ABSTRACT
Philosophers of democracy have always had a somewhat ambivalent relationship to monotheistic religion. Some have even declared that republicanism and Christianity are plainly incompatible. This chapter surveys the historical development of democratic and authoritarian impulses within Western Christianity across six different contexts: Ancient Israel, early Christianity, the Roman Empire, the Middle Ages, the Reformation Era, and the Modern Period. Like the Hebrew Scriptures, the Christian Bible can be and has been read as an a-political book, in this case one that is concerned solely with personal salvation. But such a reading is actually quite difficult to sustain, because the Jesus movement and the Christian churches that grew out them often represented themselves as alternative polities. One of Jesus’ most famous parables – the parable of the good Samaritan who helps an injured stranger – suggests that no people, not even God’s chosen people, can claim a monopoly on moral righteousness.
