There are few areas where the church today falls so far short of our Protestant forefathers as the field of political thought. For the Reformers, their 17th-century successors, and indeed thoughtful Protestants right up through the last century, the vocations of minister and magistrate may have been strictly separate, but the accomplished theologian was usually a master of jurisprudence and political philosophy as well. Many wrote classic treatments in both the fields of theology and law, with a keen sense of both the distinctions of these disciplines and their unity. Today's Protestants are rarely so fortunate, with most evangelical engagements with political theology betraying a painful naiveté and a profound historical myopia. Together, the essays in this volume challenge us to recognize the breadth and depth of our heritage of Protestant political wisdom, and the complexity and contingency of civic life to which its principles must be artfully applied, which rules out any attempt to inscribe any particular instance of Christian politics as a model for all time. May they also provoke renewed reflection on how to faithfully apply our Protestant principles to the challenges facing our polities today.

For Law and for Liberty: Essays on the Trans-Atlantic Legacy of Protestant Political Thought

History

World

Davenant Press, The

Richard Hooker’s Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity is one of the great landmarks of Protestant theological literature, and indeed of English literature generally, but is scarcely read today on account of its difficult and archaic style. The time has come to translate it into modern English so that Hooker may teach a new generation of churchmen and Christian leaders about law, reason, Scripture, church, and politics. In this initial offering of a multi-year translation project by the Davenant Trust, we present a short and accessible sample of Richard Hooker’s profound insight and rhetorical genius, in the form of his Preface to the work. This wide-ranging discourse on the psychology of religious and political radicalism, and the need to balance the demands of conscience with legal order, is much more than a mere preface, with startlingly relevant insights for the church and the task of Christian citizenship today.

Radicalism: When Reform Becomes Revolution: The Preface to Hooker's Laws: A Modernization

Religion & Spirituality

Littlejohn, Dr. W. Bradford

Hooker, Richard

Marr, Mr. Brian D.

Belschner, Mr. Bradley G.

Christian Books & Bibles

In recent decades, the ideal of pacifism has gone from the margins to the mainstream, first among liberal Protestantism and more recently among evangelicals as well. Frustrated with the misguided militarism of the Christian Right, many young Christians have turned to the works of Stanley Hauerwas, and John Howard Yoder, seeking a more authentic way to walk in the way of Jesus. In this book, Andrew Fulford shows that these arguments, while well-intentioned, fail to take seriously the whole biblical witness and even the teaching of Jesus, and recommends that contemporary Christians troubled by the scourge of violence look instead to the magisterial Protestant just war tradition.

Jesus and Pacifism: An Exegetical and Historical Investigation (Davenant Guides)

Fulford, Andrew A.

What does it mean to live as citizens of this world and of the world-to-come? How can we render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s? In recent years, fresh controversy has erupted over these age-old questions, and especially over the meaning and relevance of the Reformation’s “two-kingdoms” doctrine. At stake in such debates is not simply the shape of Christian politics, but the meaning of the church, the nature of human and divine authority, and the scope of Christian discipleship.In this concise guide, Reformation scholar and Christian ethicist Bradford Littlejohn first sketches the history of the doctrine and clears away common misunderstandings. He then shows that the two-kingdoms doctrine can offer a valuable framework for thinking about pastoring, politics, and even financial stewardship.

The Two Kingdoms: A Guide for the Perplexed (Davenant Guides)

The Reformed tradition today often carries a reputation for narrowness and dogmatism, rather than breadth and diversity. But it was not always so. In the early modern era, the Reformed family of churches boasted not merely a host of theological luminaries of the highest rank, but a remarkable diversity of viewpoints on church polity, ethics, sacraments, and even matters like atonement theology. At their best, they charitably debated these differences within a shared confessional framework, offering examples for Protestants today of how to pursue the maxim, “in essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity.” The essays in this volume, based on papers presented at the Davenant Trust's 4th Annual Convivium Irenicum, offer an introduction to the theological rigor and surprising breadth of the early Reformed tradition.

Beyond Calvin: Essays on the Diversity of the Reformed Tradition

Richard Hooker’s Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity is one of the great landmarks of Protestant theological literature, and indeed of English literature generally. However, on account of its difficult and archaic style, it is scarcely read today. The time has come to translate it into modern English so that Hooker may teach a new generation of churchmen and Christian leaders about law, reason, Scripture, church, and politics. In this second volume of an ongoing translation project by the Davenant Trust, we present Book I of Hooker’s Laws, for which he is perhaps most famous. Here he offers a sweeping overview of his theology of law, law being that order and measure by which God governs the universe, and by which all creatures—and humans above all—conduct their lives and affairs. In an age when the idea of natural creation order is under wholesale attack, even within the church, Hooker’s luminous treatment of the relation of Scripture and nature, faith and reason is a priceless and urgently-needed gift to the church.

