The Calvinist International
In Common Grace, Kuyper combines the questions of God’s institution of capital punishment and the institution of civil government into one moment. He understands God’s command to Noah in Genesis 9:6 as the moment when God instituted civil government. He also rejects outright the modern liberal conception of the origins of civil government as founded upon […]
In Common Grace (Lexham/Acton Institute: 2015), Kuyper spends a number of chapters examining Genesis 9:5 and Genesis 9:6 in relation to capital punishment and, therefore, the instituting of civil government. Genesis 9:5-6 reads as follows: And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow […]
Everyone knows that John Calvin believed in the use of force to suppress heretics. What this post presupposes is…. maybe he didn’t? Perhaps the question is more complicated. We have written about the relationship between Calvin’s doctrine of the two kingdoms and the civil-political suppression of heresy here and here. He certainly did not promote […]
King James I on the need for a ruler to have a virtuous life (archaic spelling updated): But it is not enough to be a good King, by the scepter of good Laws well execute to govern, and by force of arms to protect his people; if he join not therewith his virtuous life in […]
In his De Regno Christi (1550), Martin Bucer advises King Edward VI of England to reestablish the Kingdom of Christ not just through edicts and decrees, but through persuasion. This is a good demonstration of magisterial reformers’ understanding of belief and faith, and the way that one comes to these. Outward conformity is not enough. One must […]
Rod Dreher’s “Benedict Option” seems to be picking up more and more attention, and I expect that we will see a future book from him laying out its distinctives in more detail. Perhaps the best single summary of its features can be found in an article just put out by Damon Linker. Mr. Linker is […]
In what is surely a passage begging for a dissertation, John Calvin makes some astounding observations about 1 Corinthians 15:24 and its implications for the rulers of the temporal world: When he shall have abolished all rule. Some understand this as referring to the powers that are opposed to Christ himself; for they have an eye […]