Meeter Center Visiting Scholar Presentation

Republican, Imperialist, Radical, or Erastian?: Evaluating the Contribution of Martin Bucer to Reformed Political Thought

Martin Bucer’s De Regno Christi has been referred to as “the most comprehensive blueprint for a Christian society produced anywhere in the sixteenth-century Reformation.” In this unique work of political theology, the famed Alsatian Reformer advises a young king, Edward VI, on how he might “establish, foster and encourage the full restoration of the Kingdom of Christ among his subjects.”  Despite authoring one of the seminal works on political theology of the Reformation period, Martin Bucer’s legacy and contribution to Reformed political thought remains contested. This presentation will explore the various interpretative difficulties regarding Bucer’s political thought, and attempt to contextualize his thought within that of the Reformation, and within the spectrum of Reformed political theology.

Presented by Christian Finnigan, 2019 Emo Van Halsema Fellowship recipient and Ph. D. student in Religious Studies at McGill University

Refreshments served.

Location details

Fourth Floor of Hekman Library