Reformed Theology and Politics

RELIGION 1512 Subject & Catalog Number

Description

The Reformed Protestant tradition (including Calvinism and Neo-Calvinism) has had a long and complex relationship to politics, spanning from the tradition's sixteenth-century emergence in Europe during times of war, colonization, and state refiguration, to many subsequent political moments: the English Civil War, early American settler colonies; 19th-20th century socialism, fascism, and continued colonization in South Africa and Indonesia; later twentieth-century U.S. dominionism and Christian Reconstruction; and, most recently, specific articulations of Christian nationalism. This seminar will look at key theological writings from major Reformed authors, some of whom remain widely-read and some of whom are more obscure but nevertheless impactful. Authors may include: Calvin, Bucer, Voetius, Cocchius, Turretin, Rutherford, Schleiermacher, Kuyper, Barth, Van Til, Rushdoony, and others involved in contemporary conversations on Christian nationalism. The goal is for students to better understand: 1) how theological texts have constructed and advocated certain models of the human (in relation to God, creation, sin, and grace) in the aim of forming both persons and communities; (2) the implicit/explicit political implications of this pedagogical formations; and, thus, (3) a more nuanced working sense for how religious training can actively animate political sensibilities.  Offered jointly by Harvard Divinity School as HDS 2267.