Ep 2: Anarchism and Minarchism in Christian Thought

Welcome to the second episode of The Libertarian Christian Podcast, and the first episode in which we’ll start to dive into some serious analysis. The mainline marketing gurus advise to ease into things without rocking the boat, so we thought it would be good to jump in with a non-controversial topic, like ‘Should civil government even exist?’ The liberty movement spans a broad range of thought on this issue, but most libertarians would roughly be classified as either advocates of a very small, limited civil government (minarchy) or advocates of some form of stateless society with no civil government (anarchy). What should libertarians think of this issue, and how does Christian theology come into play? Find out, in Episode 2 of The Libertarian Christian Podcast.

Historical references, ancient to contemporary (representative samples; by no means exhaustive)

• Intro to ancient / patristic theology
• The early Christians and war
• Second Temple Judaism (via Josephus) on origins of the state: here and here
• Jamin Hübner on the early Christians and libertarian thought
• Emperor Constantine: here and here
• Emperor Charlemagne
• Church in medieval society
• Medieval Investiture Controversy (church v. state)
• Waldensians / Peter Waldo
• Magna Carta
• Magisterial v. Radical Reformation
• The Anabaptists
• The Amish
• The Mennonites
• History of theonomy
• The Quakers
• William Penn and Christian anarchy in Pennsylvania
• Roger Williams and Christian anarchy in Rhode Island
• America’s Founding Fathers on Christianity and state
• Søren Kierkegaard on Christendom
• Charles Spurgeon on war: here and here
• Tolstoy and the state
• Dietrich Bonhoeffer and ethics: http://www.plough.com/en/topics/justice/nonviolence/was-bonhoeffer-willing-to-kill
• Jacques Ellul on theology and sociology: here and here
• Shane Claiborne / The New Monastic movement: here and here
• Bob Murphy on Christian anarchists
• C. Jay Engel on anarchism/minarchism in libertarian thought
• Rothbard on anarchism/minarchism

Exegesis, theology, and hermeneutics

• N.T. Wright on hermeneutics (the Bible as a five act play)
• Scot McKnight on the Kingdom of God (book review/synopsis of McKnight’s work)
• Greg Boyd on Christian anarchy and Kingdom politics: here and here
• Jacques Ellul’s “Anarchy & Christianity”
• Vernard Eller’s “Christian Anarchy”
• Walter Wink’s work on ‘powers’ in the New Testament: here and here
• Preston Sprinkle on violence and the Kingdom of God
• Norman Horn on the New Testament theology of the state: Part 1 and Part 2