On Civil Government

the long version

This volume is a reprint of the most thorough treatise on pacifism and the separation of church and state from the early era (1866-7) of the Stone-Campbell movement. Drawing on the Old and New Testaments as well as the witness of the early church, Lipscomb makes a strong case for the church's non-involvement in civil government (in contrast with the divine government, which is being demonstrated through the church community). This is the third book in the Library of Radical Christian Discipleship, a collection of works by/about movements in church history that were deeply rooted (the English word radical comes from the Latin radix, meaning root) in their commitment to following the self-denying example of Jesus and the early church in embodying the Gospel as contrast communities in the midst of a world held hostage by sin and death.