The Immortal Commonwealth: Covenant, Community, and Political Resistance in Early Reformed Thought

220 Pages·2019·3.061 MB·English

by  David P. Henreckson

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
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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
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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.
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