The Dark Side of Church/State Separation: The French Revolution, Nazi Germany, and International Communism - Softcover

Strehle, Stephen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1138515671 ISBN 13: 9781138515673

Publisher: Routledge, 2017

Synopsis

The Dark Side of Church/State Separation analyzes the Enlightenment's attack upon the Judeo-Christian tradition and its impact upon the development of secular regimes in France, Germany, and Russia. Such regimes followed the anti-Semitic/anti-Christian agenda of the French Enlightenment in blaming the Judeo-Christian tradition for all the ills of European society and believing that human beings can develop their own set of values and purposes through rational means, apart from any revelation from God or Scripture.

Stephen Strehle's analysis extends our understanding of church/state relations and its history. He confirms the spiritual roots of modern anti-Semitism within the ideology of the Enlightenment and recognizes the intimate relationship between anti-Semitism and anti-Christianity. Strehle questions the absolute doctrine of church/state separation, given its background in the bigotries of the philosophes. He notes the nefarious motives of subsequent regimes, which used the French doctrine to replace the religious community with the state and its secular ideology.

This detailed historical analysis of original sources and secondary literature is woven together with special appreciation for the philosophical and theological ideas that contributed to the emergence of political institutions. Readers will gain an understanding of the most influential ideas shaping the modern world and present-day culture.

About this title

About the Author:

Stephen Strehle is professor of philosophy and religion at Christopher Newport University. He is the author of The Separation of Church and State; Calvinism, Federalism, and Scholasticism; The Catholic Roots of the Protestant Gospel; and The Egalitarian Spirit of Christianity.

Review:

“This impressive book argues that the principle and practice of church-state separation, as it has mostly been seen in the modern world, has been used by prominent political ideologies and movements operating from marked hostility to Christianity and Judaism to expand the power of the secular state. . . . The great service Strehle does with his impressive research, massive documentation, and convincing, insightful quotes from original sources is to establish clearly that the predominant contemporary perspective about church-state separation, far from its claimed purpose of pushing aside intolerance and allowing reason to flourish, actually was based in almost visceral antipathy to Christianity and Judaism. He exposes how in this area the Enlightenment and its legacy really was an ‘endarkenment.’”

—Stephen M. Krason, Review of Metaphysics

“Strehle’s work on the dark side of strict separationism is a masterful account by a brilliant scholar and is essential reading for students of religion and public life. The work convincingly demonstrates that the standard narratives concerning faith and politics overlook the many ways strict separationism has served intentionally to marginalize the faithful and glorify the state. The work establishes conclusions of tremendous urgency for contemporary public life from its careful and insightful study of the anti-Christian bigotry of major figures of the French Enlightenment and their enduring influence on the most poisonous social movements of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. I cannot recommend the work highly enough.”

—Joseph Prud’homme, director, Institute for the Study of Religion, Politics, and Culture, Washington College

“In this important book, Stephen Strehle astutely portrays the secularizing tendencies of three major movements that wanted to destroy the Christian church (and the Jewish synagogue): the French Enlightenment and Revolution, Nazism, and Marxism. . . . His grasp of the historical issues is impressive and insightful.”

—Richard Weikart, California State University, Stanislaus; author, From Darwin to Hitler and Hitler’s Ethic

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 1138515671
• ISBN 13: 9781138515673
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 404