State, Church, and the Reformational Roots of Subsidiarity

Abstract

I trace here some (although certainly not all) of the antecedents in the Reformation and post-Reformation eras that stand behind more contemporary expressions of the doctrine of subsidiarity. This study focuses on two basic areas, or roots: the civil and the ecclesiastical. In the former case I examine thinkers identified in the so-called “Erastian” tradition of church-state relations, particularly the Reformer Wolfgang Musculus (an older contemporary of Erastus). On the ecclesiastical side, I examine the view of confessional documents in the Reformed tradition, particularly that of the Belgic Confession (1561). At issue here are what I have called the “Reformational roots” of subsidiarity, the antecedents to more contemporary and explicit expressions of the principle. This is a pre-press version of the article that does not include a few minor corrections.

Keywords: subsidiarity, natural law, reformation, political thought, ethics, theology