Questions how the church and state should be related, through an examination of the relationship between divine and political authority.

1. Framing the issues: understanding Polycarp; 2. Yoder's objection to our framing of the issues; 3. The two cities objection to our framing of the issues; 4. Authority; 5. Governance; 6. Authority to govern; 7. Calvin on God, governmental authority, and obedience; 8. What did Paul actually say?; 9. God's governance of humankind; 10. Recap; 11. The political implications of the nature and existence of the Church; 12. Discarding the two rules doctrine; 13. The rights-limited state; 14. Sphere sovereignty and the authority of the state; 15. Revisiting Polycarp; Bibliography; Index.

Nicholas Wolterstorff is Noah Porter Professor Emeritus of Philosophical Theology, Yale University. He is the author of Lament for a Son (1987).