Reformed theology and politics
Date
2013
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Stellenbosch University
Abstract
The Reformed tradition has always been involved in political issues. In terms of this
perspective the views of two major Reformed theologians, John Calvin and Karl Barth, are
compared with opinions in early Christianity regarding the relation between Christians and
politics. Theologians in the early patristic period kept their distance from politics. Calvin
pleaded for sober involvement, while Barth eagerly calls for a prophetic participation in
the public sphere. These differences may be interpreted as a natural development related
to historical changes: from a persecuted community to the corpus christianum, and
subsequently to the challenge of a perverse political ideology, and the call for a response
in a new situation its defeat. From this perspective all three positions are understandable.
However, being true to the Reformed call ad fontes one must conclude that Barth’s theology
is totally different from both that of early Christianity and the New Testament. This calls for
a reconsideration of positions regarding the relation of church and politics.
Description
CITATION: Van de Beek, B. 2013. Reformed theology and politics. Nederduitse Gereformeerde Teologiese Tydskrif, 54(3-4):1-13, doi:10.5952/54-0-363.
The original publication is available at http://ngtt.journals.ac.za
The original publication is available at http://ngtt.journals.ac.za
Keywords
Christianity and politics
Citation
Van de Beek, B. 2013. Reformed theology and politics. Nederduitse Gereformeerde Teologiese Tydskrif, 54(3-4):1-13, doi:10.5952/54-0-363.