Surveying key ideologies of our era, political scientist David Koyzis offers careful analysis and fair critique of liberalism, conservatism, nationalism, democracy and socialism. He also proposes alternative models that flow out of Christianity's historic engagement with the public square. Preface 7(6) Introduction: Ideology, Religion and Idolatry 13(29) Politics and Ideas 16(1) History and Definitions 17(5) Ideology in Christian Perspective 22(1) Preconditions for the Rise of Ideologies 23(4) Ideology as Religious: Toward a Definition 27(7) The Classification of Ideologies: Left and Right 34(4) Discerning the Spirits in the Ideologies 38(4) Liberalism: The Sovereignty of the Individual 42(30) The Meanings of Liberalism 44(3) The Liberal Creed 47(6) Late Liberalism and the Expansion of the State 53(7) The Right and the Good: Subsidizing Choices 60(5) The Spiritually Vacant State: The Privatization of Ultimate Belief 65(3) Sin and Salvation in Liberalism 68(4) Conservatism: History as Source of Norms 72(25) Babies and Bathwater: The Conservative Creed 75(4) The Grass Is Greener on Our Side 79(3) Which Traditions and When? 82(8) Conservatism and Christianity 90(4) Conservatism and the State 94(3) Nationalism: The Nation Deified 97(27) A Creed for a Century 103(5) Civic and Ethnic Nationalisms: State Versus Tribe 108(5) The Nationalist View of the State 113(3) Patriotic Loyalty: A Modest Devotion 116(3) Christians and Nationalism 119(5) Democracy: Vox Populi Vox Dei 124(28) Structure and Creed 124(5) From Liberalism to Democracy 129(3) The Majoritarian and Totalitarian Temptations 132(6) Democratization Without Limits 138(5) Creed and Structure Revisited: Direct Versus Representative Democracy 143(2) Representation: Followership or Leadership? 145(4) Democracy and Justice: A Final Assessment 149(3) Socialism: Common Ownership as Salvific 152(30) A World of Socialisms 153(3) A Transformative Vision 156(3) From Democracy to Socialism 159(4) Common Ownership and Socialist Ideology 163(5) Means and Ends: Equality and How to Get There 168(3) The Marxian Vision and Marxism 171(6) Fair Distribution of Economic Resources 177(5) Transcending the Ideologies: Affirming Societal Pluriformity 182(33) A Biblical Christian Response 186(3) A Christian Worldview: Creation, Fall and Redemption 189(5) Creation Order: Misconceptions Dispelled 194(7) Discerning the Spirits: Pluralisms and Pluriformity 201(14) Toward A Nonideological Alternative: Two Historic Christian Approaches 215(29) The Role of Catholic Social Teachings 215(3) The Principle of Subsidiarity: Affirming Civil Society 218(5) The Reformation: Calvin and Althusius 223(1) Developments in the Netherlands: Groen and Kuyper 224(5) Sovereignty in Its Own Sphere: A Nonhierarchical Affirmation of Civil Society 229(5) Dooyeweerd's Contribution 234(10) The State and Its Task: Doing Justice in God's World 244(21) Justice and Differentiated Responsibility 252(8) Justice and the State 260(5) Epilogue: Toward the Future 265(3) Selected Bibliography 268(10) Index 278