Location
Rule of Law, Transparency & Accountability
Level of Education
Faculty
Presenter Names and Speeches.
Darren Patrick Guerra
Abstract
Is there a Christian obligation to resist tyranny? This has been a controversial question in Christian politics and theology for generations. In the prelude to the American War for Independence, some influential colonial clergy, like Samuel West, argued in 1775 that Christians not only had a right to resist tyrannical rulers, but they had an obligation to do so. This is consistent with a long but controversial strain of thought within the Christian political thought. West’s argument hinges on his commitment to the natural law as a foundation for social and moral order as well as his rejection of theological arguments for “unlimited submission” to earthly authority. This paper will examine the West’s arguments within the resistance tradition and its implications for Evangelical political engagement today.
Included in
Obligation and Authority: Samuel West and the Christian Tradition of Resistance Theology
Rule of Law, Transparency & Accountability
Is there a Christian obligation to resist tyranny? This has been a controversial question in Christian politics and theology for generations. In the prelude to the American War for Independence, some influential colonial clergy, like Samuel West, argued in 1775 that Christians not only had a right to resist tyrannical rulers, but they had an obligation to do so. This is consistent with a long but controversial strain of thought within the Christian political thought. West’s argument hinges on his commitment to the natural law as a foundation for social and moral order as well as his rejection of theological arguments for “unlimited submission” to earthly authority. This paper will examine the West’s arguments within the resistance tradition and its implications for Evangelical political engagement today.
