Fernǹdez-Santamar̕a uses the intellectual history of sixteenth and seventeenth century Spain as a case study to examine the relationship of church to state. In this time and place, basic questions about authority, both moral and political, were literally being fought on the streets and in the palaces as well as being debated in the universities. Fernǹdez-Santamar̕a examines the first of these questions, whether the state was founded on natural law, through the thought of de Soto and Sùrez. He follows by examining the case for limited monarchy through the work of de Castrillo, Las Casas and de Guevara. In his examination of the true Christian reason of state he describes the work of de Barrientos and de Ribadeneyra, and delineates his case against Machiavelli. Finally, Fernǹdez-Santamar̕a shows how war was justified by the secular as an instrument of policy. Annotation 2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
