Most accounts of the evolution of Western political thought place secularisation – the gradual but steady exclusion of religious arguments from political discourse – at the centre of the story. In this Forum, parishioner Bill Tompson looks at an alternative view, which argues that European political thought in many respects grew more, not less, religious in the 16th and 17th centuries and that sees the Christian encounter with Hebrew sources during the Reformation playing an important role in the development of such ideas as republicanism, support for redistribution and religious tolerance. Indeed, the so-called “Hebrew Republic” offered inspiration to political thinkers in England and on the Continent.

This is a hybrid forum; please join us in the Parish Hall or on Zoom.

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Meeting ID: 862 4816 6971

Passcode: 038558

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