title: Reformed yet Catholic: the ecclesiology of Samuel Rutherford reflecting conciliarism, the Scottish banding tradition, and Covenant theology
Creators: name: Lee, Jaekook
Publisher: name: The University of Edinburgh
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Samuel Rutherford
subject: National Covenant
subject: doctrine of the church
subject: ecclesiology
subject: covenant theology
subject: seventeenth-century Scotland
subject: Conciliarism
subject: Westminster Assembly

description: The ecclesiastical polemics of Samuel Rutherford (1600-1661), champion of the Scots Presbyterian Covenanters, has been criticised for inconsistency. It has been argued that Rutherford’s anti-tolerationism rejecting the Independent appeal for the liberty of conscience seems inconsistent with his resistance theory, which affirms the right of the people based on their conscience. Also, scholars have asserted that Rutherford’s doctrine of Two Kingdoms, which separates the church and state, appears contradictory in that he allowed the active intervention of church ministers in the civil polity, particularly by requiring the coercion of the magistrates against religious toleration. Furthermore, his rejection of the decision of the General Assembly, which readmitted the Engagers, was regarded as abandoning his earlier Augustinian view of the visible church as a mixed body and the Presbyterian principle of the authority of synods. Rutherford’s ecclesiology, however, remains understudied, even though it is a key to understanding his polemics. This study aims at a balanced understanding of Rutherford’s ecclesiastical polemics by exploring the principal theological emphasis of his ecclesiology, which is proposed to be the soteriological role of the visible church. Thus, this thesis offers a comprehensive survey of his ecclesiological works and ecclesiastical disputes. To understand Rutherford’s doctrine of the church, not only does this study explore the historical context of his ecclesiastical polemics, but it also surveys the intellectual context, particularly relevant contemporary ideas that he significantly utilised: Conciliarism, covenant theology, and religio-political covenanting in Scotland. The ecclesiological links of these ideas and their mutual connections in early modern Scotland have been noted but mainly remain under-researched. It also evaluates other related aspects of his ecclesiology, which naturally emerge from this research. Thus, it assesses theological, particularly Christological, Trinitarian, and Augustinian, aspects of Rutherford’s covenantal ecclesiology as well as its distinctive Scottish character, which shows how these ideas shaped the Reformed tradition in early modern Scotland. The structure of this study is chronological. The first two chapters focus on a contextual survey, particularly of the development of the Conciliarist tradition, religio-political covenanting, and covenant theology in Scotland from the late medieval to the early modern period. Chapter 1 asserts that the Conciliarist movement from the late fourteenth century to the early sixteenth century impacted the intellectual milieu of Scotland via the link of the early Scottish universities with the Conciliarist universities in continental Europe. Not only did some key figures such as John Ireland, William Elphinstone, and John Mair embrace important Conciliarist ideas, but they also applied those ideas to their political thought and to ecclesiastical practice in the Scottish context. Chapter 2 argues that the Reformation emphasis on the supreme authority of Scripture did not exclude existing traditions but accommodated them. This is well shown in the transformation of the late medieval banding tradition, practised by Scottish people for various purposes such as limiting political power and bonding a community, into the religio-political covenanting, by which Scots Reformers justified their resistance theory. It is suggested that the development of covenant theology based on the emphasis on Scripture provided a theological basis to support this transformation. This chapter also demonstrates that Protestant Scotland in the sixteenth century, particularly the political thought of John Knox and George Buchanan and the development of Reformation ecclesiology, accommodated Conciliarism. The following two chapters pay particular attention to Rutherford’s ecclesiological polemics between the early and mid-1640s, especially during the Westminster Assembly. Chapter 3 mainly explores Rutherford’s A Peaceable and Temperate Plea (1642). It asserts that the soteriological emphasis of Rutherford’s doctrine of the visible church, especially the role of the ministerial church, was the key to understanding his Reformed accommodation of Conciliarism. This emphasis led Rutherford, contrary to many English Presbyterians, to refuse the Conciliarist view on the power of the keys. By contrast, Rutherford’s doctrine of the ministerial church, which upholds the Augustinian doctrine of the mixed nature of the visible church, is parallel with Conciliarist ecclesiology, particularly that of Jean Gerson. Also, this doctrine underscores Christ as legislator and the efficacy of church ministry based on the work of the Triune God, not on the holiness of ministers, which shows a Christocentric and Trinitarian aspect of his ecclesiology. Chapter 4 focuses on Rutherford’s The Due Right of Presbyteries (1644) as the main source. It asserts that his doctrines of the Catholic or universal visible church, the role of synods, and the Two Kingdoms reveal the further soteriological and pastoral aspect of Rutherford’s ecclesiological polemics in the Westminster Assembly. It also demonstrates that his accommodation of Conciliarism, particularly Gerson’s hierarchical church, in relation to those doctrines is based on his salvific concern. Rutherford’s doctrine of the Catholic visible church and the authority of synods affirms the Augustinian view of the mixed body and highlights Christ as king and the participation of the Trinity in synods. The last two chapters in particular survey Rutherford’s ecclesiastical conflicts from the late 1640s to the early 1660s until his death. Chapter 5 mainly utilises Rutherford’s The Divine Right of Church-Government (1646), A Free Disputation against Pretended Liberty of Conscience (1649), and The Covenant of Life Opened (1655). It demonstrates Rutherford’s covenantal framework which integrated covenant theology with religio-political covenanting and ecclesiology. It provides a balanced understanding of his resistance theory, anti-tolerationism, and Two Kingdoms doctrine. It also offers a holistic understanding of Rutherford’s soteriological accommodation of the Conciliarist ideas concerning consent and the relationship between the church and state. Rutherford’s covenantal framework affirms the salvation achieved by Christ based on the decree of the Triune God without diminishing the necessity of human obedience. In this way, Rutherford’s view reflecting the Scottish banding tradition preserves the Reformation emphasis on Solus Christus and the Augustinian emphasis on grace. The last chapter focuses on his A Survey of the Survey that Summe of Church-Discipline (1658) as well as utilising his other ecclesiological works. It demonstrates the consistency between Rutherford’s ecclesiology and his rejection of the Public Resolution of 1650 and 1651 which advocated readmitting the Engagers. It shows diverse views on the mixed nature of the visible church among early modern Reformed theologians, rooted in their different emphasis on the unity of the church and its purity. Rutherford’s doctrines of the ministerial church, the authority and role of synods, and his covenantal framework offer a balanced understanding of his view on unity and purity. Based on his belief in these issues, Rutherford accommodated Conciliarism, particularly Gerson’s doctrine of the purity and unity of the church, the principle of epikeia, and the moderate Basel Conciliarist view against the majority rule. Furthermore, this chapter shows a Trinitarian aspect of this framework, in which all believers entered the baptismal covenant with God, and its Christocentric emphasis affirming Christ as the priest who secures the salvation of the elect and as the king who orders discipline in the church. Thus, not only does this study reveal the soteriological and pastoral character of Rutherford’s covenantal ecclesiology reflecting the early and medieval church tradition, the Reformed tradition, and the Scottish intellectual traditions as a key to understanding his ecclesiastical polemics, but it also shows the Christocentric and Trinitarian emphasis of his doctrine of the church, which underscores divine sovereignty in church life while affirming the necessity of human obedience based on his covenantal framework. In this study, we can see Reformed yet Catholic features of Rutherford’s Presbyterianism, which developed in the post-Reformation period in the context of the distinctive intellectual milieu in Scotland.