Reformed/Presbyterian, Theology

Richard Baxter’s Political Theology

Taught by Dr. Michael Lynch and Timon Cline
Difficulty: Introductory
Crosslist: Theology
Runs 9/25 – 12/9/23
$225.00 – $399.00
Syllabus

This course will investigate Baxter’s political thought drawn from his expansive corpus, will expose students to the scope of seventeenth century reformed political commitments and assumptions, their continuity with the medieval period and their catholic contemporaries, and also provide normative correctives and suggestions for our modern context.

Deadline to register: Wednesday, September 13th

 

 

ENROLLMENT OPTIONS

Auditing ($225):

participate in readings and live class sessions, but no graded assignments and no course credit

Full course (Full-Time Discount) ($275):

for-credit courses (at least four per term) toward our Certificate or M.Litt in Classical Protestantism

Full course ($399):

individual classes on a for-credit basis; you can later apply them toward a Certificate or Degree

 

ENROLL NOW

Description

This Reformed/Presbyterian Studies course will be taught by Dr. Michael Lynch and Timon Cline, and will run from September 25th through December 9th. The syllabus is available here.

This course will investigate Richard Baxter’s (1615-1691) political thought drawn from his expansive corpus, will expose students to the scope of seventeenth century reformed political commitments and assumptions, their continuity with the medieval period and their catholic contemporaries, and also provide normative correctives and suggestions for our modern context. 

Special attention will be given to Baxter’s controversial Holy Commonwealth (1659), published only months prior to the Stuart restoration, and which he publicly denounced in 1670 before it was burned in 1683 in Oxford along with works of Hobbes and Milton. Excerpts from other works including Reliquiæ Baxterianæ, Catholick Theologie, and The Christian Directory—The Reformed Pastor will not be read—will also be examined to round out Baxter’s political assumptions and proscriptions: his opposition to modern theorists, his fundamentally illiberal mindset, and his vision of church, state, and international Protestant cooperation, and more will be presented and discussed.

Dr. Michael Lynch (PhD. Calvin Seminary) teaches Ancient Language and Humanities at Delaware Valley Classical School in New Castle, DE. He is the author of John Davenant’s Hypothetical Universalism: A Defense of Catholic and Reformed Orthodoxy. He and his wife have five children, three girls and two boys.

Timon Cline (JD, Rutgers Law School; MAR, Westminster Theological Seminary) is associate editor at American Reformer, Director of Scholarly Initiatives at the Hale Institute at New Saint Andrews College, a research fellow at the Craig Center at Westminster Theological Seminary, and an opinion contributor at World. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife and son.  

Details

Online only, runs 10 weeks, meeting 2 hr./wk. via Zoom. Students will also have the option to participate in class discussion on the Davenant Common Room Discord server. Register to reserve your spot and schedule will be set after a poll of participating students; if the class time does not fit your schedule, you will be eligible for a full refund.

This is a graduate-level course. Although a BA is not a necessary pre-requisite for this course, students should come prepared to do graduate-level work.