The Immortal Commonwealth: Covenant, Community, and Political Resistance in Early Reformed Thought PDF
Preview The Immortal Commonwealth: Covenant, Community, and Political Resistance in Early Reformed Thought
the immortal commonwealth Inthemidstofintensereligiousconflictinthelate-sixteenthandearly-seventeenth century,theologicalandpoliticalconceptsconvergedinremarkableways.Incited bytheslaughterofFrenchProtestantsintheSaintBartholomew’sDayMassacre, Reformed theologians and lawyers began to marshal arguments for political resistance. These theological arguments were grounded in uniquely religious conceptions of the covenant, community, and popular sovereignty. While other worksofhistoricalscholarshiphavefocusedonthepoliticalandlegalsourcesof this strain of early modern resistance literature, The Immortal Commonwealth examines the frequently overlooked theological sources of these writings. It reveals how Reformed thinkers such as Heinrich Bullinger, John Calvin, TheodoreBeza,andJohannesAlthusiususedtraditionaltheologicalconceptions ofcovenantandcommunityforsurprisinglyradicalpoliticalends. David P. Henreckson is Assistant Professor of Theology at Dordt College, and servesasDirectoroftheAndreasCenterforReformedScholarshipandService. Hisresearchinterestsincludeearlymodernreligionandpolitics,resistancetheory, secularity,andChristianethics.Hisworkhasappearedinpeer-reviewedjournals suchastheJournaloftheSocietyofChristianEthics,StudiesinChristianEthics, andtheJournalofReformedTheology,aswellasmagazinessuchasCommentand PoliticalTheologyToday.HeisacontributingeditoratComment. LAWANDCHRISTIANITY SeriesEditor JohnWitte,Jr.,EmoryUniversity EditorialBoard: NigelBiggar,UniversityofOxford MartaCartabia,ItalianConstitutionalCourt/UniversityofMilano-Bicocca SarahCoakley,UniversityofCambridge NormanDoe,CardiffUniversity RafaelDomingo,EmoryUniversity/UniversityofNavarra BrianFerme,Marcianum,Venice RichardW.Garnett,UniversityofNotreDame RobertP.George,PrincetonUniversity MaryAnnGlendon,HarvardUniversity KentGreenawalt,ColumbiaUniversity RobinGriffith-Jones,TempleChurch,London/King’sCollegeLondon GaryS.Hauk,EmoryUniversity R.H.Helmholz,UniversityofChicago MarkHillQC,InnerTemple,London/CardiffUniversity WolfgangHuber,BishopEmeritus,UnitedProtestantChurchofGermany/ UniversitiesofHeidelberg,Berlin,andStellenbosch MichaelW.McConnell,StanfordUniversity JohnMcGuckin,UnionTheologicalSeminary MarkA.Noll,UniversityofNotreDame JeremyWaldron,NewYorkUniversity/UniversityofOxford MichaelWelker,UniversityofHeidelberg The Law and Christianity series publishes cutting-edge work on Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox Christian contributions to public, private, penal, and procedural law and legal theory. The series aims to promote deep Christian reflection by leading scholars on the fundamentals of law and politics, to build further ecumenical legal understanding across Christian denominations, and to link and amplify the diverse and sometimes isolated Christian legal voices and visions at work in the academy. Works collected by the series include groundbreaking monographs, historical and thematic anthologies, and translationsbyleadingscholarsaroundtheglobe. BooksintheSeries TheImmortalCommonwealth:Covenant,Community,andPolitical ResistanceinEarlyReformedThoughtDavidP.Henreckson GreatChristianJuristsinAmericanHistoryeditedbyDanielL.Dreisbachand MarkDavidHall GreatChristianJuristsandLegalCollectionsintheFirstMillenniumPhilip L.Reynolds EnglishEcclesiasticalLawyers:AHistoryofTheirLifeandWork R.H.Helmholz Law,Love,andFreedom:FromtheSacredtotheSecularJoshuaNeoh GreatChristianJuristsinFrenchHistoryOlivierDescampsand RafaelDomingo ChurchLawinModernity:TowardaTheoryofCanonLawBetweenNature andCultureJudithHahn CommonLawandNaturalLawinAmerica:FromthePuritanstotheLegal RealistsAndrewForsyth CarefortheWorld:LaudatoSi’andCatholicSocialThoughtinanEraof ClimateCrisiseditedbyFrankPasquale Church,State,andFamily:ReconcilingTraditionalTeachingsandModern LibertiesJohnWitte,Jr. GreatChristianJuristsinSpanishHistoryRafaelDomingoand JavierMartı´nez-Torro´n UnderCaesar’sSword:HowChristiansRespondtoPersecutioneditedby DanielPhilpottandTimothySamuelShah GodandtheIllegalAlienRobertW.Heimburger ChristianityandFamilyLawJohnWitte,Jr.andGaryS.Hauk ChristianityandNaturalLawNormanDoe GreatChristianJuristsinEnglishHistoryeditedbyMarkHill,QCand R.H.Helmholz Agape,Justice,andLaweditedbyRobertF.Cochran,JrandZacharyR.Calo