A Short History of Freedom

Common Places

A Short History of Freedom, Brad Littlejohn, 2019 National Convivium 9:00 – Intro and illustration, a modern misconception of freedom 16:05 – Four key questions about freedom 22:00 – A historical overview of the concept of freedom 22:15 – Ancient Greece (quotes Hannah Arendt) 24:30 – Ancient Rome 26:25 – Medieval period 28:35 – Reformation period (quotes Dutch Stranger Churches) 30:00 – English Civil War period 31:30 – Immanuel Kant 33:10 – John Stuart Mill 36:15 – Friedrich Hayek, Isaiah Berlin 46:10 – Anthony Kennedy 46:50 – Freedom as a property of communities 47:00 – Freedom threatened by man’s inner bondage 48:30 – The distinction between power and freedom 51:40 – Oliver O’Donovan 58:10 – The need for a holistic view of liberty 59:35 – Littlejohn’s fourfold holistic view of freedom 1:10:15 – Conclusion: Christian wisdom is to balance the parts of freedom to the whole