Divine Law and Human Nature: Book I of Hooker's Laws: A Modernization

The doctrine of the church is often perceived as the weakest link in Protestant theology. These essays argue, on the contrary, that the Reformers’ radical re-thinking of the definition of the church is one of the Reformation’s greatest treasures. Not only is “mere Protestant” ecclesiology firmly in concert with the multifaceted biblical witness, but it is also manifestly in accord with natural reason and the lived experience of Christians throughout the ages. As we celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, this volume seeks to honor the Protestant heritage by remembering, reclaiming, and critically reflecting upon the relationship between the gospel promise and the community which it calls into being."Conventional wisdom holds that just as Protestantism supposedly fractured the church into churches, so it fractured ecclesiology into ecclesiologies. This spirited volume argues the opposite: that the magisterial reformers in fact advanced a single, powerful, coherent, and biblical account of the essence of the church focused on the gospel. With remarkable restraint, the authors of People of the Promise decline to be distracted as they retrieve Protestantism’s core ecclesiology. Readers may experience the shock of recognition to find that not only have they seen this ecclesiology before, they are inhabiting it. This retrieval should strengthen us to inhabit it more amply." — Fred Sanders, Torrey Honors Institute, Biola University

People of the Promise: A Mere Protestant Ecclesiology

Reformation Theology: A Reader of Primary Sources with Introductions

Few episodes in Western history have so shaped our world as the Protestant Reformation and the counter-Reformations which accompanied it. The Reformation tore the seamless garment of Western Christendom in two, pitting king and pope, laity and clergy, Protestant and Catholic against one another. But it was also a firestorm tearing through an old, stagnant, and dying forest, sowing the seeds for a burst of new and newly diverse life.To understand why the Reformation unfolded as it did, we must understand the ideas that were so forcefully articulated, opposed, and debated by Protestants and Catholics. For Protestant or Catholic believers in our own forgetful age, the need to understand these disputed doctrines, and the logic and coherence that linked them together, is all the more imperative. This is what this volume seeks to offer for the first time: a primary source reader focused squarely on the theological questions that drove the Reformation.Beginning with the first rumblings of conflict in the late medieval period and continuing until the solidification of Protestant confessions in the early 17th century, this collection of thirty-two texts brings the modern reader face-to-face with the key men whose convictions helped shape the course of history. Concise historical introductions accompanying each text bring these writings to life by recounting the stories and conflicts that gave birth to these texts, and highlighting the enduring themes that we can glean from them.KEY TOPICS INCLUDE The doctrine of the church, and its relation to the state; the doctrine of the eucharist, and transubstantiation in particular; the doctrine of justification sola fide and the place of works; the meaning of the Protestant commitment to sola Scriptura; and others.KEY AUTHORS INCLUDE Marsilius of Padua, John Wycliffe, Erasmus of Rotterdam, Martin Luther, Thomas More, John Calvin, The Council of Trent, Thomas Cranmer, Richard Hooker, Robert Belllarmine, and many more.

Roberts, Jonathan

Littlejohn, Bradford

After an age of original integrity, the doctrine of divine simplicity fell from grace. Once a cornerstone of orthodox Christianity’s doctrine of God, many modern theologians expelled it from the garden for the sin of employing passé Platonic and Aristotelian metaphysics. But was the doctrine of divine simplicity’s fall deserved? Is it unreasonable to hold that God is metaphysically without parts? Is the Lord really one? Rather than dismiss the challenges leveled against divine simplicity, The Lord is One engages them, presenting exegetical, historical, and theological treatments of divine simplicity. This volume argues that the doctrine of divine simplicity is cogent and indispensable while also making space for historically marginalized or idiosyncratic articulations of it. After all, once expelled from paradise, nothing returns exactly as it was.

The Lord is One: Reclaiming Divine Simplicity (Davenant Retrievals)

Peterson, Derrick

Duby, Steven J.

Duguid, James

Minich, Joseph

Haines, David

Rigney, Joe

Greeley, Nathan

Moser, J. David

Wedgeworth, Steven

Review\n"Without Excuse: Scripture, Reason, and Presuppositional Apologetics is an important contribution to the ongoing presuppositionalism-evidentialism debate. Particularly impressive is the depth of historical scholarship represented by many of the included essays. If readers should feel uncomfortable with the heavily Reformed orientation of most of its contributors, a suitable response would be the simple fact that presuppositionalism (with its attendant evils) has generally been promulgated by theologians and philosophers of Reformed persuasion. This book is a "must" read for serious Christian apologists, whatever their school of thought." 
- John Warwick Montgomery, Professor emeritus of Law and Humanities, University of Bedfordshire; Professor-at-Large, 1517; The Legacy Project Director, International Academy of Apologetics\n"Recent work in Protestant theology and apologetics has often assumed that in order to be truly Protestant or Reformed one must be suspicious of older Christian conceptions of the relationship between faith and reason or nature and grace. Under the influence of figures like Cornelius Van Til, this has sometimes led to misguided theological conclusions and misguided views of how Christian theology should be done in the first place. But Reformed Protestants are increasingly pushing back against narrow (and novel) ideas of what it means to be Reformed. This set of essays makes a significant contribution to that effort, covering a wide range of topics in ways that are sure to help us think more carefully about how to expound and defend the catholic faith in the twenty-first century." - Steven Duby, Associate Professor of Theology at Grand Canyon University\nThe twentieth century was unkind to classical Reformed theology. While theological conservatives often blame liberals for undermining traditional Protestant doctrines, the staunchest conservatives and neo-Orthodox also revised several key doctrines. Although Cornelius Van Til developed presuppositional apologetics as an attempt to remain faithful to timeless Christian truth as the Reformed tradition expresses it, he sacrificed the catholic and Reformed understanding of the use of natural revelation in theology and apologetics in the process."The invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made...so that they are without excuse," writes the Apostle Paul. Without Excuse seeks to grapple with this indictment and show how Van Til's presuppositionalism fails as an account of natural revelation in light of Scripture, philosophy, and historical theology. It argues that these three sources speak with one voice: creation reveals itself and its God to the believer and unbeliever alike. Contributors: J.T. Bridges, Travis James Campbell, Winfried Corduan, John DePoe, John R. Gillhooly, Nathan Greeley, David Haines, Kurt Jaros, M. Dan Kemp, Bernard James Mauser, Joseph Minich, Andrew Payne, Thomas Schultz, Manfred Svensson.

Without Excuse: Scripture, Reason, and Presuppositional Apologetics

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