The use of natural law in early calvinist resistance theory

Journal of Law and Religion

Volumn 21, Issue 1, 2006, Pages 143-167

  Vandrunen, David ^a  

^a Westminster Seminary California   (United States)

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EID: 84966504732     PISSN: 07480814     EISSN: 21633088     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0748081400002848     Document Type: Article

References (208)

1. Among many biographies of Knox, see W. Stanford Reid, Trumpeter of God: A Biography of John Knox (Scribner 1974)
2. more recently, Rosalind Kay Marshall, John Knox (Birlinn 2000).
3. Winthrop S. Hudson offers rather extensive biographical information on Ponet in John Ponet (15167–1556): Advocate of Limited Monarchy. Winthrop S. Hudson, John Ponet (1516?-1556): Advocate of Limited Monarchy pt. I (U. Chi. Press 1942).
4. John Ponet, A Short Treatise of Politique Power, and of the Trite Obedience which Subjects Owe to Kings and Other Civil Governors, reprod. in Hudson, John Ponet (1516?-1556): Advocate of Limited Monarchy, at 131, 247
5. (microformed on Early English books, 1641–1700, 252:E.154, no. 36, Ann Arbor: U. Microfilms 1967).
6. For helpful commentary on the circumstances of its composition, see e.g. Dan G. Danner, Resistance and the Ungodly Magistrate in the Sixteenth Century: The Marian Exiles, 3 J. Am. Acad. Relig. 49, 473(1981).
7. Christopher Goodman, How Superior Powers Oght To be Obeyd (Colum. U. Press 1931) (originally published 1558).
8. On the historical background, see Danner, How Superior Powers Oght To be Obeyd, at 474.
9. A recent critical edition of The First Blast of the Trumpet against the Monstrous Regiment of Women appears in John Knox, On Rebellion 3–47 (Roger A. Mason ed., Cambridge U. Press 1994). Subsequent citations to this work are to this edition.
10. For helpful commentary on the circumstances of its composition, see e.g. Roger A. Mason, Introduction, in John Knox, On Rebellion xiii-xv (Roger A. Mason ed., Cambridge U. Press 1994).
11. For English translation (based upon the 1595 Latin edition rather than the original French), see Theodore Beza, Concerning the Rights of Rulers over their Subjects and the Duty of Subjects Towards their Rulers (A.H. Murray ed., Henri-Louis Gonin trans., H.A.U.M. 1956). Subsequent citations to this work are to this edition.
12. For recent biographical material on Beza, see Scott M. Manetsch, Theodore Beza and the Quest for Peace in France, 1572–1598 (Brill 2000).
13. For Hotman's biography, see Donald R. Kelley, Francois Hotman; A Revolutionary's Ordeal (Princeton U. Press 1973).
14. For helpful material on the composition of this treatise, see also Ralph E. Giesey & J.H.M. Salmon, Introduction, in Francois Hotman, Francogallia 38–39 (Ralph E. Giesey & J.H.M. Salmon eds., J.H.M. Salmon trans., Cambridge U. Press 1972).
15. See e.g. Constitutionalism and Resistance in the Sixteenth Century: Three Treatises by Hotman, Beza, & Mornay 39, 138–140 (Julian H. Franklin ed. & trans., Pegasus 1969).
16. For a detailed discussion of the issue of authorship, see George Garnett, Editor's Introduction, in a modern critical edition, in Stephanus Junius Brutus, the Celt, Vindiciae, Contra Tyrannos: or, Concerning the Legitimate Power of a Prince over the People, and of the People over a Prince lv-lxxvi (George Garnett ed. & trans., Cambridge U. Press 1994).
17. Subsequent citations to this work are to this edition. Abridged versions of all three Huguenot treatises in English translation are included in Constitutionalism and Resistance, Vindiciae, Contra Tyrannos: or, Concerning the Legitimate Power of a Prince over the People, and of the People over a Prince.
18. For a modern critical edition in Latin and English translation, see Hotman, Vindiciae, Contra Tyrannos: or, Concerning the Legitimate Power of a Prince over the People, and of the People over a Prince. Subsequent citations to this work are to the English text of this edition.
19. Beza, Vindiciae, Contra Tyrannos: or, Concerning the Legitimate Power of a Prince over the People, and of the People over a Prince.
