Samuel Rutherford’s concept on genesis of society, power and state

Abstract

Samuel Rutherford – a prominent Scottish Presbyterian theologian and influential political thinker of the period of the English Civil War – is the author of the interesting contractual genesis of society and the state. Based on the theological construction of the covenant, he perceives it as the implementation of the laws of nature grafted in the human soul, and on the other hand as the work of the people themselves. In its perspective, the basis for the legitimacy of authority is a voluntary agreement concluded between the rulers and the ruled. The consequence of this submission is the limited character of power and subordination to law. The author argues that this theoretical construction is the basis of the concept of tyranny and the right of resistance formulated by Rutherford.