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This book explores how John Calvin and his Reformed colleagues were forced to adjust their theories and expectations concerning oaths and the conscience in their encounter with the practical problem of how the sphere of private judgment (i.e., the conscience) should relate to the demands of civil and church leaders for confessional uniformity in the service of public reform.
List of contents
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Notes on Translation and Texts
- Introduction
- Section One: Calvin and the Reformers' Inherited Legal Tradition
- Chapter 1: Before Calvin: Oaths, Religious Coercion, and the Freedom of Conscience from the Medieval Church to the Reformation
- Section Two: Answering Conscientious Objectors: Calvin and the Reformers Against Radical Dissent and Religious Compromise
- Chapter 2: Conscience, Confession, and the Consolidation of Early Public Reform in Strasbourg, 1530-1535
- Chapter 3: "Vera pietas veram confessionem parit": Confession, Conscience, and Charity in the Anti-Nicodemism of Calvin and the Reformers
- Chapter 4: Confession, Conscience, and Christian Freedom in the Later Anti-Nicodemite Writings of Calvin and the Reformers, 1540-1562
- Section Three: Oaths, Confessional Subscription, and the Binding of the Conscience in Reformation Geneva
- Chapter 5: Citizen's Oath and Confession of Faith in Reformation Geneva, 1536-1538: Necessary, indifferent, or a tertium quid?
- Chapter 6: "Make Them Afraid of Bearing False Witness": Oaths, Conscience, and Discipline in the Registers of the Genevan Consistory, 1541-1564
- Chapter 7: After Calvin: Oaths, Subscription, Conscience, and Compromise in the Genevan Academy, 1559-1612
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
About the author
Timothy R. Scheuers received his PhD in Historical Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary in 2021. He is presently an Adjunct Assistant Professor of History at Providence Christian College (Pasadena, CA), and the Associate Pastor of First United Reformed Church (Chino, CA). Scheuers' research and publications have focused on the theology and pastoral ministry of John Calvin, as well as various loci of systematic theology.
Summary
This book explores how John Calvin and his Reformed colleagues were forced to adjust their theories and expectations concerning oaths and the conscience in their encounter with the practical problem of how the sphere of private judgment (i.e., the conscience) should relate to the demands of civil and church leaders for confessional uniformity in the service of public reform.
Additional text
Pitkin's study provides a window into the historical consciousness of Calvin the exegete and reveals a sophisticated method of biblical interpretation that effectively rendered ancient texts relevant to the lives and faith of early modern believers.
