Brad Littlejohn joins Peter Leithart and James Wood to discuss two kingdoms, Christian Nationalism, and Christian commonwealths. They explore post-liberalism, the role of the church in societal renewal, and the Protestant perspective on the common good and nationalism. The conversation delves into regulating speech, virtue, and soulcraft in the state, the boundaries of nations and empires, and the church's advisory role in matters of public witness and state consultation.
01:03:15
forum Ask episode
web_stories AI Snips
view_agenda Chapters
auto_awesome Transcript
info_circle Episode notes
insights INSIGHT
The Post-Liberal Nature of Politics
Liberalism limits politics to restraining physical harm and excludes fostering virtue.
Modern politics inevitably concerns immaterial harms and advancing social ideals, making all politics post-liberal.
insights INSIGHT
State's External Jurisdiction and Virtue
The state governs only external actions but uses them to shape internal virtue indirectly.
Virtue involves both external habits and internal intentions; law fosters virtue by encouraging good habits visibly.
insights INSIGHT
Distinct Ends of Church and State
Both state and church operate in external realms but have different ends regarding soulcraft.
The church focuses on spiritual formation for heaven; the state aims for good citizens and social order.
Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode
Peter Leithart and James Wood are joined by Brad Littlejohn to discuss two kingdoms, Christian Nationalism, and Christian commonwealths. ____ About Brad Littlejohn:
Brad Littlejohn, Ph.D., is a Fellow in EPPC’s Evangelicals in Civic Life Program, where his work focuses on helping public leaders understand the intellectual and historical foundations of our current breakdown of public trust, social cohesion, and sound governance. His research investigates shifting understandings of the nature of freedom and authority, and how a more full-orbed conception of freedom, rooted in the Christian tradition, can inform policy that respects both the dignity of the individual and the urgency of the common good. He also serves as President of the Davenant Institute
A scholar and writer in the fields of Christian ethics, historical theology, and conservative political thought, he earned his PhD in Theological Ethics at the University of Edinburgh in 2014, where he studied the relationship of freedom and authority in the English Reformation. He is the author of The Peril and Promise of Christian Liberty and The Two Kingdoms: A Guide for the Perplexed, among other books, as well as numerous peer-reviewed and popular-level articles and book chapters on topics ranging from freedom of conscience to the nature of property rights to the moral architecture of digital technology
In 2013 he founded the Davenant Institute, an organization dedicated to retrieving and renewing the Protestant theological and ethical tradition, and frequently writes, speaks, and teaches for their publications, conferences, and courses. He has also taught at Moody Bible Institute and Patrick Henry College, and served as Headmaster of Loudoun Classical School
He formerly worked as a Senior Fellow of the Edmund Burke Foundation as lead author on multi-year project entitled “Foundations of Liberty: Rediscovering the Anglo-American Conservative Tradition.” His essays arising out of this research have appeared in journals such as National Affairs, American Affairs, The American Conservative, First Things, and Modern Age.
He is also a weekly Opinion Contributor at WORLDMagazine, and publishes regularly on questions of Christian ethics and political theology for outlets such as The Gospel Coalition, American Reformer, Desiring God, and Mere Orthodoxy.
The Civitas Podcast