From Irenaeus to Grotius. A Sourcebook in Christian Political Thought (review)

Abstract

One reviewer has argued that this book will be the "standard collection of its kind for the twenty first century," and it is hard to gainsay that claim. With over eight hundred pages of well known and not so well known texts encompassing a wide variety of issues such as war and peace, the sources of spiritual and [End Page 609] temporal authority, the struggles between the papacy and secular rulers, the Reformation and Counter-Reformation, and even the rights of native inhabitants in the New World, the book will surely be a most useful and stimulating vade mecum for students of Christian political thought for a very long time. Editing good anthologies, particularly when they involve translations, is an exhausting and risky business. However judicious one's choices, the volume of good material which must be passed over inevitably exceeds that which is included, and tastes in English renderings vary enormously with each reader. It is fair to say that the two O'Donovans have met these challenges quite handily, and the result is a rich and attractive volume which will serve seasoned scholars and novices alike.