Transcript for interview with Maurizio Viroli on Machiavelli's Christianity

A Masterclass on Machiavelli’s Unorthodox Christianity | Maurizio Viroli

0. Introduction

Johnathan Bi: A true Christian is ready to lie, massacre innocents, and break their word to protect his fatherland. The primary teachings of Jesus are not about eternal salvation, or confession, or purity, but patriotism, liberty, and this worldly action. This is Machiavelli’s interpretation of Christianity, and my guest today is one of the greatest living Machiavelli scholars, Princeton’s Maurizio Viroli. Professor Viroli is going to show us why Machiavelli’s this-worldly Christianity is not an anomaly, but the dominant form of Christianity in his time. Even more interesting, it is precisely Machiavelli’s Christianity that laid the foundations of the great republican movements of modernity, including the founding of America. Now if you find yourself turned off by the brutality, by the ruthlessness of Machiavelli, then I strongly urge you to watch until the end, where Professor Viroli tells us about who he was actually like as a person. Principled, compassionate, and ev…