Machiavelli’s Gospel: The Critique of Christianity in ’The Prince’

288 Pages·2016·4.863 MB·English

by  William B. Parsons

M a c h i a v e l l i ’ s
G o s p e l
T h e C r iTi q u e o f C h r i sTi a n iTy
i n T h e P r i n c e
W i l l i a m B . Pa r s o n s
MACHIAVELLI’S GOSPEL
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MACHIAVELLI’S GOSPEL
The Critique of Christianity in The Prince
William B. Parsons
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Copyright © 2016 by William B. Parsons
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation, no
part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system,
published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast, transmitted,
recorded, or reproduced in any form or by any means, without the
prior permission of the copyright owner.
First published 2016
University of Rochester Press
668 Mt. Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620, USA
www.urpress.com
and Boydell & Brewer Limited
PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF, UK
www.boydellandbrewer.com
ISBN-13: 978-1-58046-491-8
Parts of chapter 3 were published in “‘La Carità Propria’ and the Uncertain Foun-
dations of Unarmed Principalities,” in In Search of Humanity: Essays in Honor of
Clifford Orwin, edited by Andrea Radasanu (Lanham, MA: Rowman & Littlefield,
2015), 165–76, and are reprinted with permission.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Parsons, William B., 1976– author.
Title: Machiavelli’s gospel : the critique of Christianity in The prince / William B.
Parsons.
Description: Rochester, NY : University of Rochester Press, 2016. | Includes biblio-
graphical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016004045 | ISBN 9781580464918 (hardcover : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Machiavelli, Niccolò, 1469–1527. Principe. | Christianity and
politics. | Jesus Christ—In literature.
Classification: LCC JC143.M3946 P37 2016 | DDC 322/.101—dc23 LC record
available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016004045
A catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
This publication is printed on acid-free paper.
Printed in the United States of America.
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For Heather, with whom all things appear truly possible
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No one . . . should be terrified that he cannot carry out what has been carried
out by others, for . . . men are born, live, and die always in one and the same
order.
—Discourses I.11.5
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: Christianity, Christ, and
Machiavelli’s The Prince 1
1 Christianity’s Siren Song 14
2 Christ’s Defective Political Foundations 41
3 Hope Is Not Enough 61
4 The Prince of War 84
5 Machiavelli’s Unchristian Virtue 106
6 Christ’s Ruinous Political Legacy 127
7 The Harrowing Redemption of Italy 157
Conclusion: Machiavelli’s Gospel 179
Notes 187
Works Cited 263
Index 271
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Many people helped me complete this book. First among these is my wife,
Heather Barnes. Without her, I would not have an academic career. More-
over, she patiently indulged my penchant for writing in the early mornings
and much of the weekends these last five years. Second is my editor, Ryan
Peterson, who knew this was a book before I did, and generously loaned
maximum support and his keen critical eye. I would not have been in a
position to write a book on Machiavelli without the outstanding instruction
of Michael Palmer and Clifford Orwin, both of whom are also superior
Machiavelli scholars. Their lectures and scholarship, which attend closely
to Machiavelli’s problematic relationship to Christianity, were the true
starting point for my inquiry. I am also grateful to the broad community of
Machiavelli scholars who have welcomed me into their ranks, despite my
astonishing lack of credentials: chief among these are Vickie B. Sullivan,
Nathan Tarcov, and Erica Benner, each of whom generously reviewed por-
tions of this work. I thank Alexander Duff and Lorraine Smith Pangle for
encouraging my early attempts to examine this subject. I am also grateful
to Diego Von Vacano, Thomas L. Pangle, and Guillaume Bogiaris for facili-
tating my attendance at a Machiavelli workshop at Texas A&M University in
February 2014. Many others have reviewed portions of the book: I hope I
have profited adequately from the suggestions of Alexandra Hoerl, Benja-
min Mitchell, Paul Ulrich, Steven Kelts, Erik Pratt, Jeffrey Metzger, Alexan-
der Orwin, George Crowder, and several anonymous reviewers—including
especially the reviewers obtained by the University of Rochester Press. Like
most who study Machiavelli, I am indebted to the translations by Harvey C.
Mansfield and Nathan Tarcov, who also accomplish herculean interpre-
tive work in their revealing footnotes. Several individuals at my institution
helped me: the staff of the Office of the Vice President of Academic Affairs,
especially Paula McNutt; Vicki Kirk; Heather Navratil and Kathy Martin at
the Corette Library; the Faculty Development Committee; and the mem-
bers of the Department of Political Science and International Relations
supported me in every possible way. Brian Matz and Gerardo Rodriguez
charitably fielded my naive questions about the Bible and Christian his-
tory. Elvira Roncalli graciously intervened to resolve my most trouble-
some confusions about Machiavelli’s Italian; Donald Jacques displayed his
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