When Christ teaches to “render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, but unto God the things that are God’s” the symmetry is only apparent, as it is for the sake of God that we must comply with the legitimate claims of Caesar. In a sense the distance thus stated is greater than if the claims of Caesar were simply denied. The worldly order is relativized, as subordinated to absolute values. There is an ordered dichotomy…. Life in the world is not simply refused or negated, it is only relativized in relation to man’s union with God.
Louis Dumont, “A modified view of our origins: The Christian beginnings of modern individualism,” Religion 12/1 (January 1982): 1-27, pp. 6, 10. (via nbr)
