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The Use of Natural Law in Early Calvinist Resistance Theory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 April 2015

David VanDrunen
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Extract

A remarkable phenomenon in the history of Western political and legal thought is the emergence of so-called sixteenth-century Calvinist resistance theory. Groups of intellectuals, committed to the theology of John Calvin and seeing the Reformed churches of their homelands oppressed by hostile monarchs, stepped beyond the rather strict obedience that Calvin commended toward civil authority and advocated various degrees of civil disobedience and even revolution. Two early and famous expressions of Calvinist resistance theory were from the “Marian exiles,” British Calvinists on the continent who fled the persecution of Bloody Mary Tudor in the 1550s, and the French Huguenots who wrote in the aftermath of the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre of 1572. Scholars have made impressive claims about these writers. Many perceive in their work a major turning point in political and legal theory and identify it as a key source for the development of Western revolutionary thinking and modernization more generally.

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Journal of Law and Religion , Volume 21 , Issue 1 , 2006 , pp. 143 - 167
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Copyright © Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University 2005

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References

1. Among many biographies of Knox, see Reid, W. Stanford, Trumpeter of God: A Biography of John Knox (Scribner 1974)Google Scholar; and more recently, Rosalind, Kay Marshall, , John Knox (Birlinn 2000)Google Scholar.

2. Winthrop S. Hudson offers rather extensive biographical information on Ponet in John Ponet (1516?-1556): Advocate of Limited Monarchy. Hudson, Winthrop S., John Ponet (1516?-1556): Advocate of Limited Monarchy pt. I (U. Chi. Press 1942)Google Scholar.

3. John Ponet, A Short Treatise of Politique Power, and of the True Obedience which Subjects Owe to Kings and Other Civil Governors, reprod. in Hudson, supra n. 2, at 131, 247 (microformed on Early English books, 1641-1700, 252:E.154, no. 36, Ann Arbor: U. Microfilms 1967). For helpful commentary on the circumstances of its composition, see e.g. Danner, Dan G., Resistance and the Ungodly Magistrate in the Sixteenth Century: The Marian Exiles, 3 J. Am. Acad. Relig. 49, 473 (1981)Google Scholar.

4. Goodman, Christopher, How Superior Powers Oght To be Obeyd (Colum. U. Press 1931) (originally published 1558)Google Scholar. On the historical background, see Danner, supra n. 3, at 474.

5. A recent critical edition of The First Blast of the Trumpet against the Monstrous Regiment of Women appears in Knox, John, On Rebellion 3–47 (Mason, Roger A. ed., Cambridge U. Press 1994)Google Scholar. Subsequent citations to this work are to this edition. For helpful commentary on the circumstances of its composition, see e.g. Mason, Roger A., Introduction, in Knox, John, On Rebellion xiii–xv (Mason, Roger A. ed., Cambridge U. Press 1994)Google Scholar.

6. For English translation (based upon the 1595 Latin edition rather than the original French), see Beza, Theodore, Concerning the Rights of Rulers over their Subjects and the Duty of Subjects Towards their Rulers (Murray, A.H. ed., Gonin, Henri-Louis trans., H.A.U.M. 1956)Google Scholar. Subsequent citations to this work are to this edition. For recent biographical material on Beza, see Manetsch, Scott M., Theodore Beza and the Quest for Peace in France, 1572-1598 (Brill 2000)Google Scholar.

7. For Hotman's biography, see Kelley, Donald R., Francois Hotman; A Revolutionary's Ordeal (Princeton U. Press 1973)Google Scholar. For helpful material on the composition of this treatise, see also Giesey, Ralph E. & Salmon, J.H.M., Introduction, in Hotman, Francois, Francogallia 38–39 (Giesey, Ralph E. & Salmon, J.H.M. eds., Salmon, J.H.M. trans., Cambridge U. Press 1972)Google Scholar.

8. See e.g. Constitutionalism and Resistance in the Sixteenth Century: Three Treatises by Hotman, Beza, & Mornay 39, 138–140 (Franklin, Julian H. ed. & trans., Pegasus 1969)Google Scholar. For a detailed discussion of the issue of authorship, see Garnett, George, Editor's Introduction, in a modern critical edition, in Brutus, Stephanus Junius, 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 (Garnett, George ed. & trans., Cambridge U. Press 1994)Google Scholar. 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, supra.

