Religion and the Rise of Democracy

In a major original study, Graham Maddox analyses the role of religion in the development of democracy from the tribes of ancient Israel to the present day. The book contrasts Athenian direct democracy with the Old Testament monarchy in which the concept of religious opposition - vital to modern democracy - arose. Maddox then develops his discussion of the relationship between religion and democracy through early christianity to the Reformation and Calvinism, ending with a chapter on modern democracy. Maddox's contentious thesis concerning the development of democracy is truly interdisciplinary drawing on political science, religious history and theology.

Graham Maddox is Professor of Politics and Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the University of New England, Australia. He is the author of Australian Democracy in Theory and Practice (1985) and The Hawke Government and Labor Tradition (1989) as well as many articles and chapters on constitutionalism, republicanism and democracy.