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Inventing the Individual
Inventing the Individual
Jan 10, 2025 7:45 AM

Author:Larry Siedentop

Inventing the Individual

The new book from Larry Siedentop, acclaimed author of Democracy in Europe, Inventing the Individual is a highly original rethinking of how our moral beliefs were formed and their impact on western society today

'Magisterial, timeless, beautifully written ... Siedentop has achieved something quite extraordinary. He has explained us to ourselves' Spectator

This ambitious and stimulating book describes how a moral revolution in the first centuries AD - the discovery of human freedom and its universal potential - led to a social revolution in the west. The invention of a new, equal social role, the individual, gradually displaced the claims of family, tribe and caste as the basis of social organisation. Larry Siedentop asks us to rethink the evolution of the ideas on which modern societies and government are built, and argues that the core of what is now our system of beliefs emerged much earlier than we think. The roots of liberalism - belief in individual liberty, in the fundamental moral equality of individuals, that equality should be the basis of a legal system and that only a representative form of government is fitting for such a society - all these, Siedentop argues, were pioneered by Christian thinkers of the Middle Ages, who drew on the moral revolution carried out by the early church. It was the arguments of canon lawyers, theologians and philosophers from the eleventh to the fourteenth century, rather than the Renaissance, that laid the foundation for liberal democracy.

There are large parts of the world where other beliefs flourish - fundamentalist Islam, which denies the equality of women and is often ambiguous about individual rights and representative institutions; quasi-capitalist China, where a form of utilitarianism enshrines state interests even at the expense of justice and liberty. Such beliefs may foster populist forms of democracy. But they are not liberal. In the face of these challenges, Siedentop urges that understanding the origins of our own liberal ideas is more than ever an important part of knowing who we are.

LARRY SIEDENTOP was appointed to the first post in intellectual history ever established in Britain, at Sussex University in the 1970's. From there he moved to Oxford, becoming Faculty Lecturer in Political Thought and a Fellow of Keble College. His writings include a study of Tocqueville, an edition of Guizot's History of Civilization in Europe, and Democracy in Europe, which has been translated into a dozen languages. Siedentop was made CBE in 2004.

PRAISE FOR THE BOOK

'One of the most stimulating books of political theory to have appeared in many years ... a refreshingly unorthodox account of the roots of modern liberalism in medieval Christian thinking' John Gray, Literary Review

'A brave, brilliant and beautifully written defence of the western tradition' Paul Lay, History Today

'An engrossing book of ideas ... illuminating, beautifully written and rigorously argued' Kenan Malik, Independent

'A most impressive work of philosophical history' Robert Skidelsky

Reviews

Magisterial, timeless, beautifully written ... Siedentop has achieved something quite extraordinary. He has explained us to ourselves

—— Spectator

One of the most stimulating books of political theory to have appeared in many years ... a refreshingly unorthodox account of the roots of modern liberalism in medieval Christian thinking

—— John Gray , Literary Review

A brave, brilliant and beautifully written defence of the western tradition

—— Paul Lay , History Today

Thoroughly interesting and fundamentally convincing ... admirably nuanced ... formidable ... Inventing the Individual is written with effortless lucidity

—— Jeffrey Collins , TLS

An engrossing book of ideas ... illuminating, beautifully written and rigorously argued

—— Kenan Malik , Independent

A most impressive work of philosophical history

—— Robert Skidelsky

Cruickshank’s history laments the City’s encroachment on Spitalfields and the attendant growth there of estate agents, internet companies, fashion outlets and beardy hipster capitalists bent on having their slice of East End exotica.

—— Best Books About London , Evening Standard

A delight to read . . . Teaches one how to use one's eyes more intelligently.

—— Jean Seaton, Chair of Judges, PEN Hessell-Tiltman History Prize

Particularly interesting is the story of Elder Street viewed through architectural sources, taxes and censuses. It acts as a microcosm showing the changes Britain faced over the centuries.

—— Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine

This is an elegy to a place changing beyond recognition . . . Cruickshank is an appealing, sympathetic writer.

—— The Times

For history lovers, this is an excellent read . . . Cruickshank's meticulous research is breathtaking.

