Staff Pick
Siedentop argues that the medieval Church, with its focus on individuality, representative government, and moral and economic equality, gave rise to the first recognizably liberal ideology. His claim runs counter to the prevailing theory that liberalism developed in opposition to religion, and provides much food for thought in regards to the modern, contentious relationship of church and state. Inventing the Individual is a challenging book of extraordinary breadth and depth for readers interested in the evolution of the individual from antiquity onward. (Featured Book, "Beyond the Headlines") Recommended By Rhianna W., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
Review
In this learned, subtle, enjoyable and digestible work [Siedentop] has offered back to us a proper version of ourselves. He has explained us to ourselves... [A] magisterial, timeless yet timely work. Kenan Malik - The Independent
Review
A most impressive work of philosophical history. Robert Skidelsky
Review
Like the best books, Inventing the Individual both teaches you something new and makes you want to argue with it. New Republic
Review
It is a magnificent work of intellectual, psychological and spiritual history. It is hard to decide which is more remarkable: the breadth of learning displayed on almost every page, the infectious enthusiasm that suffuses the whole book, the riveting originality of the central argument or the emotional power and force with which it is deployed. Siedentop takes us on a 2,000-year journey that starts with the almost inconceivably remote city states of the ancient world and ends with the Renaissance. In the course of this journey, he explodes many (perhaps even most) of the preconceptions that run through the public culture of our day--and that I took for granted before reading his book. Inventing the Individual is not an exercise in dry-as-dust antiquarianism, still less in pop-historical fun and games. Siedentop's aim has a breathtaking grandeur about it: to persuade us to ask ourselves who we are and where we are going by showing us where we have come from. A challenging epilogue suggests that the answers are not very flattering. David Marquand
Synopsis
Here, in a grand narrative spanning 1,800 years of European history, a distinguished political philosopher firmly rejects Western liberalism's usual account of itself: its emergence in opposition to religion in the early modern era. Larry Siedentop argues instead that liberal thought is, in its underlying assumptions, the offspring of the Church.
About the Author
Larry Siedentop is Emeritus Fellow of Keble College, Oxford.