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

Oliver O'Donovan and Joan Lockwood O'Donovan, editors. From Irenaeus to Grotius. A Sourcebook in Christian Political Thought. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1999. Pp. xx + 838. $70 (cloth); $45 (paper).

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 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.

The book is divided into five large sections ranging from the early Christian apologists to the polymath Grotius, who died in 1646. Readers of this journal will, perhaps, be particularly interested in the first part, which extends from Justin through Orosius, and which includes, in addition to these sources, short selections (6-12 pages each) from Irenaeus, Tertullian, Origen, Clement of Alexandria, Lactantius, Eusebius, and John Chrysostom, a slightly longer set of writings (19 pages) by Ambrose and extensive portions (50 pages) of Augustine. It is not surprisingly to see the emphasis on Augustine, and in subsequent sections of the book the editors have helped the reader by providing references to many of the bishop's works which are echoed by later writers. In reading these authors, one comes away with a rather concrete awareness of Augustine's impact on western thought.

Except in a broad sense, Irenaeus to Grotius is not a thematic collection either in genre or ideas. Letters, sermons, polemical tracts, philosophical treatises, and commentaries on texts are all represented. Thus, no one set of interpretative canons will suffice in analyzing these sources, but the choice of stylistic diversity is itself instructive because it attests to the many ways in which the interplay of theology and politics permeates much of western political discourse. For example, in dealing with Augustine's ideas on temporal power and its exercise, the editors have included not only typical passages from the City of God and On Free Will but several of the bishop's letters as well (93, 153, 189 and 24*). Thus, one gets a sense of the practical side of Augustine's views in addition to some details about his own interactions with imperial authorities. On this latter score it is pleasing to see the inclusion of Letter 153 to Macedonius, which is cited in its entirety.

Inevitably, there are omissions which may disturb some readers. We find nothing from the New Testament, nothing from Greek-speaking Christianity after the fall of Byzantium, nothing from Syriac-speaking Christianity, and nothing from the pagan or Jewish authors (e.g., Plato and Philo) "who were constantly in the minds of . . . Christian writers." In all fairness, however, the editors have done remarkably well in justifying their choices (xvii-xix), and one could waste much energy in lamenting what is not here. With respect to Scripture and pagan authors, at least, it should be noted that there are frequent references to these sources throughout the selections which make up the volume.

The book covers both major and minor writers. ("Without the former, the...