The Primacy of the Spiritual: On the Things That Are Not Caesar’s

The Primacy of the Spiritual is a study of the problem of power in its two fundamental forms: the temporal and the spiritual. Approaching his subject with an intensely illuminating insight and utterance, Jacques Maritain sets forth the relation between politics and doctrine, elaborating the objective preeminence of the spiritual and demonstrating the essential principles of civilization, the providential identity and mission of the Church, and the responsibility of the Christian within secular society.Originally published in English as The Things That Are Not Caesar’s, amid the aftermath of the Action Française scandal, The Primacy of the Spiritual has proven eminently superior to time and circumstance in its explication of the relationship between the spiritual and temporal orders—a relationship which dwells restlessly at the heart of culture. Read more