A Critical Analysis of Filmer's and Locke's use of Genesis in the Development of their Political Philosophies

Abstract

<p>The political philosophy of John Locke is well known to those who are familar with the foundations of modern liberal democracy. What is perhaps less familar is the biblical base to Locke's political teaching and his scriptural argument with Sir Robert Filmer. Indeed, Locke's use of the Bible in the development of his political philosophy has been strangely ignored by both biblical and political scholars.</p> <p>Thus, this thesis is an attempt to articulate the political philsophy of Filmer and Locke from their explicit use of Scripture. It in turn focuses on the question of whether two disparate political teachings (i.e., the divine right of kings and liberal democracy), which are overtly based on the same three biblical verses, can be substantiated on the basis of what the text actually says at a particular point. The net result of this investigation will be to demonstrate a relationship between political teachings and religious texts.</p>