20. Brutus, Vindiciae, Contra Tyrannos: or, Concerning the Legitimate Power of a Prince over the People, and of the People over a Prince.
21. Mason, Vindiciae, Contra Tyrannos: or, Concerning the Legitimate Power of a Prince over the People, and of the People over a Prince, at xxiv.
22. Richard L. Greaves, Theology and Revolution in the Scottish Reformation: Studies in the Thought of John Knox 4 (Christian U. Press 1980).
23. See Richard Kyle, John Knox and the Purification of Religion: The Intellectual Aspects of his Crusade against Idolatry, 11 Archivfur Reformationsgeschichte 275 (1986)
24. Roger A. Mason, Kingship and the Commonweal: Political Thought in Renaissance and Reformation Scotland 143 (Tuckwell 1998).
25. Mason, Kingship and the Commonweal: Political Thought in Renaissance and Reformation Scotland, at 142–143.
26. See e.g. Dan G. Danner, Christopher Goodman and the English Protestant Tradition of Civil Disobedience, 8 no. 3 Sixteenth Cent. J. 61, 70 (1977)
27. Jane E.A. Dawson, Trumpeting Resistance: Christopher Goodman and John Knox, in John Knox and the British Reformations 135–136 (Roger A. Mason ed., Ashgate 1998).
28. See also Danner's relevant comments on Goodman in Resistance and the Ungodly Magistrate; Danner, John Knox and the British Reformations, at 475.
29. Gerry Bowler, Marian Protestants and the Idea of Violent Resistance to Tyranny, in Protestantism and the National Church in Sixteenth Century England 138 (Peter Lake & Maria Dowling ed., Croom Helm 1987).
30. For discussion of the place of natural law in the writings of the Marian exiles, from various points of view, see e.g. Michael Walzer, The Revolution of the Saints: A Study in the Origins of Radical Politics 36 (Harv. U. Press 1965; Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1966)
31. J.H. Burns, The True Law of Kingship: Concepts of Monarchy in Early-Modern Scotland 146 (Clarendon 1996)
32. Jane E.A. Dawson, The Two John Knoxes: England, Scotland and the 1558 Tracts, 42 J. Ecclesiastical History 555, 563 (Oct. 1991)
33. Greaves, J. Ecclesiastical History, at 12, 152
34. Bowler, J. Ecclesiastical History, at 135, 139
35. Mason, Knox, Resistance and the Royal Supremacy, in John Knox and the British Reformations 166 (Mason ed.)
36. Hudson, John Knox and the British Reformations, at 134–141
37. Danner, John Knox and the British Reformations, at 473–475
38. Danner, John Knox and the British Reformations, at 70.
39. For relevant discussion, see e.g. Roger A. Mason, Covenant and Commonweal: the language of politics in Reformation Scotland, in Church, Politics and Society: Scotland 1408–1929, at 99–100 (Norman MacDougall ed., John Donald 1983)
40. Reid, Church, Politics and Society: Scotland 1408–1929, at 18
41. Barrett L. Beer, John Ponet's Shorte Treatise of Politike Power Reassessed, 21, no. 3 Sixteenth Cent. J. 373, 374 (1990)
42. Hudson, Sixteenth Cent. J., at 5–7, 105, 131–132
43. David H. Wollman, The Biblical Justification for Resistance to Authority in Ponet's and Goodman's Polemics, 13, no. 4 Sixteenth Cent. J. 29, 31 (1982)
44. Esther Hildebrandt, The Magdeburg Bekenntnis as Possible Link Between German and English Resistance Theories in the Sixteenth Century, 71 Archiv fur Reformationsgeschichte 227, 241–242 (1980)
45. Manetsch, Archiv fur Reformationsgeschichte, at 10–11, 69
46. Giesey & Salmon, Archiv fur Reformationsgeschichte, at 3–5, 105–106
47. Kelley, Archiv fur Reformationsgeschichte, at vii-xi, 18, 186–187, 190, 203–204, 246.
48. Quentin Skinner, The Foundations of Modern Political Thought vol. 2, The Age of Reformation 254–255, 310–314 (Cambridge U. Press 1978).
49. For interesting commentary on the results of some of this intentionally broad appeal, see Giesey & Salmon, The Age of Reformation, at 91–92.
