The Reception of Romans 13:1-7 during the English Reformation

This thesis is a reception history of the successive readings of Romans 13:1-7, and it reveals that St. Paul’s commands were ubiquitous in political and theological discourse during the English Reformation (c.1530-1603). This research demonstrates that Romans 13 is indispensable to understanding sixteenth-century debates touching politics and religion because it suffused the very immediate concerns of Christians such as the nature of spiritual and worldly power, duty, obedience, resistance, loyalty and conscience. This study examines an exhaustive collection of historical and contemporary sources in order to plot the reception. This approach differs greatly from past and present studies of the Reformation because it reveals the concrete interaction between the text and reader, and demonstrates how early modern political and religious thought were directed by interpretations of Romans 13.

In viewing the Reformation through the reception of Romans 13, this thesis recognises that the exegesis of the participants of the English Reformation was part of a continuous conversation. This appreciation in turn permits us to trace the response of each successive reader of Romans 13 and observe their application of it in their present. The interpretations of Paul’s commands during this period of religious antagonism generated radical theories concerning the nature of temporal and spiritual government. The interpretation of Scripture was a highly contested, and both sides of the religious divide sought to occupy the same ground: true obedience to God. Therefore, this thesis provides a unique lens to observe how early modern political and religious thought was directed by interpretations of Romans 13. As a consequence the voices of the participants are heard not only be through their contributions to the meaning of Scripture in their present but also in the momentous and lasting political concepts they forged.