Dominion and Common Grace

How does spiritual progress translate into social progress in an imperfect world?

Progress in the West has been entirely the product of the dominance of Christianity not only as the society’s religion, but also as the society’s practical world­view. Whenever that progress has lost pace, it has been entirely because of apostasy from the principles of the Christian worldview. Such concept is quite natural for a postmillennialist, but it’s incomprehensible for the other eschatological traditions. The main objection always is: Does your progress require that all people become believers? If not, how is this social progress going to be achieved, if not everyone is a Christian and not everyone follows the principles of the Bible?

The Bible’s answer is a concept that theologians call “common grace,” known to and defined by Protestant theologians since the Reformation itself. In Dominion and Common Grace, Dr. Gary North defines this common grace—and more than that, explains how it develops throughout history, how it is affected by special (salvific) grace, and how it affects the progress of mankind. Without understanding common grace, no thinker can develop any kind of meaningful social theory in any area of scholarship.

232 pages with Scripture index, paperback.