Inventing the individual The origins of Western liberalism

Siedentop's thesis is that Christianity decisively shaped the cluster of liberal values considered modern--individualism, natural rights, secularism, civil society, and so forth. The biblical belief in the equality of souls "changed the ground of human identity" and yielded a set of moral intuitions that over the rough path of history gradually became the seedbed of modernity. Siedentop (emer., Keble College, Oxford) follows this path in great detail from early Christianity through the contributions of monastic reformers, canon lawyers, and philosophers such as Abelard, William of Ockham, and Thomas Aquinas. One of this erudite and engagingly written book's strengths is its clarification of these sources of modernity. But readers should note that modern alienation and intolerance also have Christian origins. Siedentop does not discuss this darker side of history. One can agree that Christianity sowed the "seeds" of modernity; however, these seeds could not come to fruition, due largely to papal absolutism, until after the liberating influence of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. Also to note is that the "equality of souls" argument is not as strong as Siedentop seems to think. Many were less equal than others. Heretics and sinners, Jews and Muslims, and large populations of pagans were excluded. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-level undergraduates and above. --Bernard G. Murchland, Ohio Wesleyan University