—— Historical Novel Society

[Spitalfields'] raffish vitality is derived from the area's long history of embracing immigrants . . . Cruickshank warns that the greatest threat to Spitalfields comes from the ever-encroaching march of tower blocks.

—— Must Reads , Daily Mail

French Protestants in the 17th century, Irish journeymen in the 18th, Russian Jews in the 19th, Bengalis in the 20th and international hipsters in the 21st have settled in Spitalfields, an area either side of London's Commercial Street that must be, square metre for square metre, among the most migrated-to places in the world. It is so dense with stories that Dan Cruickshank's 750-page history of this 'handful of streets', published last year, feels too short.

—— Janan Ganesh , Financial Times

Roper…has an extraordinary talent for making complex theological issues not just clear but entertaining.

—— Gerrard DeGroot , The Times

Beautifully written… Among the most interesting, provocative and original biographies of Luther to appear in recent years… This unfailingly inventive and compelling account is a welcome gust of fresh air… Anyone seriously interested in one of the most influential figures of the last half-millennium will need to make time to read this one.

—— Peter Marshall , Literary Review

[It is] fresh and captivating… A closely focused and compellingly intimate study of Luther’s perceptions.

—— Alexandra Shephard , History Today, Book of the Year

[A] rewarding biography… Roper brings him alive as a very human figure.

—— Dominic Sandbrook , Sunday Times, Book of the Year

This is the book about Luther we’ve missed among all the holy books and the case studies: the whole engrossing story of a soul and a mind and the man who broke the old world and its old ways for ever. Lyndal Roper brings alive the struggle for ideas, adds a subtle sense of how human beings work, and distils a lifetime of scholarship to conjure Luther’s own world with its princes, demons, scandals and sheer brave defiance of a whole old order

—— Michael Pye, author of The Edge of the World

Compelling and above all deeply honest biography.

—— David Crane , Spectator

This book will continue to bring the reformer and his theology to life for generations to come.

—— Bridget Heal , History Today, Book of the Year

[An] excellent study.

—— Jonathan Wright , BBC History Magazine

*****

—— Christopher Howse , Sunday Telegraph

Roper’s Luther is an angry man: a renegade and a rebel… [She] paints a vivid picture of the political and economic context in Mansfeld, where Luther grew up, and of the situation of Wittenberg and its political governance. There are important findings here, particularly relating to Luther’s early life

—— Charlotte Methuen , The Times Literary Supplement

Roper writes with the virtuosity of an unsurpassed archival researcher, the grace of an elegant stylist, and the compassion of a seasoned student of human nature. Her nuanced and insightful portrait brilliantly evokes the inner and outer worlds of the man Luther. The book is a complete triumph.

—— Joel F. Harrington, author of The Faithful Executioner

Magnificent and surely definitive – a work of immense scholarship, acute psychological insight and gloriously fluent prose. Lyndal Roper has got under the skin of her subject and the result is thrilling.

—— Jessie Childs, author of Henry VIII’s Last Victim and God’s Traitors

Roper’s scholarly strengths plus 10 years of careful research have yielded a richly contextualised biography of a man whose influence has been and remains enormous, for good or ill or both.

—— Brad Gregory , Tablet

This is a helpful and insightful examination of Luther’s attitudes and relationships… Highly recommended.

—— Martin Wellings , Methodist Recorder

Roper portrays a deeply flawed but fascinating human being to rival any of the major personalities of Tudor England.

—— Caroline Sanderson , Bookseller

I heartily commend Martin Luther… It is simply the best English-language biography of Luther I’ve read and I’d be amazed if its combination of rigorous scholarship and approachable tone is bettered.

—— Francis Philips , Catholic Herald, Book of the Year

[A] superb new biography… A challenging and deeply stimulating study of a major historical figure.

—— Elaine Fulton , History Today

The work of a brilliant scholar, who had devoted years of research to the project, and it repays careful reading… There are rich treasures in the book, without a bout. Roper has a great gift for narrative… Roper’s exploration of the cultural and social world of the Saxon miners is masterly… Fascinating.

—— Euan Cameron , Church Times

A probing psychological account.

—— Very Rev. Professor Iain Torrence , Herald Scotland
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