Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-03T18:37:22.515Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

5 - Political Change and Theological Discourse

from Part One - Theology in an Age of Cultural Transformation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 September 2023

By
Kenneth G. Appold
Edited by
Kenneth G Appold  and
Nelson Minnich
Kenneth G Appold
Affiliation:
Princeton Theological Seminary, New Jersey
Nelson Minnich
Affiliation:
Catholic University of America, Washington DC
Get access

Summary

The development of theological discourse during the Reformation period coincided with epochal shifts in Europe’s political culture. Church-state relations were redefined, traditional social hierarchies saw themselves challenged, cities demanded greater autonomy while princes sought greater authority, Europeans encountered entirely new worlds, and Christians tried to reimagine their churches. All of these dynamics impacted theological discourse. They forced theologians to take up new topics, explore new fields, and reexamine traditional doctrines. The opposite is true, as well: theological ideas instigated changes and drove political dynamics, both directly and indirectly, wittingly and unwittingly.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge History of Reformation Era Theology , pp. 74 - 94
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Appold, Kenneth G. Orthodoxie als Konsensbildung: Das theologische Disputationswesen an der Universität Wittenberg zwischen 1570 und 1710. Tübingen, 2004.Google Scholar
Bouwsma, William J. The Waning of the Renaissance 1550–1640. New Haven and London, 2000.Google Scholar
Hamilton, Bernice. Political Thought in Sixteenth-Century Spain: A Study of the Political Ideas of Vitoria, De Soto, Suárez, and Molina. Oxford, 1963.Google Scholar
Höpfl, Harro. Jesuit Political Thought: The Society of Jesus and the State, c. 1540–1630. Cambridge, 2004.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Littlejohn, W. Bradford and Kindred-Barnes, Scott N., eds. Richard Hooker and Reformed Orthodoxy. Göttingen, 2017.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O’Donovan, Oliver and Lockwood O’Donovan, Joan, eds. From Irenaeus to Grotius: A Sourcebook in Christian Political Thought 100–1625. Grand Rapids and Cambridge, 1999.Google Scholar
Roth, John D. and Stayer, James M., eds. A Companion to Anabaptism and Spiritualism, 1521–1700. Leiden and Boston, 2007.Google Scholar
Skinner, Quentin. The Foundations of Modern Political Thought, 2 vols. Cambridge, 1998 [1978].Google Scholar
Tierney, Brian. The Crisis of Church and State 1050–1300. Toronto, Buffalo, and London, 1988.Google Scholar
Tutino, Stefania. Empire of Souls: Roberto Bellarmine and the Christian Commonwealth. Oxford, 2010.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×