Modern Equality
Through the eyes of a modernist great emphasis is placed on the individual. The freedom and progress of the individual are two very important factors of this perspective and the rationale in which the individual goes about obtaining these factors. This rationale being one of tolerance to the individuals thought and opinions which may challenge tradition but acknowledging that it may be truth as long as it is made valid by facts obtained through the scientific method. This essay will explore the modern perspective of equality and the way in which we came to know it today.Immediately prior to the Protestant Reformation, the beginning point for most theologies of government was that the Christian citizen was obligated to submit to the civil ruler. Even moral corruption or incompetence alone were hardly sufficient reasons to revolt against the ruler. Government was viewed as established by divine providence. The early sixteenth century consensus held the following: "Government per se is divinely ordained by God in the Scriptures; bad rulers were sent by God to chastise the nation for their sins; rebellion causes more harm to innocents than to the guilty." (1)William Tyndale stated: "God hath made the king in ever
The Reformation created a confessional landscape in which a ruler of one faith often confronted a sizeable number of his subjects who espoused another faith. At a time when toleration was seldom thought of and almost never practiced, such monarchs would typically try to impose a uniformity of belief, giving nonconformists a painful choice between conscience and crown. Medieval sources contained precedents for rebellion, but Protestants became especially animated in their search for theological foundations for more democratic expressions. (3) Karl Holl summarized the major effects of Reformation thought as: "on the one hand, a deepening of the theory of the state; on the other, a definite limitations of its powers." (4) 7. "had a Liberty...and were upon equal terms of force to maintain it."- J. Locke, The Second Treatise of Government. In J. Locke, Two Treatises of Government, edited by P. Laslett, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,1988, pp137 1. Keith L. Griffin, Revolution and Religion: American Revolutionary War and the Reformed Clergy (New York: Paragon House, 1994), p. 3. A more contemporary modernists such as Ayn Rand would agree with Locke in such terms as, "the source of man's rights is not divine law or congressional law, but the law of identity. A is A--and Man is Man. Rights are conditions of existence required by man's nature for his proper survival. If man is to live on earth, it is right for him to use his mind, his right to act on his own free judgment, it is right to work for his values and to keep the product of his work. If life on earth is his purpose, he has a right to live as a rational being: nature forbids him the irrational. Any groups, any gang, any nation that attempts to negate man's rights, is wrong which means: is evil, which means: is anti-life." (9). Today, our modern society tries to find ways, through science and technology, in which we can combat nature. 5. J. Locke, The First Treatise, in: Two Treatises of Government, ed.cit., 67
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Approximate Word count = 1599
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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