AMERICA ON TRIAL.

• Author: Slade, Stephanie
• Position: BOOK

In the fifth century A.D., Pope Gelasius declared that Christians have dual citizenship under "two sovereigns," one divine and one temporal, that must not be combined.

In the 11th century, a monk and future bishop argued that people are released from submission to any king who "transgress[es] the contract by virtue of which he is chosen."

In the 12th century, the canonist Gratian wrote that "princes are bound by and shall live according to their laws"--a departure from the previous understanding that royals were above legal formalities.

In the 13th century, St. Dominic asked that his 12 monasteries elect delegates to convene and write the rules that would govern the Dominican order.

In America on Trial, Westminster Institute Director Robert R. Reilly cites each of these examples to show that such concepts as representative democracy, consent of the governed, separation of church and state, and the right to resist tyranny grew out of the fertile soil of classical Christianity. The book is a rejoinder to a cadre of conservative scholars who have called...