John Locke's Politics of Moral Consensus
The Political Philosophy of Needs
Locke
The Political Thought of John Locke
God, Locke, and Equality
The Secular State and Religious Conflict
The Relevance of Locke’s Religious Arguments for Toleration
Difference, Diversity, and the Limits of Toleration
Locke, Sincerity and the Rationality of Persecution
Rethinking the Intolerant Locke
From Public to Private
Two Treatises of Government and A Letter Concerning Toleration
| Unique citing works | 10 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,67 |
| Citation span | 2011 - 2025 (15) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 10 |