Protestantism, Revolution and Scottish Political Thought

The first comparative analysis of royalist and Covenanter political thought within a cross-confessional European context During the Scottish Revolution (1637-1651), royalists and Covenanters appealed to Scottish law, custom and traditional views on kingship to debate the limits on King Charles I's authority. However, they also engaged with the political, legal and ecclesiological ideas of 16th - and 17th-century Protestant and Catholic authors beyond the British Isles. This book explores the under-examined European context for Scottish political thought, analysing how royalists and Covenanters adapted Lutheran, Calvinist and Catholic ideas to their own debates about church and state. By focusing on Covenanted Scotland (a location often overlooked in histories of early modern political thought), this book provides a critical new perspective on how ecclesiological concerns informed the advancement of political ideas commonly associated with secularisation and the modern state. In doing so, it also demonstrates the diversity of intellectual traditions underlying the religious and political transformations of this revolutionary period in Scottish history. Key Features - Provides a comprehensive examination of the intellectual traditions underlying the Scottish Revolution. - Highlights the diversity of early modern Scottish intellectual culture by comparing royalist and Covenanter ideas about church and state. - Situates Scottish political thought in a cross-confessional and transnational European context (rather than an exclusively British, Scottish or Reformed one). - Challenges secularisation narratives by examining intrinsic connections between ecclesiology and political thought. - Demonstrates interdisciplinary engagement with political thought, theology and philosophy. Karie Schultz is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the University of St Andrews.