Deity and Domination - Images of God and the State in the 19th and 20th Centuries (Paperback, 1st Paperback Ed)

"Religion and politics are necessarily related", declared Ronald Reagan, while addressing an ecumenical prayer breakfast of 17,000 people in Dallas. But how are they connected? Many popular images of God - King, Lord, and Judge - are essentially political, while concepts of might, majesty, dominion, and power are used of both God and the state. This work explores the relations between these images and their political context through the analogy between divine and civil government, and considers what images of God may legitimately be employed by Christians in the 20th century. David Nicholls suggests that religious conceptions have often affected political thinking - theological rhetoric, child of political experience, may also be mother of political change. Drawing upon politics, theology, history, sociology, anthropology, and literary criticism, this text should be of interest to all concerned with the relation between Christianity and politics.