Christian Origins of Tolerance

This book presents an account of tolerance that differs from the standard liberal narrative. Jed Atkins recovers tolerance's beginnings in a forgotten North African Christian tradition from the first five centuries CE and shows how this bears on questions of political judgment, authority, freedom, rights, religious plurality, and natural law.

List of contents

• Acknowledgments


• Introduction: Liberalism and the Christian Origins of Tolerance


• 1: Roman Tolerance?


• 2: Stoic Tolerance?


• 3: Paul and the New Testament Building Blocks of Tolerance


• 4: Tertullian and the Freedom of Religion


• 5: Tertullian, Cyprian, and the Virtue of Tolerance


• 6: Tolerance, Religious Liberty, and Universal Human Justice in the Thought of Lactantius


• 7: Tolerance in Augustine's City of God: A Secular Virtue


• 8: Augustine on Political Judgment and Tolerance


• Epilogue: Christianity, Islam, and Liberal Tolerance


• References


• Index

About the author

Jed W. Atkins is the E. Blake Byrne Associate Professor of Classical Studies and Associate Professor of Philosophy and Political Science at Duke University. He directs The Transformative Ideas Program and The Civil Discourse Project. He has published widely in the areas of Greek, Roman, and early Christian moral and political philosophy and the history of political philosophy. He is the author of Cicero on Politics and the Limits of Reason (CUP, 2013) and Roman Political Thought (CUP, 2018).

Summary

This book presents an account of tolerance that differs from the standard liberal narrative. Jed Atkins recovers tolerance's beginnings in a forgotten North African Christian tradition from the first five centuries CE and shows how this bears on questions of political judgment, authority, freedom, rights, religious plurality, and natural law.

Product details

• Authors: Jed W. Atkins, Jed W. (E. Blake Byrne Associate Professor Atkins, Atkins Jed W.
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 01.07.2024
• EAN: 9780198909569
• ISBN: 978-0-19-890956-9
• No. of pages: 320
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Political science and political education; HISTORY / Ancient / General, POLITICAL SCIENCE / History & Theory, RELIGION / Christianity / History, RELIGION / Christianity / General, Christianity, Political science & theory, History of Religion, Ancient World, Ancient History, Classical history / classical civilisation, Political science and theory