Calvin’sPoliticalTheologyandthePublicEngagementoftheChurchMatthew J.Tuininga GodandtheSecularLegalSystemRafaelDomingo HowMarriageBecameOneoftheSacramentsPhilipL.Reynolds ChristianityandFreedom(VolumeI:HistoricalPerspectives,VolumeII: ContemporaryPerspectives)editedbyTimothySamuelShahandAllen D.Hertzke TheWesternCaseforMonogamyOverPolygamyJohnWitte,Jr. TheDistinctivenessofReligioninAmericanLawKathleenA.Brady PopeBenedictXVI’sLegalThoughtMartaCartabiaandAndreaSimoncini The Immortal Commonwealth covenant, community, and political resistance in early reformed thought DAVID P. HENRECKSON DordtCollege UniversityPrintingHouse,Cambridgecb28bs,UnitedKingdom OneLibertyPlaza,20thFloor,NewYork,ny10006,USA 477WilliamstownRoad,PortMelbourne,vic3207,Australia 314–321,3rdFloor,Plot3,SplendorForum,JasolaDistrictCentre, NewDelhi–110025,India 79AnsonRoad,#06–04/06,Singapore079906 CambridgeUniversityPressispartoftheUniversityofCambridge. ItfurtherstheUniversity’smissionbydisseminatingknowledgeinthepursuitof education,learning,andresearchatthehighestinternationallevelsofexcellence. www.cambridge.org Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781108470216 doi:10.1017/9781108556378 ©DavidP.Henreckson2019 Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress. Firstpublished2019 PrintedandboundinGreatBritainbyClaysLtd,ElcografS.p.A. AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary. LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData names:Henreckson,DavidP.,1985–author. title:Theimmortalcommonwealth:covenant,community,andpoliticalresistance inearlyreformedthought/DavidP.Henreckson. description:Cambridge;NewYork,NY:CambridgeUniversityPress,2019.| Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. identifiers:lccn2018060983|isbn9781108470216(alk.paper) subjects:lcsh:Covenanttheology–Historyofdoctrines.|Covenants–Religious aspects–ReformedChurch.|Christianityandjustice–Europe–History–16thcentury. |Christianityandjustice–Europe–History–17thcentury.|Protestantism–Political aspects.|Reformation–Europe. classification:lccbt155.h462019|ddc231.7/6–dc23 LCrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2018060983 isbn978-1-108-47021-6Hardback CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyof URLsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublication anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain, accurateorappropriate. Contents Acknowledgments pageviii Introduction 1 1 TheCovenantingGod 16 2 TheLawoftheCovenant 49 3 BreakingCovenant 72 4 TheUnaccountableSovereign 110 5 ConsociationalPolitics 127 6 ResistingtheDevil 161 Bibliography 182 Index 199 vii e Acknowledgments Godwilledtotrainandteachhumanpersonsnotthroughangels,butthrough our fellows. For the same reason, God distributed his great gifts diversely throughout humanity. He did not confer all things to one person, but some tooneandsometoothers,sothatyouhaveneedformygifts,andIforyours. JohannesAlthusius,Politica1.26 When I look back on the past decade, I am astounded by how many communitieswelcomedmeintotheirmidstandbyhowmanyconversations Iwasabletojoin.Thesearethesortsofcommongoodsyoucannotdemandor fullyanticipateinadvance. In their own distinctive ways, Eric Gregory, Jeff Stout, John Bowlin, and John Witte have shepherded this project to its completion. Eric has been a constant source of intellectual inspiration and moral support. Intellectual historianshaveanaffinityfortheminutiaeoflife,butwesometimesstruggleto explain why the details matter; Eric never lacks for this sort of explanation. Jeff’s drive for clarity, his insistence on interpretive charity, and the pastoral intensity of his care for students – all these traits characterize Jeff’s life and work. One could spend several decades as a teacher and a scholar trying to figureouthowhemanagedtodoallthisatonce.JohnBowlinandhisThomas havebeenmyconstantcompanionssinceIfirstarrivedinPrinceton.Thiswas trueeven whenThomaswaspartiallyobscured bymyearly readingsofdear oldKarl.John’sscholarshipandmentorshipremindedmewhyIwantedtobe a theological ethicist in the first place. John Witte entered the game in the finalinnings,buthasbeenanabsolutelyvitalcontributortothebookproject. Iamdeeplygratefulforhisgenerousfeedback,andforthegreatprivilegeof being part of his well-curated Law and Christianity series at Cambridge UniversityPress. viii
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