Theology in Church and State

The theme of this volume is twofold. First, that the idea of the church and its supernatural life by a new creation is decaying in several of the churches that have been most critical about its relation to the state; whereas it is only a high and distinctive idea of the church that gives us any right or principle regarding that relation. And, second, that a true church is inseparable from a belief in certain doctrines for which men are ready to die—is, indeed, impossible without such belief; and the decay in the church idea, (as distinct from that of a mere association, sympathetic or religious), is due chiefly to the decay of doctrinal interest and conviction. No theology, no church. Forsyth begins this study of church and state with the introductory essay, “A Manifold Church the Organ of a Rich Religion.”