It is difficult to exaggerate the extent to which western political thought during the Middle Ages and through the seventeenth century is informed by the Christian Bible.
Politically Central Themes
The Scriptures are rich in social and political implications. The peculiar dynamic of political thought in medieval Christendom is set up most directly by contrasts between scriptural passages of two kinds. On one hand are those depicting Jesus’ love and humility; on the other are those proclaiming his majesty as Son of God (‘‘the logos made flesh,’’ Christianity’s central addition to classical philosophy) and his position as judge of the world and all its inhabitants at the end of time.
The Church Fathers
The doctrine of the Incarnation was formally defined in fourth - and fifth-century councils. In particular, Jesus was held to unite in his person two natures, a divine and a human. The meek and sacrificially loving Jesus was available as a human model for living under virtually any political order. Jesus as God on earth could, however, serve as a basis for claims to divine mission and commanding authority by emperors, kings, or church leaders recognized as representing him.
Later Exegetes
When Christianity came to be embraced by lay rulers, their apologists could also appeal to Old Testament kings as a model for royal or imperial control of both religious and secular affairs. A biblically grounded contrary case was made (most vigorously from the eleventh century onward) for clerical - especially papal - jurisdiction over all of life. A controversial twelfth-century exegesis of the book of Revelation foretold a spiritual church not guided in legal fashion by popes and bishops. In a related thirteenth-century reading, also controversial, the gospels presented Christ and the apostles as legally completely poor, without any earthly rights or authority.
World History
