John Calvin
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John Calvin (July 10, 1509 – May 27, 1564) was a prominent Christian theology|theologian during the Protestant Reformation and is the namesake of the system of Christian theology called Calvinism. Jean Chauvin (or Cauvin) in Noyon, Picardie, France, and French was his mother tongue; Calvin derives from the Latin version of his name, Calvinus. Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses in 1517, when Calvin was 8 years old. He was a leader of the Swiss reformation. Reformed and Presbyterian churches trace themselves from his refors, while others including Congegationalist and Baptist and the English Puritans draw on his theology. Calvinism dominated England and Scotland Civil War and Cromwellian period and also subsequently influenced Anglican thought. He wrote many significant works but his personality remains sometwhat opaque. He wrote a constitution for Geneva, and virtually ruled over an experiment in Christian government, though he did not offically hold any office other than chief pastor. He has been described as the first thinker to try to organise social life and goverance entirely on Biblical principles. Clergy were involved in the Governance of the city. He was not as much of a popularist as Luther, but his social reforms in Geneva continued to have an impact on succeeding generations and his emphasis on 'work' (which became known as the 'Protestant work ethic' directly impacted on the Industrial Revolution, as well as on the development of several European nations as commercial and colonial powers. He is also widely known for his 'doctrine of election', which lay behind his 'work ethic' - a sign of being numbered among those whom God has predestined for salvation is an industrious, pious and successful life lived according to the commandments of God. This also contributed to the rise of capitalism.
Calvininists stress self-denial, sobriety, thriftiness, efficiency and morality, which can result in high production and low consumption, creating a surplus that cannot be consumed, which is instead invested for the greater glory of God).Previously, many Christians had regarded excess wealth as immoral. Calvin also advocated that all believers have a 'calling', not just the clergy, which opened up the possibility of service inside and outside the church and also made faith more relevant to secular life, sanctifying work as a holy activity. Calvin committed some excesses in his leadership at Geneva but set out to create the perfect society, under God's ultimate rule. His covenental or contractual view of church and of society as voluntary associations, with rulers (magistrates) and those who lead chosen by the members, and accountable to, the members became the basis of civil society and eventually of political organization in Europe, North America and elsewhere. On the one hand, Calvin recognized social responsibility, on the other he stressed individual responsibility to live a good, produce and moral life before God. Stressing the dignity of man, Calvin's social reforms included relief for the poor, construction of hospitals, schools (which were free) new prisons, consumer protection laws, provison for refugees and a sanitation system that made Geneva one of the cleanest and healthiest cities in Europe. Calvin was morally strict but humane, almost a humanist in his concern to reach the heart not only the mind of men and women.
Biography
Calvin's father, an attorney, sent him to the Sorbonne University in Paris to study humanities and law. By 1532, he was a Doctor of Law at Orléans. His first published work was an edition of the Roman philosopher Seneca the Younger's De clementia, accompanied by a thorough commentary. Attracted by humanism, he set out to establish Biblical grounds for humanistic concerns. He mastered Greek and Hebrew in order to read the scriptures in their original languages. The Protestant motto, scriptura sola was a dominant motif in his thought, which was Biblically based, although his reading of scripture would be literal and so anything not found in the Bible was to be rejected, while what is found there must be followed without question. Calvin did not think he could understand everything but he was prepared to follow scripture even when he could not understand, trusting in the Spirit to guide him. He developed an overwhelming passion to meet human needs, and believed that scriptures needed to be applied to practical issues and in present circumstances. Its teachings could not be presented as a set of timeless abstractions but had to be brought to life in relevant ways.
In 1536, he settled in Geneva, halted in the path of an intended journey to Basel by the personal persuasion of the reformer William Farel (Guillaume Farel (1489-1565)). He pastored in Strasbourg, organising his church along what he took to be Biblical principles and compiling his Psalter from 1538 until 1541, before returning to Geneva. He would live there until his death in 1564. It was in Strasbourg that he met and was influenced by Martin Bucer (1491-1551). Attending conferences at Worms and Regensberg in Germany debating Protestant and Catholic theology, he gained a reputation as a speaker and also met many of the leading Christian thinkers of the day. Calvin's view on predestination and , church govrnance and on communion, derive from Bucer.
John Calvin sought marriage to affirm his approval of marriage over celibacy. Like Luther he disapprovred both of celibate priests and of the instiutution of monastacism. He asked friends to help him find a woman who was "modest, obliging, not haughty, not extravagant, patient, and solicitous for my health." In 1539, he married Idelette de Bure, a widow of a converted Anabaptist in Strasbourg. Idelette had a son and daughter from the previous marriage. Only the daughter moved with her to Geneva. In 1542, the Calvins had a son who died after only two weeks. Idelette Calvin died in 1549. Calvin wrote that she was a helper in ministry, never stood in his way, never troubled him about her children, and had a greatness of spirit. They appear to have enjoyed a warm relationship and a happy marriage. He grieved her death, revealing a depth of emotion that many depictions of him fail to notice.
