No Other Gods

Abstract

Reformed Protestants inherited older biblical and medieval understandings about the difference between civil rule and ecclesiastical authority which fostered a variety of responses to secularization. After the Reformation, Calvinists worked from received categories even as they adapted to a diverse set of political circumstances, sometimes being a persecuted minority, sometimes having unrestrained access to municipal governments, and sometimes disappointed with monarchs who promised more than they gave. Once the political revolutions of the eighteenth century upended the prevailing Constantinian pattern of ecclesiastical establishment (whether Roman Catholic or Protestant), Calvinists made even further adjustments to the sacred–secular distinction. Those adaptations contribute to ongoing debates about society, the church, and a Christian’s civic responsibilities. No matter how varied Calvinists have been in their responses to secularization, they are no stranger than other Christian communions that also struggle to make sense of Jesus Christ’s assertion that his ‘kingdom is not of this world’.