9. For a modern critical edition in Latin and English translation, see Hotman, supra n. 7. Subsequent citations to this work are to the English text of this edition.

10. Beza, supra n. 6.

11. Brutus, supra n. 8.

12. Mason, supra n. 5, at xxiv.

13. Greaves, Richard L., Theology and Revolution in the Scottish Reformation: Studies in the Thought of John Knox 4 (Christian U. Press 1980)Google Scholar.

14. See Kyle, Richard, John Knox and the Purification of Religion: The Intellectual Aspects of his Crusade against Idolatry, 11 Archiv fur Reformationsgeschichte 275 (1986)Google Scholar; Mason, Roger A., Kingship and the Commonweal: Political Thought in Renaissance and Reformation Scotland 143 (Tuckwell 1998)Google Scholar.

15. Mason, supra n. 14, at 142-143.

16. See e.g. Danner, Dan G., Christopher Goodman and the English Protestant Tradition of Civil Disobedience, 8 no. 3Sixteenth Cent. J. 61, 70 (1977)Google Scholar; Dawson, Jane E.A., Trumpeting Resistance: Christopher Goodman and John Knox, in John Knox and the British Reformations 135–136 (Mason, Roger A. ed., Ashgate 1998)Google Scholar. See also Danner's relevant comments on Goodman in Resistance and the Ungodly Magistrate; Danner, supra n. 3, at 475.

17. Bowler, Gerry, Marian Protestants and the Idea of Violent Resistance to Tyranny, in Protestantism and the National Church in Sixteenth Century England 138 (Lake, Peter & Dowling, Maria ed., Croom Helm 1987)Google Scholar.

18. For discussion of the place of natural law in the writings of the Marian exiles, from various points of view, see e.g. Walzer, Michael, The Revolution of the Saints: A Study in the Origins of Radical Politics 36 (Harv. U. Press 1965; Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1966)Google Scholar; Burns, J.H., The True Law of Kingship: Concepts of Monarchy in Early-Modern Scotland 146 (Clarendon 1996)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Dawson, Jane E.A., The Two John Knoxes: England, Scotland and the 1558 Tracts, 42 J. Ecclesiastical History 555, 563 (10 1991)Google Scholar; Greaves, supra n. 13, at 12, 152; Bowler, supra n. 17, at 135, 139; Mason, , Knox, Resistance and the Royal Supremacy, in John Knox and the British Reformations 166 (Mason, ed.)Google Scholar; Hudson, supra n. 2, at 134-141; Danner, supra n. 16, at 473-475; Danner, supra n. 3, at 70.

19. For relevant discussion, see e.g. Mason, Roger A., Covenant and Commonweal: the language of politics in Reformation Scotland, in Church, Politics and Society: Scotland 1408-1929, at 99–100 (MacDougall, Norman ed., John Donald 1983)Google Scholar; Reid, supra n. 1, at 18; Beer, Barrett L., John Ponet's Shorte Treatise of Politike Power Reassessed, 21, no. 3Sixteenth Cent. J. 373, 374 (1990)Google Scholar; Hudson, supra n. 2, at 5-7, 105, 131-132; Wollman, David H., The Biblical Justification for Resistance to Authority in Ponet's and Goodman's Polemics, 13, no. 4Sixteenth Cent. J. 29, 31 (1982)Google Scholar; Hildebrandt, Esther, The Magdeburg Bekenntnis as Possible Link Between German and English Resistance Theories in the Sixteenth Century, 71 Archiv fur Reformationsgeschichte 227, 241–242 (1980)Google Scholar; Manetsch, supra n. 6, at 10-11, 69; Giesey & Salmon, supra n. 7, at 3-5, 105-106; Kelley, supra n. 7, at vii-xi, 18, 186-187, 190, 203-204, 246.

20. Skinner, Quentin, The Foundations of Modern Political Thought vol. 2, The Age of Reformation 254-255, 310–314 (Cambridge U. Press 1978)Google Scholar. For interesting commentary on the results of some of this intentionally broad appeal, see Giesey & Salmon, supra n. 7, at 91-92.

21. See e.g. Walzer, supra n. 18, at 68-69, 96.

22. See e.g. id. at 68; Dawson, supra n. 16, at 137; Gamble, Richard C., The Christian and the Tyrant: Beza and Knox on Political Resistance Theory, 46 Westminster Theological J. 130 (Spring 1984)Google Scholar.

