CALVINISM AND THE POLITICAL ORDER

by George L.- Ed. Hunt ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 13, 1965

Nine contributors offer ten essays that seek to relate Calvinist thought to a variety of political topics and personalities. The aim of the symposium is to indicate the possible contribution of the Calvinist tradition to the formulation of a contemporary Christian political philosophy. The contents include John T. McNeill on Calvinism and European Politics in Historical Perspective, and John Calvin on Civil Government; and other essays by church and secular historians on The Puritan Ethic and the Spirit of Democracy, The Huguenot Challenge to Absolutism, John Locke, Woodrow Wilson, Samuel Rutherford, John Witherspoon, and Abraham Lincoln and Calvinism. The editor concludes with a summary essay on Our Calvinist Heritage in Church and State. The writing is scholarly and readable. The editor's final corment, that Calvinism inevitably leads the Church into politics, may be questioned in view of the unhappy record of churches of Calvinist tradition which have stood so often on the wrong side of political and social issues--integration being one. It may be asked, also, whether the claims for Calvinism as a contributor to a contemporary political philosophy have sufficiently recognized the extent to which present and future political processes are being shaped by scientific and technological forces, rather than philosophical and theological ones.

Pub Date: Sept. 13, 1965

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Westminster

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1965

Categories: NONFICTION