Religious Liberty and the Common Good: A Debate Between Jonathan Leeman and Brad Littlejohn

Common Places

A debate between Jonathan Leeman and Brad Littlejohn on "Religious Liberty and the Common Good," hosted by Colorado Christian University (www.ccu.edu). Christianity in America faces dire threats from two directions. On the one hand, unfriendly government bureaucrats and downright hostile woke activists are tightening the screws on Christians’ freedom of worship, expression, and conscience. At the same time, churches themselves are not immune to the profound crisis of authority that has engulfed our public life, and the reflexive “me and my rights” individualism that has undermined the very concept of institutional norms and the common good. How can we stand up for authentic religious liberty in an age of license and moral chaos? And on what basis should we advocate in the public square for policies that protect the church? Different Protestant traditions have offered sharply different understandings of the relationship between individual conscience, the institutional church, and the responsibility of civil government. Jonathan Leeman is the editorial director for 9Marks. After doing undergraduate and graduate degrees in political science, Jonathan began his career in journalism where he worked as an editor for an international economics magazine in Washington, D.C. Since his call to ministry, Jonathan has earned a master of divinity and a Ph.D. in theology and worked as an interim pastor. Today he edits the 9Marks series of books as well as the 9Marks Journal and is the co-host of Pastors Talk. He has written for a number of publications and is the author or editor of a number of books. Jonathan lives with his wife and four daughters in a suburb of Washington, DC and serves as an elder at Cheverly Baptist Church. He teaches adjunctively at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and the Reformed Theological Seminary. You can follow him on Twitter at @JonathanLeeman. Dr. Bradford Littlejohn (Ph.D., University of Edinburgh) is the Founder and President of the Davenant Institute. He also works as a Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center and has taught for several institutions, including Moody Bible Institute-Spokane, Bethlehem College and Seminary, and Patrick Henry College. He is recognized as a leading scholar of the English theologian Richard Hooker and Has published and lectured extensively in the fields of Reformation history, Christian ethics, and political theology. He lives in Landrum, SC with his wife, Rachel, and four children. Follow him on Twitter at @WBLITTLEJOHN