Two Kingdoms & Two Cities: Mapping Theological Traditions of Church, Culture, and Civil Order

by Robert C. Crouse

Overview

The recent emergence of "two kingdoms" and "two cities" approaches to Christian social thinking are shown to have a key-and often unacknowledged-connection to Luther's reshaping of the Augustinian paradigm. The project works for a better understanding of Luther's own thought to help understand the convergences and divergences of Christian political theology in the twentieth century and today.

In particular, Luther's two-kingdom thinking issued forth in a strong distinction of law and gospel that was also worked out in twofold pairs of Israel and church, general and special revelation, creation and redemption, and especially the outward and inward life. The work traces this legacy through acceptance and modification by Niebuhr and Bonhoeffer, Lutheran and Catholic neoconservatives, Reformed two-kingdom proponents, Augustinian liberals, and finally Oliver O'Donovan. The conclusion reflects on both the historical narrative and its connection to an account of modern liberalism, as well as a theological reflection on hermeneutical decisions of the "twoness" of Christian theology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781506425191
Publisher:	Augsburg Fortress, Publishers
Publication date:	07/15/2017
Series:	Emerging Scholars
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	274
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Robert C. Crouse is assistant professor of systematic theology at Knox Theological Seminary. He earned a PhD in systematic theology at Wheaton College. Two Kingdoms&Two Cities is based on a dissertation completed at Wheaton College under the supervision of Daniel Treier.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments xi

Abbreviations xiii

Introduction xv

1 Luther's "Inward/Outward" Two Kingdoms 1

2 Niebuhr, Bonhoeffer, and a "Dialectical" Two Kingdoms 35

3 Lutheran and Catholic Neoconservatism and a "Paradoxical" Two Kingdoms 61

4 Reformed Two-Kingdom Theology and a "Parallel" Two Kingdoms 89

5 Neo-Augustinian Liberalism and an "Eschatological" Two Kingdoms 121

6 Augustine and a "Christendom" Two Cities 149

7 Oliver O'Donovan and A Doctrine of the "Two" 179

Conclusion 215

Bibliography 237

Index 249