The Biblical Politics of John Locke
by: Parker, Kim Ian

Hardcover. Ontario CA, Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1st, 2004, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 201 pages. Clean, bright copy. "Parker has produced a clear and well-researched study of an aspect of Locke's thought that theologians may have tended to miss because it is to do with politics, and that political theorists may have tended to overlook because it involves the Bible and theology. For this he is to be congratulated. Theologians today may also learn from the debate between Filmer and Locke the profoundly unsatisfactory character of attempts to resolve contemporary issues, whether in politics, society, or religion, by imaginative and inventive applications of stray texts. In this respect what is past gives a warning to the present. How will current debates citing biblical texts (for example, in debates about the treatment of homosexuals, or about the consecration of women, or about divine intervention and design in creation) be seen in centuries hence? Those who, with Locke, confidently condemn the speck distorting Filmer's religio-political view, must examine whether, what they see is free from distortion by the `learned Gibberish' of inherited prejudices and convictions. It is to Parker's credit that this useful contribution to the history of thought also raises controversial contemporary challenges.''