引论鸟瞰西方与其它文明在政治-宗教上的相似与不同。
p.4 … It is that we are separated from our own long theological tradition of political thought by a revolution in Western thinking that began roughly four centuries ago.
人类社会的轴心是 God, Man & World (pp.18-23) 。这对现在知道的所有文明都适合。特别是：p.21 …theological image in which God, man, and world form an indissoluble divine nexus. 政体的构成和合法性过去都是由政治神学（political theology）决定。四百年前英国哲学家霍布斯先提出绕过政治神学而从政治哲学（political philosophy）确定政治体制和合法性。现代西方是由 political philosophy 取代 political theology 。Lilla 称这 Great Separation。
注释：中国的相似。参考：
1) Christopher Partridge (Editor) “Introduction to World Religions,” 3 ed. Fortress Press, 2018.
2) Ninian Smart, “The World’s Religions”, 2nd Ed. Cambridge University Press, 1998.
3) Jeananne Fowler, Merv Fowler, “Chinese Religions: Beliefs & Practices,” Sussex Academic Press, 2008.
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pp.67-8 explanations of religion. 宗教（religion）如何起源的？或者说为什么会有宗教？
Aristotle: suggested religion was born of wonder then through myth.
Epicureans: religion arose from ignorance and fear of suffering.
Euhemerists: many nations turn their heros into gods.
Stoics: the genial theory that a magnanimous force (spermatikos logos) plants divine seeds in all human souls that blossom into roughly similar moral and religious ideas in all nations.
卢梭: … …
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宗教在人类文明发展上的关键作用。
pp.219-220 When we cast our eyes over human history, we see that every civilization known to us has been founded on religion, not on philosophy. In healthy societies, religion has helped to forge the social bond and encouraged sacrifice for the good.
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英美与欧洲大陆哲学界的分道扬镳 (the rift between Anglo-American and continental European)
p.113 It is no exaggeration to say that, together, Rousseau and Kant, caused the major rift between Anglo-American and continental European approaches to modern political thought, and therefore to thinking about the theological-political problems that had beset Western Christendom for a millennum and a half. We still live with the consequences of that rift today.
从哲学思想看，我们（指西方）是霍布斯的后代和卢梭的后代 （pp. 217-221. Children of Hobbes and Children of Rousseau）
p.218 (liberal ideas) Instead, in the two centuries after his death a concensus began to grow around ideas of religious diversity, freedom of conscience, toleration, limited government, and separation of powers — liberal ideas, as they would later be called.
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p.308. (结论) … Time and again we must remind ourselves that we are living an experiment, that we are the exceptions. We have little reason to expect other civilizations to follow our unusual path, which was opened up by a unique theological-political crisis within Christendom. This does not mean that other civilizations necessarily lack the resources for creating a workable political order; it does mean that they will have to find the theological resources within their traditions to make that happen. Our challenge is different. We have made a choice that is at once simpler and harder: … （与引论对比）
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