M. Stanton Evans, Toward a New Intellectual History

[T]he unnatural separation of traditionalist and libertarian emphases occurs because of the way we have been taught our intellectual history. In the usual construction, it is assumed that the distinctive elements of modern Western society -- scientific progress, democratic government, individual liberty, etc. -- have been achieved by throwing off the religious traditions of the Christian Middle Ages, which are usually depicted as a time of intellectual somnolence, stagnation of commerce and political repression.

That the facts of the case are rather different is something we are beginning to discovery as a number of scholars have set about to reconstruct our intellectual genealogy. I think it can be shown that individual liberty, limited government, representative institutions and the scientific attainments of the West are the products of Biblical theism generally, and of the Christian Middle Ages in particular. To appreciate this perspective, it is necessary to reverse the usual tenets of economic and technological determinism, which hold that material forces somehow dictate political relations, ethical values and religious sentiments. What I am suggesting instead is a theological determinism; which is to say that theology determines metaphysics, which determines political philosophy and institutions, which in turn determine the economic and technological organization of society.

[in "Freedom and Virtue"(George W. Carey ed. 1998) at 91-92.]