The covenant in Ulrich Huber's enlightened theology, jurisprudence and political theory

Abstract

In this article the 17th century Dutch theorist, Ulrich Huber’s contribution to the concept of the covenant is unveiled. This takes place against the background of the more prominent insights  regarding the covenant in 16th and 17th century Western political thought, namely the idea of the Biblical covenant (with the emphasis on the conditional nature of God’s law), and the secular social contract theories stemming from the early Enlightenment. This investigation gains value as a result of its emphasis on the prominence of the covenant in the inextricably linked disciplines of theology, jurisprudence and political theory; as well as its revitalisation of the complicated nature of the covenant. What also comes to the fore is the role of pre-liberalism in the evolution of the classic law of nature and social contractarianism in the early classical development of political theory.