23. See e.g. Gamble, supra n. 21, at 129-130; Hildebrandt, supra n. 19, at 246; Reid, W. Stanford, John Knox's Theology of Political Government, 19, no. 4Sixteenth Cent. J. 529, 540 (1988)Google Scholar; Hudson, supra n. 2, at, 196-200; Danner, supra n. 16, at 72-73; A.A. van Schelven, Introduction, in Beza, supra n. 6, at 9; Manetsch, supra n. 6, at 66-67; Kelley, supra n. 22, at 93.

24. See e.g. Charles H. Mcllwain, Bibliographical Note, in Goodman, supra n. 4; Reid, W. Stanford, John Knox: The First of the Monarchomachs? 2–3 (Ctr. Stud. Federalism 1981)Google Scholar; Hudson, supra n. 2, at 180; Danner, supra n. 16, at 73; Gamble, supra n. 22, at 134.

25. Most importantly, see generally Walzer, supra n. 18, and especially ch. 2. 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 (Wyon, Olive trans., Macmillan 1931)Google Scholar.

26. See Skinner, supra n. 20, at 206-209, 321; Burns, supra n. 18, at 123; see generally Hildebrandt, supra n. 19; Yardeni, Myriam, French Calvinist Political Thought, 1534-1715, in International Calvinism, 1541-1715, at 315, 321 (Prestwich, Menna ed., Clarendon 1985)Google Scholar; Greaves, supra n. 13, at 176; Giesey & Salmon, supra n. 7, at 18-19.

27. Knox, The First Blast of the Trumpet, in On Rebellion, supra n. 5, at 3, 8.

28. John Knox, The Letter to the Regent, in On Rebellion, supra n. 5, at 61.

29. Ponet, supra n. 3, at 11.

30. Id. at 22.

31. Id. at 66-67.

32. Goodman, supra n. 4, at 15-20.

33. Id. at 34-35. He adds just later that these wicked rulers devour God's people “agaynst nature.”

34. Id. at 51-52.

35. Id. at 53. See also 80 (actually 79, but mispaginated).

36. See id. at 96.

37. Beza, supra n. 6, at 30-31.

38. Id. at 41-42.

39. Id. at 48-49.

40. Id. at 73.

41. Hotman, supra n. 7, at 523, 525.

42. Brutus, supra n. 8, at 16.

43. Id. at 78-89.

44. Id. at 94-96.

45. See e.g. id. at 99-103, 115-118, 126-127, 160-163.

46. Id. at 129.

47. Id. at 32-33, 114-115.

48. Among many examples is his commentary on Rom 2:14-15; for English translation, see Calvin, Jean, The Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Romans and to the Thessalonians (Mackenzie, Ross trans., Eerdmans 1960)Google Scholar.

49. Knox, The First Blast of the Trumpet, supra n. 5, at 25, 31.

50. Ponet, supra n. 3, at 3, 50.

51. Goodman, supra n. 4, at 11-12.

52. Beza, supra n. 6, at 64-65.

53. Ponet, supra n. 3, at 50.

54. Id. at 3.

55. Id.

56. See e.g. Jean Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion 1.2.3; 1.3.1; 1.3.3; 2.8.1; Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans 1:19; 1:21; 1:22; 2:14-15Google Scholar. 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; WLC 2, 60, 151Google Scholar) and seem to identify it with the moral law, which in turn is summarized in the Decalogue (see WCF 19.1-2; WLC 92, 98; WSC 40–41, 2006Google Scholar)). The Westminster Confession of Faith (Free Presbyterian Publications 1976)Google Scholar. 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.” See Turretin, Francis, Institutes of Elenctic Theology vol. 2, 7–18 (T. 11, Q.2) (Dennison, James T. Jr. ed., George Musgrave Giger trans., P&R 1994)Google Scholar.

57. Ponet, supra n. 3, at 3.

58. Brutus, supra n. 8, at 149; see also 104-105.

59. 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.

