ABSTRACT
Protestant Reformers distinguished sharply between law and gospel, but they drew heavily on the Hebrew scriptures, pioneering new Hebraic scholarship and ‘political Hebraism’. Protestant political theorists brooded over the Genesis accounts of Creation and Fall, while reformations and revolutions were depicted as re-enactments of Israel’s Exodus. The Hebrew Bible supplied the magisterial Reformers with examples of godly magistrates, and emerging Protestant nations were depicted as new Israels. Yet, there were deep divisions over biblical interpretation, especially on the degree of continuity between the Testaments. The Bible was invoked in support of opposing ideologies, becoming a potent sourcebook for royalists and revolutionaries.