50. See e.g. Walzer, The Age of Reformation, at 68–69, 96.
51. See e.g. id. at 68
52. Dawson, id, at 137
53. Richard C. Gamble, The Christian and the Tyrant: Beza and Knox on Political Resistance Theory, 46 Westminster Theological J. 130 (Spring 1984).
54. See e.g. Gamble, Westminster Theological J., at 129–130
55. Hildebrandt, Westminster Theological J., at 246
56. W. Stanford Reid, John Knox's Theology of Political Government, 19, no. 4 Sixteenth Cent. J. 529, 540 (1988)
57. Hudson, Sixteenth Cent. J., at, 196–200
58. Danner, Sixteenth Cent. J., at 72–73
59. A.A. van Schelven, Introduction, in Beza, Sixteenth Cent. J., at 9
60. Manetsch, Sixteenth Cent. J., at 66–67
61. Kelley, Sixteenth Cent. J., at 93.
62. See e.g. Charles H. Mcllwain, Bibliographical Note, in Goodman, Sixteenth Cent. J.
63. W. Stanford Reid, John Knox: The First of the Monarchomachs? 2–3 (Ctr. Stud. Federalism 1981)
64. Hudson, John Knox: The First of the Monarchomachs?, at 180
65. Danner, John Knox: The First of the Monarchomachs?, at 73
66. Gamble, John Knox: The First of the Monarchomachs?, at 134.
67. Most importantly, see generally Walzer, John Knox: The First of the Monarchomachs?, and especially ch. 2.
68. Certain strains of this line of thought are evident in the classic work of Ernst Troeltsch, vol. 2, The Social Teachings of the Christian Churches ch. 3 (Olive Wyon trans., Macmillan 1931).
69. See Skinner, The Social Teachings of the Christian Churches, at 206–209, 321
70. Burns, The Social Teachings of the Christian Churches, at 123
71. see generally Hildebrandt, The Social Teachings of the Christian Churches
72. Myriam Yardeni, French Calvinist Political Thought, 1534–1715, in International Calvinism, 1541–1715, at 315, 321 (Menna Prestwich ed., Clarendon 1985)
73. Greaves, International Calvinism, 1541–1715, at 176
74. Giesey & Salmon, International Calvinism, 1541–1715, at 18–19.
75. Knox, The First Blast of the Trumpet, in On Rebellion, International Calvinism, 1541–1715, at 3, 8.
76. John Knox, The Letter to the Regent, in On Rebellion, International Calvinism, 1541–1715, at 61.
77. Ponet, On Rebellion, International Calvinism, 1541–1715, at 11.
78. Id. at 22.
79. Id. at 66–67.
80. Goodman, Id, at 15–20.
81. Id. at 34–35. He adds just later that these wicked rulers devour God's people “agaynst nature.”
82. Id. at 51–52.
83. Id. at 53. See also 80 (actually 79, but mispaginated).
84. See id. at 96.
85. Beza, id, at 30–31.
86. Id. at 41–42.
87. Id. at 48–49.
88. Id. at 73.
89. Hotman, Id, at 523, 525.
90. Brutus, Id, at 16.
91. Id. at 78–89.
92. Id. at 94–96.
93. See e.g. id. at 99–103, 115–118, 126–127, 160–163.
94. Id. at 129.
95. Id. at 32–33, 114–115.
96. Among many examples is his commentary on Rom 2:14–15
97. for English translation, see Jean Calvin, The Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Romans and to the Thessalonians (Ross Mackenzie trans., Eerdmans 1960).
98. Knox, The First Blast of the Trumpet, The Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Romans and to the Thessalonians, at 25, 31.
99. Ponet, The Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Romans and to the Thessalonians, at 3, 50.
100. Goodman, The Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Romans and to the Thessalonians, at 11–12.
101. Beza, The Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Romans and to the Thessalonians, at 64–65.
102. Ponet, The Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Romans and to the Thessalonians, at 50.
103. Id. at 3.
104. See e.g. Jean Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion 1.2.3; 1.3.1; 1.3.3; 2.8.1
105. Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans 1:19; 1:21; 1:22; 2:14–15.