60. Brutus, supra n. 8, at 92 (footnote omitted).

61. Beza, supra n. 6, at 68. 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.

62. Brutus, supra n. 8, at 181.

63. Ponet, supra n. 3, at 4.

64. Id. at 4-5.

65. Beza, supra n. 6, at 68.

66. Brutus, supra n. 8, at 67.

67. Id. at 127.

68. Id. at 114.

69. Id. at 71.

70. Beza, supra n. 6, at 31.

71. Id. at 49.

72. Id. at 64-65.

73. Brutus, supra n. 8, at 138-140.

74. Goodman, supra n. 4, at 41-42; see also id. at 85.

75. Id. at 146-149.

76. Beza, supra n. 6, at 28.

77. Id. at 68.

78. Ponet, supra n. 3, at 50.

79. Knox, The First Blast of the Trumpet, supra n. 5, at 4, 8, and many similar statements elsewhere. Goodman repeats much of Knox's language. Goodman, supra n. 4, 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. See e.g. Burns, supra n. 18, at 146; Greaves, supra n. 13, at 157-158; Mason, supra n. 14, at 151. A number of contemporary scholars also have spoken positively about Knox's concrete relationships with women he knew. See e.g. Felch, Susan M., The Rhetoric of Biblical Authority: John Knox and the Question of Women, 26, no. 4Sixteenth Cent. J. 805–822 (1995)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Greaves, supra n. 13, at 160; Lamont, Stewart, The Swordbearer: John Knox and the European Reformation 88–92 (Hodder & Stoughton 1991)Google Scholar; Reid, supra n. 1, at 80-81.

80. Knox, The First Blast of the Trumpet, supra n. 5, at 8-9.

81. Knox, Knox and Mary Queen of Scots, in On Rebellion, supra n. 5, at 175, 178-179.

82. Brutus, supra n. 8, at 74-75.

83. Id. at 164-165.

84. Ponet, supra n. 3, at 50.

85. Hotman, supra n. 7, at 143.

86. Knox, supra n. 27, at 22-23.

87. 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. See id. at 16.

88. Brutus, supra n. 11, at 67.

89. Goodman, supra n. 4, at 158-159.

90. Brutus, supra n. 11, at 149.

91. Hotman, supra n. 7, at 415.

92. On the limitations of such appeals, see e.g. Beza, supra n. 6, at 83.

93. Id. at 33.

94. Ponet, supra n. 3, at 50; Goodman, supra n. 4, at 91, 92.

95. Beza, supra n. 6, at 80; Brutus, supra n. 8, at 181.

96. See Knox, The First Blast of the Trumpet, supra n. 5, at 9; Goodman, supra n. 4, at 155-156; Beza, supra n. 6, at 31, 54; Hotman, supra n. 7, at 155, 287; Brutus, supra n. 8, at 94, 98.

97. See Brutus, supra n. 8, at 156; Hotman, supra n. 7, at 399; Beza, supra n. 6, 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. See Knox, The First Blast of the Trumpet, supra n. 5, at 9-11.

98. Brutus, supra n. 8, at 111.

99. See Beza, supra n. 6, at 31; Brutus, supra n. 8, at 92, 102-103, 129; Hotman, supra n. 7, at 155, 201, 399, 401, 403, 405.

100. See Ponet, supra n. 4, at 21; Beza, supra n. 6, at 41-42; Brutus, supra n. 8, at 92-93, 94, 96, 102, 105, 181; Hotman, supra n. 7, at 155, 403, 405.

101. See e.g. Beza, supra n. 6, at 45-48.

102. Hotman, supra n. 7, at 143.

103. See id. at 201, 221, 237, 261, 289, 297, 323, 333, 399.

104. See e.g. Brutus, supra n. 8, at 57-58.

105. Id. at 80-89.

106. Id. at 94.

107. Knox, supra n. 27, at 9; Goodman, supra n. 4, at 144.

108. Beza, supra n. 6, at 73-74, 86; Brutus, supra n. 8, at 155.

109. For various articulations of this line of thought, see e.g. Lang, August, The Reformation and Natural Law, in Calvin and the Reformation: Four Studies 56–98 (Machen, J. Gresham trans., Fleming H. Revell 1909)Google Scholar; Barth, Karl, No!, in Brunner, Emil, Natural Theology 67–128 (Fraenkel, Peter trans., Geoffrey Bles: Centenary 1946)Google Scholar; Walzer, supra n. 18, at 30-31; Torrance, James, 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 (Schnucker, Robert V. ed., Sixteenth Cent. J. Publishers 1988)Google Scholar; Hesselink, I. John, Calvin's Concept of Law 67–70 (Pickwick 1992)Google Scholar; Fuchs, Josef, Natural Law: A Theological Investigation 10-11, 46-47, 62–63 (Reckter, Helmut, & Dowling, John A. trans., Sheed & Ward 1965)Google Scholar.

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