Chapter 1

Thomas Jefferson, “Letter to the Danbury Baptists,” Library of Congress Information Bulletin, June 1998, vol. 57, no. 6.

Ron Rhodes, The Complete Guide to Christian Denominations: Understanding the History, Beliefs, and Differences (Eugene, OR.: Harvest House Publishers, 2005).

Glenn Sunshine, Slaying Leviathan: Limited Government and Resistance in the Christian Tradition (Moscow, ID: Canon Press, 2020), 157.

James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay, The Federalist Papers, no. 55, ed. Isaac Kramnick (London: Penguin Books, 1987), 339.

This metaphor is borrowed from New Saint Andrews College, Thirty-Three Theses on Culture Shaping (Moscow, ID: Canon Press, 2021), 3.

The term spheres can be attributed to Abraham Kuyper who loosely describes spheres and circles of life in his Lectures on Calvinism (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1987) and in his 1880 inaugural speech for the Free University of Amsterdam: James D. Bratt, ed., Abraham Kuyper: A Centennial Reader (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1998), 461.Theologian Hans Boersma says that “Kuyper’s theory of sphere sovereignty was primarily directed against the danger of the state as a great monster grabbing power and influence wherever it could. Kuyper saw such a Leviathan, which would take away all freedom from the individual, as the great danger of his time.” Hans Boersma, “Sphere Sovereignty,” Clarion 36, no. 21 (October 23, 1987): 462. Likewise, Glenn Sunshine walks his reader through a historical survey of Christian resistance in his book Slaying Leviathan where he traces the term Leviathan to Thomas Hobbes’s book on political theory by the same title. Hobbes argues “that the king had absolute authority in the kingdom.” Thus, by definition, “a king could not violate laws or deprive people of their rights because all authority had been ceded to him by the people.” Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, (London: Penguin Classics, 2017), 2. Because we Americans are not governed under a monarchy or a dictatorship, we still do possess real control of our government (Sunshine, 174–5). We may not be able to slay the American Leviathan, but we can certainly begin the process of disempowering him. The tools (weapons) ready at our disposal to this end are God’s life-giving Word (sword) and a thorough civic knowledge of all levels of our government. The former equips us spiritually and is appropriated through the triumphant blood of Christ with the ministry of His Holy Spirit. The latter equips us with knowledge and stands as the central missing piece in much Christian civic thought, writing, blogging, and podcasting today. Thus, as a Christian people, we can begin to move from a position characterized by a lack of involvement in government to one characterized by concern for the long game, attendance, observation, and involvement at meetings in session, and commenting when prudent and productive. All of which play a role in eventually redirecting policy by stewards who are found faithful over the government that we have been entrusted to oversee.

This is an excellent short article on the topic: William MacDonald, “Thou Shalt Not Revile the Gods Nor Curse the Ruler of Thy People (Exodus 22:28),” Bible Portal, August 19, 2023.

Francis A. Schaeffer, How Should We Then Live? The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture (Old Tappan, NJ: F. H. Revell Co, 1976), 227.

David R. Berman, Local Government and the States: Autonomy, Politics, and Policy, 2nd. ed. (New York: Routledge, 2020), 12.

David Brian Robertson, The Original Compromise: What the Constitution’s Framers Were Really Thinking (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013).