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Religion and liberty are often thought to be mutual enemies: if religion has a natural ally, it is authoritarianism--not republicanism or democracy. But in this book, Maurizio Viroli, a leading historian of republican political thought, challenges this conventional wisdom. He argues that political emancipation and the defense of political liberty have always required the self-sacrifice of people with religious sentiments and a religious devotion to liberty. This is particularly the case when liberty is threatened by authoritarianism: the staunchest defenders of liberty are those who feel a deeply religious commitment to it.
Viroli makes his case by reconstructing, for the first time, the history of the Italian "religion of liberty," covering its entire span but focusing on three key examples of political emancipation: the free republics of the late Middle Ages, the Risorgimento of the nineteenth century, and the antifascist Resistenza of the twentieth century. In each example, Viroli shows, a religious spirit that regarded moral and political liberty as the highest goods of human life was fundamental to establishing and preserving liberty. He also shows that when this religious sentiment has been corrupted or suffocated, Italians have lost their liberty.
This book makes a powerful and provocative contribution to today's debates about the compatibility of religion and republicanism.
"Religion and liberty, each often considered the main enemy of the other, stand together in Maurizio Viroli's thoughtful and daring book. Writing with his usual convincing charm, Viroli studies three highlights of Italian republicanism and finds a common clue to their fame in the formula 'as if God existed.' A must for lovers of Machiavelli—and Italy."—Harvey C. Mansfield, author of Machiavelli's Virtue
[T]he book is a very welcome addition to ongoing debates and will remind readers of a strand of Italian history deserving of attention.---Ted H. Miller, Perspectives on Politics
As if God Existed: Religion and Liberty in the History of Italy offers an engaging, yet meticulous and profound, analysis of the role religion has played in the intellectual, moral and political history of Italy.---Benedetto Fontana, European History Quarterly
In this thought-provoking book, Viroli contends that religion and liberty are not incompatible.
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