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POL 350-01
Special Topics in Politics:
Classical Christian Political Thought


Dr. Knippenberg

Phone: 364-8341

Email: jknippenberg@facstaff.oglethorpe.edu

With respect to the issues of religion and politics, many Americans find themselves divided. As documented by a recent public opinion poll, they for the most part adhere to the liberal pricniple of the "separation of church and state. At the same time, they for the most part regard it as a good thing that leaders cherish religious values. (Of course, there are also thoroughgoingly consistent secularists and advocates of a "Christian America.")

This relatively common understanding may or may not be coherent. In many cases it is the product of the very arrangement it favors-an essentially secular public education system and a family- and church-based system of religious worship and education. What this often means, especially with regard to thinking about politics, is that the only political principles to which people are exposed are those of essentially secular American and classical liberalism. By "liberalism" here I do not mean the post-F.D.R. progressivisim typically identified with the Democratic Party, but rather the emphasis on individualism, liberty, and rights that has its classic philosophical expression in John Locke's Second Treatise of Government and its classic American expression in the Declaration of Independence. In other words, the language and categories for thinking about politics most readily available to most of us have at best an ambiguous relationship with the classical Christian tradition of thinking about such matters. Certainly Locke and Jefferson were aware of the Christian tradition, but their practical success, especially in the United States, has effectively blinded us to the older (and to some degree parallel) tradition.

In this course, we will attempt to examine anew the tradition of Christian political thought of which we have by and large lost sight. Our purpose in so doing is to give ourselves the intellectual and theoretical resources to understand our own religious and political condition, not just from the point of view of liberalism, but also from the point of view of the best that devoted Christians have thought and said about the political order. The goal of this enterprise is not necessarily to abandon liberalism or to "reconstruct" America on a Christian basis, but better to understand what is at stake in the terms of our divided self-understanding.

TEXT:

Please purchase the following book:

O'Donovan and O'Donovan, eds., From irenaeus to Grotius:
A Sourcebook in Christian Political Thought (Eerdmans)

ASSIGNMENTS AND GRADING:

Three 5 - 7 pp. papers………………………………15% each
Due:
Monday, Feb.12
Monday, March 5
Monday, April 9
Presentation………………………………………………10%
Participation………………………………………………15%
Final……………………………………………………………30%
Due:
Monday, May 7

ACADEMIC POLICIES AND REGULATIONS:

In accordance with Oglethorpe's Honor Code, all the work you hand in must be pledged: "I have neither given nor received any unauthorized aid in completing this assignment." For the purposes of this course, "unauthorized aid" consists in plagiarism, which (as "The 'O' Boo" states) "includes representing someone else's words, ideas,...or original research as one's own and, in general, failing to footnote or otherwise acknowledge the source of such work." If in completing an assignment you consult secondary sources, be sure to cite them properly. Unless we announce otherwise, you may discuss any assignment with your colleagues, but the work you submit must be your own. You may find the complete text of the Honor Code in "The 'O' Book."

Attendance is mandatory. I reserve the right to give the grade "FA" to students who regularly miss class.

I penalize late papers two points per weekday, up to a total of ten points, after which I will not accept them. We will not reschedule exams without a medical excuse. I will, however, be pleased to help you manage your academic schedules by granting extensions on papers if you request them one week in advance.

If for some reason you have to take an "Incomplete" in this course, you must arrange it with me before the end of the term. We must agree to a contract containing a schedule for the completion of the course requirements. You must then take the initiative in completing the work.

You may find the grading scale, as well as the policy governing the S/U (satisfactory/unsatisfactory) option, on pp. 67-68 of the 1998-2000 Oglethorpe University Bulletin.

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE OF READING ASSIGNMENTS:

1/11 Introduction

1/18 Read Smith, Introduction and ch. 1.

1/20 Read, Strauss, Preface

1/25 Read Strauss, Part I

1/27 Begin reading Spinoza (and continue from here on in, consulting the secondary sources as appropriate)