The Political Theology of David Lipscomb: Collected Works

Few figures shaped the Stone-Campbell Restoration movement more than David Lipscomb, whose influence on its theology and practice rivaled that of any of his contemporaries. Yet the writings in this volume have long been unavailable to general readers, and most people are no longer familiar with his ideas, including his belief that Christians should not participate in secular politics.

In the early decades of the Stone-Campbell movement, adherents argued their positions in person and in print, and the direction of the movement was decided by these wide-ranging theological discussions. Dissent was built into the discourse and considered a part of the spiritual well-being of the movement. Followers were expected to read and have opinions on all these discussions. And now most of these books and articles have all but vanished from circulation—not just Lipscomb’s but many of the nineteenth-century Campbellite theologians’ writings.

This volume comprises three of Lipscomb’s most important works regarding Christians’ relationship to civil government, along with an introduction by Edward Peter Stringham and Norman R. Horn that explains how Lipscomb’s political writings receded from view within the movement he once shaped.

David Lipscomb (1831–1917) was a leader in the Stone-Campbell Restoration movement, an influential editor of the Gospel Advocate, and one of the founders of the Nashville Bible College, now known as Lipscomb University.

Edward Peter Stringham is the Shelby Cullom Davis Professor of American Business and Economic Enterprise at Trinity College.

Norman R. Horn is the founder and president of the Libertarian Christian Institute. He is a co-author of Faith Seeking Freedom: Libertarian Christian Answers to Tough Questions.