The Politics of Theological Anthropology: Political Naturalism, Creation, and the Imago Dei

‘Political naturalism’ is the claim that human beings are naturally political and social creatures. This concept goes back to Plato and is particularly associated with Aristotle.

The rise of social contract theory, however, dispensed with political naturalism and claimed that political community is an invention of human beings.

This paper argues that political naturalism is a position that should be adopted in theological anthropology. After canvassing arguments of political naturalism and social contract theory, the paper critiques the arguments for political naturalism.

Ultimately, it is argued, political naturalism can be derived from the doctrine of creation as well as the nature of God and its connection to the doctrine of the imago Dei.

The full-text of the paper is available for FREE by clicking here. The paper is part of an ongoing EPS web project focused on a Philosophy of Theological Anthropology.