A Demonstrative Theory of Natural Law: Johannes Althusius and the Rise of Calvinist Jurisprudence

in Deirdre King Hainsworth and Scott R. Paeth, eds., Public Theology for a Global Society: Essays in Honor of Max L. Stackhouse (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2009), 21-36

Emory Legal Studies Research Paper

14 Pages Posted: 15 Jun 2011 Last revised: 9 Feb 2020

Date Written: June 12, 2011

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.

Keywords: Calvinism, Althusius, Calvin, natural law, natural rights

Suggested Citation

Witte, John, A Demonstrative Theory of Natural Law: Johannes Althusius and the Rise of Calvinist Jurisprudence (June 12, 2011). in Deirdre King Hainsworth and Scott R. Paeth, eds., Public Theology for a Global Society: Essays in Honor of Max L. Stackhouse (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2009), 21-36, Emory Legal Studies Research Paper, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1863623

John Witte (Contact Author)

Emory University School of Law ( email )

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