An Exploration of Secular and Christian Political Thought

Through the evaluation and comparison of Machiavellian, Nietzschean, and Christian political thought, this thesis argues that Christian thinkers effectively meet the challenges posed to them by Modern philosophers. Modern philosophers reject the teaching that ethical principles have a transcendent origin in God and instead believe that morality is merely a matter of human convention. Christian philosophy was once dominant in influencing political thought. Modern thinkers such as Machiavelli and Nietzsche wrote with the express purpose of challenging and replacing Christian thought. The Christian political tradition promotes more noble qualities in leaders than the modern philosophies which proposed to challenge it. Unlike Nietzschean and Machiavellian philosophy, the Christian political tradition comes from a myriad of thinkers. The Christian political thought is here represented by Thomas Aquinas, Desiderius Erasmus, and Richard Hooker. Each political philosophy is evaluated based on the teaching concerning the goal and purpose of political power, the timing and execution of war, and the education of rulers and citizens