Page 262 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol IV

religion and government 1563

The Government will regard as its first and foremost duty to revive the spirit
of unity and cooperation in the nation and to preserve and defend its basic
principles of Christianity as the foundation of our national morality, and
the family as the basis of national life. • Adolf Hitler (1889–1945)

Dowley,T. (1990). The history of Christianity. Oxford, UK: Lion. with governments and have been seen as an important
Dumoulin, H. (1963). A history of Zen Buddhism. New York: Pantheon. source of legitimacy of rulers.Various societies through-
Durkheim, E. (1965). The elementary forms of religious life. New York:
Free Press. out history have practiced toleration or acceptance
Earhart, H. B. (Ed.). (1993). Religious traditions of the world. San Fran- of minority faiths, although only rarely based on prin-
cisco: Harper San Francisco.
Eastman, R. (Ed.). (1993). The ways of religion: An introduction to the cipled beliefs in religious freedom. Modern ideas of
major traditions. New York: Oxford. rights to religious freedom and secular governmental
Edwards, D. L. (1997). Christianity:The first two thousand years. Mary- systems are based in a variety of sources, but draw great
knoll, NY: Orbis.
Eliade, M. (Ed.). (1987). The encyclopedia of religion. New York: strength from the Western church-state tradition and the
Macmillan. Enlightenment.
Embree, A. T. (Ed.). (1966). The Hindu tradition. New York: Modern
Library.
Esposito, J. (1998). Islam:The straight path. New York: Oxford. Religion as Source of Law,
Finegan, J. (1952). The archaeology of world religions. Princeton, NJ: Authority, and Moral Values
Princeton University Press.
Frazer, J. G. (1963). Golden bough: A study in magic and religion. Lon- Throughout world history, religious traditions and beliefs
don: Macmillan. have been a direct and indirect source of law and author-
Hastings,A. (Ed.). (1998). A world history of Christianity. Grand Rapids,
MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans. ity. The Babylonian Code of Hammurabi, for example,
Hick, J. (1989). An interpretation of religion: Human responses to the tran- begins with a reference to the gods Anu and Bel, who
scendent. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. called Hammurabi (reigned 1792–1750 BCE) to “bring
Hodgson, M. G. S. (1974). The venture of Islam: Conscience and history
in a world civilization. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. about the rule of righteousness in the land.” The Jewish
Holton, D. C. (1965). The national faith of Japan: A study of modern Law of Moses not only codified religious belief, but also
Shinto. New York: Dutton.
James, E. O. (1960). The ancient gods:The history and diffusion of religion set forth an extensive and elaborate legal system that gov-
in the ancient Near East and the eastern Mediterranean. London: erned all areas of social life. In more recent times, the
Weidenfeld & Nicholson. Bible formed the basis for laws in the early American
Jurji, E. G. (Ed.). (1946). The great religions of the modern world. Prince-
ton, NJ: Princeton University Press. colonies and was used to resolve issues as far-ranging as
Kitagawa, J. M. (1966). Religion in Japanese history. New York: procedural rules, property law, criminal law, and, in gen-
Columbia.
Landis, B.Y. (1957). World religions: A brief guide to the principal beliefs eral, the ideal of the rule of law. Even in modern secular
and teachings of the religions of the world, and to the statistics of organ- societies, religion is still regularly used as the source for
ized religion. New York: Dutton. moral values and arguments for reform. For example,
Rahman, F. (1968). Islam. New York: Doubleday Anchor
Ringgren, H. (1973). Religions of the ancient Near East. London: S.P.C.K. Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968 CE) and
Sachar, A. L. (1965). A history of the Jews. New York: Knopf. Mahatma Gandhi (Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi;
Smart, N. (Ed.). (1999). Atlas of the world’s religions. New York: Oxford.
Zaehner, R. C. (1961). The dawn and twilight of Zoroastrianism. London: 1869–1948 CE) drew extensively on the Christian and
Weidenfeld & Nicholson. Hindu traditions in their calls for social change, and sim-
ilar religious beliefs have informed debates on the aboli-
tion of slavery, care for the poor, abortion, marriage, and
other social and economic issues.
Religion and
Traditional Religious-
Government Governmental Ties

In the ancient world, religion was traditionally inter-
eligion has traditionally served as a source of twined with ruling hierarchies, through either theocracies
Rauthority, law, and moral norms for society, even or divinely ordained rulers. In the Chinese Confucian tra-
in predominantly secular societies.Through most of the dition, for example, emperors were believed to have the
world’s history, religious traditions have had formal ties mandate of heaven. Roman emperors claimed to be