American Revolution

Americans fought a revolution over the exercise of absolute power. We should think long and hard about resurrecting absolutist tendencies in the modern presidency and how we can put the genie back in the bottle.

Christian theo-political witness has always contended that political responsibility cannot be had by seeking either greatness or goodness absent the other.

Washington’s model is still within our reach. But it would require a renewed appreciation for the limits of the presidency, the limits of politics, and a renewed focus on the importance of character.

This article, delineating the two kinds of freedom found in the tradition of Western civilization, was originally published in Christianity and Crisis on October 19th, 1942. Editor Henry P. Van Dusen clarifies the two strands of freedom that have developed in European thought. One comes from the Protestant Reformation, a freedom that comes as a result of being created in God’s image and the rights that entail; the other comes from the Enlightenment, a freedom that is intrinsic to man’s nature and “self-evident,” something that is somehow apparent to all.