Tocqueville, Jansenism, and the Necessity of the Political in a Democratic Age : Building a Republic for the Moderns, Hardcover by Selby, David A., ISBN 9089646051, ISBN-13 9789089646057, Brand New, Free shipping in the US

Before being declared heretical in 1713, Jansenism was a Catholic movement focused on such central issues as original sin and predestination. In this engaging book, David Selby explores how the Jansenist tradition shaped Alexis de Tocqueville’s life and works and argues that once that connection is understood, we can apply Tocqueville’s political thought in new and surprising ways. Moving from the historical sociology of Jansenism in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century France to contemporary debates over the human right to education, the role of religion in democracy, and the nature of political freedom, Selby brings Tocqueville out of the past and makes him relevant to the present, revealing that there is still much to learn from this great theorist of democracy. This interdisciplinary work is not only the first book-length investigation of the influence of French Catholic Jansenism on Alexis de Tocqueville’s life and works, but is also a fresh new look at how Tocqueville’s political thought can be a guide for navigating twenty-first century political life.