Participation, Democracy, and the Split in Revolutionary Calvinism, 1641 - 1646

Abstract

During the early phase of the revolutionary period in Britain (1641-46) an ideological divergence took place between fractions labelled Independent and Presbyterian. Our study of printed sources for this period uses debates over the meaning and relevance of the Greek term "democracy" to attempt a mapping of these emergent ideologies within revolutionary Calvinism. We find a contested social terrain with the Presbyterians supporting the revolutions from a socially conservative position and the Independents favouring radical social change.