Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T17:58:36.007Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Protestant Thought and Republican Spirit: How Luther Enchanted the World

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

Joshua Mitchell
Joshua Mitchell
Affiliation:
George Washington University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Arguments about the emergence of modern political theory often claim that Protestantism's significance was that it evacuated the political world, that a more properly political ethic took its place, a “disenchanted” one. I shall consider Luther's understanding of biblical history, thoughts on the Christian prince, and view of the “bonds of union” between Christians in order to understand the relationship between the political and spiritual realms. I suggest that even though Luther argues for the separation of the two realms, his political realm is by no means disenchanted. His politics can only be understood in light of his claims about the purview of God the Father and God the Son. “Political vacuum theories,” I suggest, misconstrue the relationship between politics and religion in Protestant thought.

Type
Articles
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 86 , Issue 3 , September 1992 , pp. 688 - 695
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aristotle, . 1958. The Politics. Trans, and ed. Barker, Ernest. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Augustine, . 1961. Confessions. Trans. Pine-Coffin, R. S.. New York: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
Augustine, . 1984. City of God. Trans. Bettenson, Henry. New York: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. 1955. Ethics. New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Hamilton, Alexander, Madison, James and Jay, John. 1961. The Federalist Papers. New York: NAL Penguin, Inc.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hegel, Georg W. F. 1948. “The Spirit of Christianity and Its Fate.” In his Early Theological Writings, trans. Knox, Thomas M.. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Hobbes, Thomas. 1962. Leviathan. Ed. Oakeshott, Michael. New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Locke, John. 1803. The Reasonableness of Christianity. Boston: T. B. Wait.Google Scholar
Locke, John. 1955. Letter Concerning Toleration. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill.Google Scholar
Luther, Martin. 1961a. “Appeal to the Ruling Class.” In Martin Luther, ed. Dillenberger, John. New York: Anchor.Google Scholar
Luther, Martin. 1961b. “Bondage of the Will.” In Martin Luther, ed. Dillenberger, John. New York: Anchor.Google Scholar
Luther, Martin. 1961c. “Commentary on Galatians.” In Martin Luther, ed. Dillenberger, John. New York: Anchor.Google Scholar
Luther, Martin. 1961d. “Freedom of a Christian.” In Martin Luther, ed. Dillenberger, John. New York: Anchor.Google Scholar
Luther, Martin. 1961e. “Secular Authority: The Extent to Which It Must Be Obeyed.” In Martin Luther, ed. Dillenberger, John. New York: Anchor.Google Scholar
Machiavelli, Niccolò. 1985. The Prince. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Mitchell, Joshua. 1990. “John Locke and the Theological Foundation of Liberal Toleration: A Christian Dialectic of History.” Review of Politics 52:64–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mitchell, Joshua. 1991. “Luther and Hobbes on the Question: Who Was Moses, Who Was Christ?” Journal of Politics 53:676–700.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nietzsche, Freidrich. 1967. On the Genealogy of Morals. Trans. Kaufman, Walter. New York: Random House.Google Scholar
Plato, . 1985. Republic. Trans. Sterling, Richard W. and Scott, William C.. New York: W. W. Norton.Google Scholar
Pocock, John G. A. 1973. “Time, History, and Eschatology in the Thought of Thomas Hobbes.” In his Politics, Language, and Time. New York: Atheneum.Google Scholar
Pocock, John G. A. 1975. The Machiavellian Moment. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. 1978. Emile. Trans. Bloom, Allan. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. 1984. The Social Contract. Trans. Cranston, Maurice. New York: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
Sabine, George H. 1937. A History of Political Theory. New York: Henry Holt.Google Scholar
Skinner, Quentin. 1980. The Foundations of Modern Political Thought. 2 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Smith, Steven D. 1991. “The Rise and Fall of Religious Freedom in Constitutional Discourse.” University of Pennsylvania Law Review 140:200–295.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Strauss, Leo. 1974. Natural Right and History. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Tocqueville, Alexis de. 1966. Democracy in America. New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Weber, Max. 1946. “Politics as a Vocation.” In From Max Weber, ed. Gerth, Hans H. and Mills, C. Wright. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Weber, Max. 1958. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.Google Scholar
Wolin, Sheldon. 1961. Politics and Vision. Boston: Little, Brown.Google Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.