The Christian Origins of Individuality

Sir Isaiah Berlin made a career out of writing variations on one big theme, in the form of short essays, long essays, and his celebrated public lectures. This is fine: if it is a good theme, and its influence is widely felt, then all the conditions for a successful academic career seem to have been fulfilled. “Two Concepts of Liberty”, the most important of Berlin’s essays, popularised the distinction between “positive” and “negative” liberty, which was so dear to political thought in the Cold War era. At risk of serious oversimplification, this established the dualism between rights to things and freedom from things. Berlin clearly had more sympathy for negative liberty, while positive liberty became associated with Jacobins, Bolsheviks, and all others who had enough confidence in their own rectitude to kill in the name of freedom. As the…