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A Demonstrative Theory of Natural Law: Johannes Althusius and the Rise of Calvinist Jurisprudenc
- Author(s):
- John Witte, Jr. (see profile)
- Date:
- 2009
- Subject(s):
- Calvin, Jean, 1509-1564
- Item Type:
- Book chapter
- Tag(s):
- Natural rights, Decalogue, universal law, ius naturale, ius gentium, Law and religion, natural law, Johannes Althusius, Calvinism, John Calvin
- Permanent URL:
- http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/gkw9-ds38
- Abstract:
- Early modem Calvinists produced a rich tradition of natural law and natural rights thought that shaped the law and politics of Protestant lands. The German-born Calvinist jurist Johannes Althusius produced one of the most original Calvinist natural law theories at the turn of the seventeenth century. Althusius argued for the natural qualities of a number of basic legal norms and practices by demonstrating their near universal embrace by classical and biblical, Catholic and Protestant, theological and legal communities alike. On this foundation, he developed a complex theory of public, private, penal and procedural rights and duties for his day, to be embraced by everyone, particularly by those who were slaughtering each other in religious wars, persecutions and inquisitions. Althusius' theory of natural law and natural rights was Calvinist in inspiration but universal in aspiration, and it anticipated the political formulations of a number of later Western writers, including Locke, Rousseau and Madison.
- Metadata:
- xml
- Published as:
- Book chapter
- Status:
- Published
- Last Updated:
- 4 years ago
- License:
- All Rights Reserved
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