Overview

Many studies have considered the Bible’s relationship to politics, but almost all have ignored the heart of its narrative and theology: the covenant. In this book, Glenn Moots explores the political meaning of covenants past and present by focusing on the theory and application of covenantal politics from the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries. Moots demands that we revisit political theology because it served as the most important school of politics in early modern Europe and America. He describes the strengths of the covenant tradition while also presenting its limitations and dangers. Contemporary political scientists such as Eric Voegelin, Daniel Elazar, and David Novak are called on to provide insight into both the covenant’s history and its relevance today. Moots’s work chronicles and critiques the covenant tradition while warning against both political ideology and religious enthusiasm. It provides an inclusive and objective outline of covenantal politics by considering the variations of Reformed theology and their respective consequences for political practice. This includes a careful account of how covenant theology took root on the European continent in the sixteenth century and then inspired ecclesiastical and civil politics in England, Scotland, and America. Moots goes beyond the usual categories of Calvinism or Puritanism to consider the larger movement of which both were a part. By integrating philosophy, theology, and history, Moots also invites investigation of broader political traditions such as natural law and natural right. Politics Reformed demonstrates how the application of political theology over three centuries has important lessons for our own dilemmas about church and state. It makes a provocative contribution to understanding foundational questions in an era of rising fundamentalism and emboldened secularism, inspiring readers to rethink the importance of religion in political theory and practice, and the role of the covenant tradition in particular.

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9780826222633

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Reviews

This remarkable overview of history and opinion regarding the political theory of the covenant will undoubtedly become a standard resource on the history of this topic. --Thomas Kidd, author of God of Liberty: A Religious History of the American Revolution Politics Reformed provides a clear and readable study of the idea of covenant in the Anglo-American setting. A particular contribution is its analysis of the place of the natural law tradition in Reformed political theology a tradition missed by many even within Reformed circles. --Jeffry H. Morrison, author of John Witherspoon and the Founding of the American Republic If you are engaged in America's current culture wars and you want to understand more of what is going on around you than you usually do, this book is the butterfly's boots. --Douglas Wilson, Blog & Mablog Moots expertly demonstrates how much the founding era's commitment to the social contract ideal owed to the Hebraic and Reformed Protestant commitment to the covenant. Most impressive, however, is the way he dissects the soteriological concerns that underlay the covenant ideal and connects them to the moderate church-state separation that is sanctioned. --Chris Beneke, American Historical Review Moots gives a detailed and erudite account of how covenantal theology both shaped political order and gave an account of how human beings could best be simultaneously religious and political. --Jeffrey Polet, Front Porch Republic Moots resurrects the existential God and God's covenant theology from their death at the hands of naturalistic theology. Moots's analysis of covenants yields a fascinating look at the infrequently studied but important legacy of reformed political theology. Highly Recommended. -Choice Moots's relatively brief work is a complex but rewarding account. It draws important connections between the theological framework of early modern Reformed thought and political theory and practice. --David A. Weir, Church History The mystery is not who killed God, or even who killed covenant as a political symbol and device. The truth emerges that they are not entirely dead. The mystery is, rather, whether God and covenant can be saved in the public realm and, if so, how and by whom? -William French, Voegelin View

"""Moots expertly demonstrates how much the founding era's commitment to the social contract ideal owed to the Hebraic and Reformed Protestant commitment to the covenant. Most impressive, however, is the way he dissects the soteriological concerns that underlay the covenant ideal and connects them to the moderate church-state separation that it sanctioned.""--Chris Beneke, American Historical Review ""This remarkable overview of history and opinion regarding the political theory of the covenant will undoubtedly become a standard resource on the history of this topic.""--Thomas Kidd, author of God of Liberty: A Religious History of the American Revolution ""Politics Reformed provides a clear and readable study of the idea of covenant in the Anglo-American setting. A particular contribution is its analysis of the place of the natural law tradition in Reformed political theology a tradition missed by many even within Reformed circles.""--Jeffry H. Morrison, author of John Witherspoon and the Founding of the American Republic ""If you are engaged in America's current culture wars and you want to understand more of what is going on around you than you usually do, this book is the butterfly's boots.""--Douglas Wilson, Blog & Mablog ""Moots gives a detailed and erudite account of how covenantal theology both shaped political order and gave an account of how human beings could best be simultaneously religious and political.""--Jeffrey Polet, Front Porch Republic ""Moots resurrects the existential God and God's covenant theology from their death at the hands of naturalistic theology. Moots's analysis of covenants yields a fascinating look at the infrequently studied but important legacy of reformed political theology. Highly Recommended.""-Choice ""Moots's relatively brief work is a complex but rewarding account. It draws important connections between the theological framework of early modern Reformed thought and political theory and practice.""--David A. Weir, Church History ""The mystery is not who killed God, or even who killed ""covenant"" as a political symbol and device. The truth emerges that they are not entirely dead. The mystery is, rather, whether God and covenant can be saved in the public realm and, if so, how and by whom?""-William French, Voegelin View"

Author Information

Glenn A. Moots is Associate Professor of Political Science and Philosophy at Northwood University.

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