Liberty in the Things of God

The Christian Origins of Religious Freedom

By: Robert Louis Wilken

Narrated by: Jamie Renell

Length: 7 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

From one of the leading historians of Christianity comes this sweeping reassessment of religious freedom, from the church fathers to John Locke

In the ancient world, Christian apologists wrote in defense of their right to practice their faith in the cities of the Roman Empire. They argued that religious faith is an inward disposition of the mind and heart and cannot be coerced by external force, laying a foundation on which later generations would build.

Chronicling the history of the struggle for religious freedom from the early Christian movement through the 17th century, Robert Louis Wilken shows that the origins of religious freedom and liberty of conscience are religious, not political, in origin. They took form before the Enlightenment through the labors of men and women of faith who believed there could be no justice in society without liberty in the things of God. This provocative book, drawing on writings from the early Church as well as the 16th and 17th centuries, reminds us of how “the meditations of the past were fitted to affairs of a later day”.

©2019 Robert Louis Wilken (P)2019 Audible, Inc.

appendix on Jefferson so profound

Timely.. Believers and unbelievers alike who value the freedoms we experience in America will benefit greatly understanding their roots and hopefully be inspired it stand for them now.