Robert Bellarmine's De Laicis, written in the late 16th century, is one of the most influential treatises on the nature and origin of civil government. During the Protestant Reformation and for a century after, many questions were posed about the legitimacy and authority of civil governments:
What is the nature of the state?
Where does political and religious authority originate?
What is the morality of an oath?
Does the Pope have direct or indirect political power?
May citizens rightfully rebel against their ruler?
May a Christian be a soldier?
Does a Christian of one faith need to obey the laws of a ruler of a different faith? Can there ever be a just war?
Are there moral rules in waging warfare?
These serious issues struck at the very heart of 16th and 17th Century European society. Bellarmine set out to answer many of these questions as part of his major 1586 work, Disputations and Controversies. His deeply-researched and authoritative writings in an easy, detailed, and logically-structured style, made him famous among Catholic scholars and respected by Protestant scholars.
This edition includes:
Table of Contents - linked
Foreword
Biography
Annotations - chapter by chapter.
Almost every assertion in this work is supported by Bellarmine's own references.
In part of this treatise, Bellarmine argues against the theory of the Divine Right of Kings. He argues that political power is in the multitude of people and given to rulers for the common good of all.
Many modern commentators see in De Laicis the first arguments for political democracy and international law.
Robert Bellarmine, 1542-1621, a Jesuit and Cardinal of the Catholic Church, was canonised in 1930.
What is the nature of the state?
Where does political and religious authority originate?
What is the morality of an oath?
Does the Pope have direct or indirect political power?
May citizens rightfully rebel against their ruler?
May a Christian be a soldier?
Does a Christian of one faith need to obey the laws of a ruler of a different faith? Can there ever be a just war?
Are there moral rules in waging warfare?
These serious issues struck at the very heart of 16th and 17th Century European society. Bellarmine set out to answer many of these questions as part of his major 1586 work, Disputations and Controversies. His deeply-researched and authoritative writings in an easy, detailed, and logically-structured style, made him famous among Catholic scholars and respected by Protestant scholars.
This edition includes:
Table of Contents - linked
Foreword
Biography
Annotations - chapter by chapter.
Almost every assertion in this work is supported by Bellarmine's own references.
In part of this treatise, Bellarmine argues against the theory of the Divine Right of Kings. He argues that political power is in the multitude of people and given to rulers for the common good of all.
Many modern commentators see in De Laicis the first arguments for political democracy and international law.
Robert Bellarmine, 1542-1621, a Jesuit and Cardinal of the Catholic Church, was canonised in 1930.
