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I've been reflecting upon @DavenantInst's Ad Fontes theme this year—Protestant political theology—and I realized how grateful I am for the remarkable contributions by so many people on this topic. It's been hard work, but there are now easily-accessible resources on historical
Protestant political theology, and applications of those resources. These are the ones that made it online.
@WBLittlejohn kicked off our year with an investigation of the Protestant nation, balancing "Hookerian nationalism and Althusian federalism." https://davenantinstitute.org/the-freedom-of-a-christian-nation/
@WBLittlejohn kicked off our year with an investigation of the Protestant nation, balancing "Hookerian nationalism and Althusian federalism." https://davenantinstitute.org/the-freedom-of-a-christian-nation/
Then @jake_meador gave an excellent and cogent and *non-authoritarian* defense of the common good. I'm especially grateful for his contribution because, without it, we'd be left only with a certain more-heat-and-less-light-generating Atlantic essay. https://davenantinstitute.org/why-we-need-the-common-good/
In the December issue, @ehutchinson1513 investigated the classical Protestant understanding of Church/state relations, particularly the magistrate's duty to promote true religion. But he also showed how this principle was adapted for the American context. https://davenantinstitute.org/nursing-fathers-the-magistrate-and-the-moral-law/
In that issue, @IVMiles demonstrated the nature and circumstances of American Protestantism's departure from this classical position, but also gestured at the reasons why such departure is understandable—and why there's probably no fully going back. https://davenantinstitute.org/the-promise-and-peril-of-disestablishment-baptist-and-reformed-political-theology-in-the-new-republic/
In March, Dr. Roberta Bayer's "The Art of Protestant Learning" examined the role Protestants believed education played forming virtuous citizens, men and women alike. https://davenantinstitute.org/on-the-art-of-protestant-learning-2/
Finally, @carringtonam laid out the crucial political virtue of prudence and showed how Protestants have historically understood its role in right rule and its relation to natural law. Now, more than ever, we need just this virtue. https://davenantinstitute.org/the-neglected-craft-prudence-in-reformed-political-thought/
Our un-themed essays have been equally compelling. Samuel Bray argued that corporate worship, and particularly liturgical worship rooted in *text*, is a key Anglican distinctive, and he clearly articulated the costs of departing from that understanding. https://davenantinstitute.org/the-shape-fallacy-the-book-of-common-prayer-as-text/
And @IfADoubleDecker wrote a poignant reflection on how the immortal poetry of the Protestant John Donne can accompany Protestants struggling with Protestant identity.
Thanks to you all. Of course, there is more to come. Stay tuned for our June 2020 issue! https://davenantinstitute.org/retrieving-john-donne
Thanks to you all. Of course, there is more to come. Stay tuned for our June 2020 issue! https://davenantinstitute.org/retrieving-john-donne
