God and Government in an 'Age of Reason'

Taylor & Francis

Nicholls sheds new light on the relationship between religion and politics in the 18th century. `A major piece of modern scholarship, very much in tune with revised modern concerns about religion and politics.' - Bernard Crick, London University > \nIn this companion volume to Deity and Domination, David Nicholls broadens his examination of the relationship between religion and politics. Focusing on the images and concepts of God and the state predominant in eighteenth-century discourse, he shows how these were interrelated and reflect the language of the wider cultural contexts.\n\n Nicholls argues that the way a community pictures God will inevitably reflect (and also affect) its general understanding of authority, whether it be in state, in family or in other social institutions. Much language about God, for example, has a primarily political reference: in psalms, hymns and sermons God is called king, judge, lord, ruler and to him are ascribed might, majesty, dominion, power an7