The reformer of Geneva, John Calvin (1509-1564) affirmed a greater distinction between the roles of the church and the state in his formulation of the two kingdoms than many of his contemporaries, which perhaps reflects the contentious relationship he often had with the Genevan civil authorities. Nevertheless, he still sees these civil and spiritual governments…

In formulating their doctrine of two kingdoms for the governance of the world, the magisterial reformers envisioned a close, reciprocal relationship between these two institutions. In this excerpt from Urbanus Rhegius (1489-1541) in response to Anabaptism, the Lutheran theologian argues that in their role of administering the temporal world, leaders are nevertheless to seek the…

While the Protestant Reformers regularly criticized the Roman Catholic church for its indulgence in worldly affairs, these criticisms were not only external. This can be seen in the following excerpt from Johann Eck (1487–1543), an early opponent of Martin Luther. Here, the Catholic theologian articulates similar criticisms, arguing that many leaders of the church have…

Building on Augustine’s thought in The City of God, the political theology of most of the magisterial Reformers was some form of the “two kingdoms” doctrine as this excerpt from Philipp Melanchthon (1497–1560) shows. Here, he teaches that God ordained two distinct governments in the world—the temporal and the spiritual—and that both were essential and…