Rethinking church and state during the English Interregnum

This article offers a re-examination of the concept of Erastianism as an explanatory tool in discussions of church and state. It focuses in particular on three texts - by Pierre du Moulin, Thomas Cobbet and John Milton - that took up the question of the nature of civil power in the sphere of religion. Based on this, the article argues that the term 'Erastianism' obscures the complexity and nuance of arguments about religious politics in the civil war period. It concludes by suggesting that we should instead consider these debates as contributions to discourse on civil religion.