칼뱅의 정치적 유산: 존 낙스의 저항사상을 중심으로

Abstract

Calvin’s political ideas played decisive role to break down the feudal order of medieval times and open to democracy of modern times. Although Calvin disallowed the civic sovereignty, he asserted a civil disobedience to an immoral sovereign. As the civil disobedience meaned disobedience in a passive sense, he urged people to obey the dictatorial powers for their peace and stability. But he mentioned that people could depose an immoral sovereign only by the aid of Huguenotic council. In this sense, we can mention that Calvin’s political thought had pro-government tendency in a certain part. Calvin’s political thought was succeeded by Huguenots and proceeded in the direction of allowing the civic sovereignty partly and formed the thought of resistance by John Knox. John Knox was influenced by Calvin’s bilateral promise relations and Bullinger’s promise thought, so he formed his own promise thought system and claimed thought of resistance based on the promise thought. He regarded that the sovereign who ignored a worship of God and worshiped an idol committed the acts to destroy the promise of God, so the citizens needed not to obey to this sovereign and he emphasized the civil resistance against him. Knox’s thought of resistance tended to face Calvin’s political thought that stressed to obey partly the dictator for the maintenance of order even though he was a dictator, but Knox’s thought of resistance formed the same keynote with Huguenots’ one. Knox’s thought of resistance was the basis of the political thought of Puritan in England and contributed greatly to the theoretical formation of modern democracy.