106. The Westminster Standards (i.e., the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Westminster Larger Catechism, and the Westminster Shorter Catechism) of the 1640s refer to the “light of nature” on a number of occasions (see WCF 1.1, 1.6, 10.4, 20.4, 21.1
107. WW 2, 60, 151) and seem to identify it with the moral law, which in turn is summarized in the Decalogue
108. see WCF 19.1–2
109. WLC 92, 98
110. WSC 40–41, 2006)).
111. The Westminster Confession of Faith (Free Presbyterian Publications 1976). At around the same time, on the continent, Francis Turretin explicitly defended the idea that the precepts of the Decalogue are “of natural and indispensable right.”
112. See Francis Turretin, Institutes of Elenctic Theology vol. 2, 7–18 (T.11, Q.2) (James T. Dennison, Jr. ed., George Musgrave Giger trans., P&R 1994).
113. Ponet, Institutes of Elenctic Theology, at 3.
114. Brutus, Institutes of Elenctic Theology, at 149; see also 104–105.
115. For example, Thomas Aquinas speaks of the inclination to self-preservation as part of natural law, in accord with the nature that humans share in common with all substances; see Thomas Aquinas, Summae Theologiae 1a2ae 94.2.
116. Brutus, Summae Theologiae, at 92 (footnote omitted).
117. Beza, Summae Theologiae, at 68.
118. At another point in his treatise, Beza states that in certain circumstances rulers have the obligation to examine and defend “what elements of reason and justice” are found in particular civil laws; see id. at 27.
119. Brutus, id, at 181.
120. Ponet, id, at 4.
121. Id. at 4–5.
122. Beza, Id, at 68.
123. Brutus, Id, at 67.
124. Id. at 127.
125. Id. at 114.
126. Id. at 71.
127. Beza, Id, at 31.
128. Id. at 49.
129. Id. at 64–65.
130. Brutus, Id, at 138–140.
131. Goodman, Id, at 41–42
132. see also id. at 85.
133. Id. at 146–149.
134. Beza, Id, at 28.
135. Id. at 68.
136. Ponet, Id, at 50.
137. Knox, The First Blast of the Trumpet, Id, at 4, 8, and many similar statements elsewhere. Goodman repeats much of Knox's language.
138. Goodman, Id, at 52, 96. In fairness to Knox, many scholars have noted that his sentiments on female rule were shared by most writers contemporary to him, of whatever religious affiliation.
139. See e.g. Burns, Id, at 146
140. Greaves, Id, at 157–158
141. Mason, Id, at 151.
142. A number of contemporary scholars also have spoken positively about Knox's concrete relationships with women he knew. See e.g. Susan M. Felch, The Rhetoric of Biblical Authority: John Knox and the Question of Women, 26, no. 4 Sixteenth Cent. J. 805–822 (1995)
143. Greaves, Sixteenth Cent. J., at 160
144. Stewart Lamont, The Swordbearer: John Knox and the European Reformation 88–92 (Hodder & Stoughton 1991)
145. Reid, The Swordbearer: John Knox and the European Reformation, at 80–81.
146. Knox, The First Blast of the Trumpet, The Swordbearer: John Knox and the European Reformation, at 8–9.
147. Knox, Knox and Mary Queen of Scots, in On Rebellion, The Swordbearer: John Knox and the European Reformation, at 175, 178–179.
148. Brutus, On Rebellion, The Swordbearer: John Knox and the European Reformation, at 74–75.
149. Id. at 164–165.
150. Ponet, Id, at 50.
151. Hotman, Id, at 143.
152. Knox, Id, at 22–23.
153. Id. at 25. Knox, perhaps the most aggressive of the analogizers among the resistance theorists, also makes a comparison of sorts between human behavior and non-sentient and even inanimate forces of nature. In his diatribe against women's rule he analogizes the impossibility of a female monarch not becoming proud with the impossibility of the weak reed or turning weathercock not being moved by the wind.
