Churches in the Modern State (Key Texts - Classic Studies in the History of Ideas)

This work provides an examination of the Pluralist movement in English political thought at the beginning of the 20th century. An attack upon "the Leviathan State" in favour of small, voluntary groups, the book expresses a concern for freedom in the face of the state's growing powers. Its claim is that personal identity is forged, not in isolation nor in an all-powerful state, but in a myriad of spontaneous associations whose activities the state simply exists to harmonize. While rooted in the events prior to World War I, this book attempts to challenge Individualist and Collectivist political theories alike.