John Calvin, Thomas More & Term Paper

However, although Machiavelli held firm in his belief that the Church should not have the same governing functions as the State, he provided the example of Pope Julius in demonstrating how, if a religious leader holds firm to his beliefs and manner of disciplining his clergy, he can establish a strong clergy and can yield influence and power over the State and civil society. In describing Pope Julius's leadership style, Machiavelli attested, "...he held two things firm: the one, the greatness of the Church, which he terrified them; and the other, not allowing them to have their own cardinals, who caused the disorders among them." Despite the strength in Pope Julius's leadership, Machiavelli still argued for the sole function of the State to govern civil society, mainly because Church is ridden with members that are in constant motivation to usurp each other's powers and position in the hierarchy, not to mention manipulate society and create instability in the social order.In effect, Machiavelli's position on the Church-State relationship is exclusively independent from each other, as opposed to Calvin's negative, mutual Church-State relationship and More's positive, mutual Church-State relationship.

Works Cited

Machiavelli, N. E-text of "The Prince." Project Gutenberg E-book Collection.

More, T. E-text of "Utopia." Project Gutenberg….....