Protestant Politics Beyond Calvin

These texts and translations are accompanied by an introduction placing these authors in the context of the great European religious wars, advice on further reading, and a full bibliography.

The Reformed (or Calvinist) universities of sixteenth and seventeenth-century Europe hosted rich, Latin-language conversations on the nature of politics, the powers of kings and magistrates, resistance, revolution, and religious warfare. Nevertheless, it is too often assumed that Reformed political thought did not develop beyond John Calvin's Institutes of 1559. This book remedies this problem, presenting extracts from major Reformed theologians and intellectuals (including Peter Martyr Vermigli, Guillaume de Buc, David Pareus, Lambert Daneau, and Bartholomäus Keckermann) which demonstrate both continuity and change in Reformed political argument. These men taught in France, the Holy Roman Empire, the Low Countries, and England, between the 1540s and 1660s, but they were read in universities throughout the North Atlantic world into the eighteenth century. Should all political action be subject to God's direct command? Were humans capable of using their own God-given reason to tell right from wrong? Was it ever just to resist tyrants? Was religious difference enough by itself to justify war? Their political doctrines often aroused the greatest controversy in their own time; this is generally the first time that these extracts from their works have been translated into English. These texts and translations are accompanied by an introduction placing these authors in the context of the great European religious wars, advice on further reading, and a full bibliography.

Autorentext

Ian Campbell has had a lifelong interest in military history. Growing up behind the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, he spent many hours wandering the halls thoroughly absorbed in the displays. His wise mother fostered his love of reading and history by introducing him very early to the works of Paul Brickhill. Ian has qualifications in History and Politics from the Australian National University. After a varied career in the government, private and not-for-profit sectors, he retired to research and write. His first book, Thinks He's a Bird, about Australian Pathfinder and Lancaster pilot, Flight Lieutenant Keith Watson, was released in 2022. Ian is currently curator of the Bennett/Vial Archive at the Queensland Air Museum. This archive comprises three collections, of which AVM Don Bennett's private collection is one. Ian and his wife, Kathy, have lived in many places in Australia, as well as New Zealand and Canada. They now live in Brisbane. When circumstances permit, they love to travel, but he has vowed never to move house again.

Inhalt

Chapter 1: Peter Martyr Vermigli and his Commentary on Genesis / Chapter 2: Lambert Daneau on Ethics, Politics, and the Anti-Christ / Chapter 3: Bartholomäus Keckermann, Aristotelianism, and the Holy Roman Empire after the Peace of Augsburg / Chapter 4: Guillaume du Buc and the Institutiones Theologicae / Chapter 5: David Pareus and his Commentary on Romans / Chapter 6: Johann Heinrich Alsted on Interaction with non-Christians and War against Blasphemers / Chapter 7: Amandus Polanus von Polansdorf on Religious Intervention in Foreign States / Chapter 8: Venceslaus Clemens' Gustavis and the Thirty Years' War as a Religious Conflict / Chapter 9: Dudley Fenner, Puritanism, and Reformed Resistance Theory / Chapter 10: Gisbertus Voetius, the Dutch Revolt, and Religious Toleration in the United Provinces / Chapter 11: Johannes Hoornbeeck and the Reformed against Holy War