154. See id. at 16.
155. Brutus, id, at 67.
156. Goodman, id, at 158–159.
157. Brutus, id, at 149.
158. Hotman, id, at 415.
159. On the limitations of such appeals, see e.g. Beza, id, at 83.
160. Id. at 33.
161. Ponet, Id, at 50
162. Goodman, Id, at 91, 92.
163. Beza, Id, at 80
164. Brutus, Id, at 181.
165. See Knox, The First Blast of the Trumpet, Id, at 9
166. Goodman, Id, at 155–156
167. Beza, Id, at 31, 54
168. Hotman, Id, at 155, 287
169. Brutus, Id, at 94, 98.
170. See Brutus, Id, at 156
171. Hotman, Id, at 399
172. Beza, Id, at 27. Knox, a Scot, does refer to Roman law and, specifically, to the Corpus Juris Civilis, the Emperor Justinian's monumental compilation of Roman law. The latter, of course, was the product of Christians, not pagans.
173. See Knox, The First Blast of the Trumpet, Id, at 9–11.
174. Brutus, Id, at 111.
175. See Beza, Id, at 31
176. Brutus, Id, at 92, 102–103, 129
177. Hotman, Id, at 155, 201, 399, 401, 403, 405.
178. See Ponet, Id, at 21
179. Beza, Id, at 41–42
180. Brutus, Id, at 92–93, 94, 96, 102, 105, 181
181. Hotman, Id, at 155, 403, 405.
182. See e.g. Beza, Id, at 45–48.
183. Hotman, Id, at 143.
184. See id. at 201, 221, 237, 261, 289, 297, 323, 333, 399.
185. See e.g. Brutus, id, at 57–58.
186. Id. at 80–89.
187. Id. at 94.
188. Knox, Id, at 9
189. Goodman, Id, at 144.
190. Beza, Id, at 73–74, 86
191. Brutus, Id, at 155.
192. For various articulations of this line of thought, see e.g. August Lang, The Reformation and Natural Law, in Calvin and the Reformation: Four Studies 56–98 (J. Gresham Machen trans., Fleming H. Revell 1909)
193. Karl Barth, No!, in Ernil Brunner, Natural Theology 67–128 (Peter Fraenkel trans., Geoffrey Bles: Centenary 1946)
194. Walzer, Ernil Brunner, Natural Theology, at 30–31
195. James Torrance, Interpreting the Word by the Light of Christ or the Light of Nature? Calvin, Calvinism, and Barth, in Calviniana: Ideas and Influence of Jean Calvin 256–257 (Robert V. Schnucker ed., Sixteenth Cent. J. Publishers 1988)
196. I. John Hesselink, Calvin's Concept of Law 67–70 (Pickwick 1992)
197. Josef Fuchs, Natural Law: A Theological Investigation 10–11, 46–47, 62–63 (Helmut Reckter, & John A. Dowling trans., Sheed & Ward 1965).
198. For various articulations of this line of thought, see e.g. Emil Brunner, Nature and Grace, in Natural Law: A Theological Investigation, at 15–64
199. John T. McNeill, Natural Law in the Teaching of the Reformers, 26 J. Relig. 168–182 (1946)
200. Richard A. Muller, The Unaccommodated Calvin: Studies in the Foundation of a Theological Tradition 39 (Oxford U. Press 2000)
201. Richard A. Muller, Post-Reformation Reformed Dogmatics: The Rise and Development of Reformed Orthodoxy, ca. 1520 to ca. 1725, vol. 1 Prolegomena to Theology ch. 6 (2d ed., Baker 2003)
202. Susan E. Schreiner, The Theater of his Glory: Nature and the Natural Order in the Thought of John Calvin 2–3, 77 (Labyrinth 1991)
203. Susan E. Schreiner, Calvin's Use of Natural Law, in A Preserving Grace: Protestants, Catholics, and Natural Law 54–55, 73 (Michael Cromartie ed., Ethics & Pub. Policy Ctr.; Eerdmans 1997)
204. Paul Helm, Calvin and Natural Law, 2 Scottish Bull. Evangelical Theology 5, 9–12 (1984)
205. Paul Helm John Calvin's Ideas ch. 12 (Oxford U. Press 2004)
206. Irena Backus, Calvin's Concept of Natural and Roman Law, 38 Calvin Theological J. 7–26 (2003)
207. David VanDrunen, The Context of Natural Law: John Calvin's Doctrine of the Two Kingdoms, 46 J. Church & St. 503–525 (Summer 2004)
208. Stephen John Grabill Theological Foundation for a Reformed Doctrine of Natural Law ch. 4 (Ph.D. dissertation, Calvin Theological Seminary 2004).