The Emergence of Liberty in the Modern World

by Douglas F. Kelly

Kelly examines five church-state relations over a three-century period to show the impact of Calvin's thought on civil government.

". . . an excellent book . . . on a subject which needs elucidation . . . [Kelly's] interpretation is right on target. He manifests a breadth of reading as well as in-depth understanding." ~William S. Barker

Genres: History, Theology, Nonfiction, Politics, Church History, American History, Historical

168 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1992

About the author

Dr. Kelly is the Professor of Theology Emeritus. Dr. Kelly received his B.A. from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Diploma from the University of Lyon, his B.D. from the Union Theological Seminary, and his Ph. D. from the University of Edinburgh. He is the author of many written works including, If God Already Knows, Why Pray?, Preachers with Power: Four Stalwarts of the South, New Life in the Wasteland, Creation and Change, and The Emergence of Liberty in the Modern World. His firm grasp of multiple languages and his theological competence are capably demonstrated in translating such works as Sermons by John Calvin on II Samuel. He is serving with David Wright of the University of Edinburgh as a general editor for a revision of Calvin’s Old Testament Commentaries. Before joining the faculty at RTS, Dr. Kelly traveled extensively throughout the world preaching and teaching. He was also enlisted to serve on the Jurisprudence project of The Christian Legal Society and serves on the Credentials Committee of the Central Carolina Presbytery.

Reviews

[W. Littlejohn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mediocre at its best moments and inexcusable at its worst, this book managed to disappoint my already-low expectations for it. The general objective, it appears, is the rather tired partisan narrative about how Calvinism specifically laid the groundwork for the emergence of modern liberties, without which we would all, I suppose, still be sweating under oppressive absolute monarchies. Unfortunately, Kelly is just a bit too responsible a historian to give us such a coherent narrative. That is to say, if he were shamelessly committed to propagandism, he could've glossed over the discontinuities between the various actors in his narrative—Calvin, the Huguenots, the Scots Presbyterians, the Elizabethan Puritans, the American Founders—but he isn't quite willing to do this. As a result, the attentive reader will notice that the actual teachings of Calvin that are surveyed seem to provide little foundation indeed for the emergence of liberty, and that it was by a substantial alteration of these teachings (and, it often seems, actually by the substitution of a political-philosophical rather than theological foundation) that some of Calvin's successor argued for the liberties they did.

Note that I actually think there is a case to be made for the "Calvinism leads to liberty" argument, but to make it intelligently, one has to wade into theological depths rather than merely skimming off the surface, and one has to be attentive to the varied trajectories of different forms of "Calvinism."

As it is, nearly all of the historical claims in this book are oversimplistic, and some are frankly baffling. A number of the theological concepts involved (most conspicuously, of course, Calvin's two-kingdoms doctrine) are also seriously confused. Of course, the main thing to be said in defense of this book is that it is intended as an essentially popular-level, rather than scholarly argument. That's fine. But responsible popularizers must write from a wide and deep historical knowledge; they must be distilling their competent grasp of the material into a simplified form. In this case, Kelly exhibits no such knowledge base. His use of secondary literature is extraordinarily uncritical; indeed, he sometimes depends heavily on sources that were over 100 years old at the time he was writing, and at other times simply quotes from himself when he wishes to make a particularly insupportable claim (such as his absurd remarks about Hooker).

The chief value of this book (and the main reason I bothered to read it) is that it provides a helpful example of the bastardized two-kingdoms doctrine serving to support a facile narrative of Calvinism's contribution to political institutions. "Calvin taught two kingdoms, a separation of church and state, we are told, and so established the basis for religious liberty. Hooray!" Um, well, not exactly.

[Sean Kewley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite what the most knuckle-headed naysayers would say about Kelly's thesis, Calvinism did indeed bring about much of our modern liberty. Of course, it wasn't the only responsible party, but secular humanism can't take credit for the good works God has done through Calvinist Hugonauts, Genevans, Dutch, Puritans, Covenantors, Westminsters, and of course, early Americans.

The book was dry but the thesis is fundamental.

[Douglas Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good.

[Tim Wilder]

Neglects the medieval background, which explains the emergence of liberty more than Calvin does.

[Seth · Rating 3 out of 5]

The basic premise of this book is that the philosophical and theological seeds of a doctrine of religious liberty and its relationship with state power were developed first by John Calvin, and that his ideas so saturated and infiltrated the climate of Western thought that many today don't even recognize his influence.

After discussing Calvin's theological developments, the author describes how the French Huguenots in the late sixteenth century took Calvin's ideas and expanded on them, recasting them in the language of natural secular rights. Running in parallel, Scotsman theologian John Knox expanded Calvin's ideas further and developed a theology that practically obligated Christians to defy a government that oversteps its boundaries. Next, the history of medieval-to-modern England is a story of theological factions warring over the source and development of political authority and its relationship to the church. Eventually, the Puritans abandoned Europe (to a degree) and brought to a young America their views about state power. One of the basic theological issues underlying the American Revolution concerned whether all political power flows from the people to Parliament--meaning that the state exercised authority over the church--or whether church and state are independent of each other, complementary in authority. The latter view--which both caused the war and served as a foundational conception of modern American liberty--was thoroughly the intellectual fruit of Calvin's ideas going back to Geneva in the mid-sixteenth century.

This American system [...] which provided historically unprecedented civil and religious liberties [...] drew from many sources, including secular Enlightenment thought, but the Calvinist outworking of the two-powers view of church and state was prominent in the process. [...] The two-powers view contributed much to the American establishment of consent of the governed, covenant or constitutional limitations of all civil power and all institutions, being seen in terms of God's transcendent law, checks and balances of power in the political and legal structure, liberty of conscience, and the inalienable right to resist tyranny, no matter how powerful or legal its pretensions" (141).

I wavered between interest and boredom while reading this book, but I'm inclined to attribute any disinterest to my own insufficient knowledge and understanding of European history. The discussion of Puritan England in particular got pretty dense, but the chapter on colonial America was my favorite. I wouldn't really recommend this to anyone unless they already have a solid grasp on European religious history, but I'm glad I read it.

[Adam T. Calvert · Rating 2 out of 5]

The title seemed intriguing; but perhaps the author is trying to cram too much into too short of a book. (Or perhaps I'm just not cut out for this kind of book).

I've finally finished the book but do not feel any more prepared to defend the thesis that democratic republic government has its foundation and roots pretty much in John Calvin and Presbyterianism. That may be the actual case (I even kind of hope it is...), but I couldn't see how the arguments in this book led to that conclusion.

Though I'm not sure if it's me or the author, for one reason or the other I can't consider this a "good read."

[Rick Hogaboam · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good introductory volume with plenty of footnotes to send the still-hungry reader to more specifically detailed works. I was particularly interested in the American Colonies and find myself wanting to read more on John Witherspoon.

[Adam Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite good as an overview.

[Chris Griffith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ought to be read by every high school student in America. A wonderful survey of Calvinistic thought on governement from Geneva in the 16th century to early America.

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative and helpful. Admittedly, it's a short book, so it's more of an introductory text, a prelude to further study, but an important introduction nevertheless.

[Jeremy]

Recommended here.

[Ak Hauck · Rating 3 out of 5]

Makes a great introduction to the impact of Calvinism on the Western world, and political implications of theological philosophy. Would be a good start for high schoolers especially.