Writings by Calvin
Calvin published several revisions of his Institutes of the Christian Religion — a seminal work in Christian theology that is still read today — in Latin in 1536 (at the age of 26) and then in his native French in 1541, with the definitive editions appearing in 1559 and 1560, respectively.
He also produced many volumes of commentary on most of the books of the Bible. For the Old Testament (referring to the Protestant, he published commentaries for all books except the histories after Joshua (though he did publish his sermons on the First Samuel) and the Wisdom literature other than the Book of Psalms. For the New Testament, he omitted only the brief 2nd and 3rd Epistles of John and the Book of Revelation. (Some have suggested that Calvin questioned the canonicity of the Book of Revelation, but his citation of it as authoritative in his other writings casts doubt on that theory.) These commentaries, too, have proved to be of lasting value to students of the Bible, and they are still in print after over 400 years. Calvin also wrote thousands of sermons, letters and hymns, published a psalter as all matters relating to worship had to be Biblical, so psalms repalced hymns in worship. Many Calvinists frown on hymns and organ music in Church, since these are not referred to in the Bible, although Calvin did allow singing.
In the eighth volume of Philip Schaff's History of the Christian Church, the historian quotes Dutch theologian Jacobus Arminius (after whom the anti-Calvinistic movement Arminianism was named) with regard to the value of Calvin's writings:
- Next to the study of the Scriptures which I earnestly inculcate, I exhort my pupils to peruse Calvin’s Commentaries, which I extol in loftier terms than Helmich himself (a Dutch divine, 1551–1608); for I affirm that he excels beyond comparison in the interpretation of Scripture, and that his commentaries ought to be more highly valued than all that is handed down to us by the library of the fathers; so that I acknowledge him to have possessed above most others, or rather above all other men, what may be called an eminent spirit of prophecy. His Institutes ought to be studied after the (Heidelberg) Catechism, as containing a fuller explanation, but with discrimination, like the writings of all men.
Teaching and Theology
Calvin was a systematic thinker. His writings and his sermons are logical but aimed to speak to the heart as well as to the intellect. He stressed the power but also the love of God. His was not an angry but a gentle, kind God. His starting point was always the Bible. It is only through the Bible that people can access truth about God, although Calvin did not dismiss 'general revelation', that is, knowledge of God communicated through the world of nature. He took the fall of man very seriosuly, believing in human depravity. The fall separated people from God's warmth, love, vitality and power, which also neutralizes men's and women's ability to fulfil their potential. The result is death, and darkness during life as we are cut off from the light of God and are weak when we should be strong. The Devil constantly tries to keep us in darkmess, to drain out strenght. Calvin is perhaps best known for the docrtine of predestination, which was not original to him. Classically, it is found in Augfustine. He believed, as did Luther, that salvation is God's free gift but contended that God, who is Omniscient, knows who is saved, and who is not. Those who are saved are 'living saint' and their salvation is not contingent on anything they do, or indeed on giving their hearts or lives to Jesus. However, asking how do we recognize the saved, Calvin (like Augustine) replied that we cannot know for sure but we can confidently say that immoral people are not saved and good people are. Thus, the saints will be those who pray, attend divine service, work hard, who are honest, hard-working and generous of spirit. Calvin made charity and relief of poverty an essential sign of being counted among the sainst. Calvin did not argue that all good people are saved, since salvation and good deeds are not effect and cause but he argued that morality and piety are divine duties that do no harm. He was also interested in the spititual nurture of souls, seeing life as pilgrimage towards God. As individuals become sanctified, so does society. His aim was to bring the whole of life under divine guidance, to create a society obedient to God. He spoke of how each day we might increase a little in purity and knowledge and as these increased, so would our love for God and for humanity. As a reward, the saints may see visions of God's beauty and peace, and know in their hearts how 'calm and gracious' he is 'towards us'.
Calvin possessed a strong sense of history. He understood history as a providential process through which God's purposes are progressively realized. Faith in Jesus' incarnation and in his sacrificial death, followed by the sanctification of our lives, represent object steps by which, step by step, people recover their original relationship with God and regain the lost energy that results from this relatiosnhip. Calvin called this a “quickening”, it brings believers back from death to life and makes exertion in God's service not only possible but a joy. Capitalism is said to be a corollary of Calvin's emphasis on hard-work, and on his idea that all work represents a calling, and is a religious activity. Surplus wealth should thius be invested, both to create more welath and to fund philanthropic acts.
His system of church governance allowed for lay leadership. Elected elders share with the ordained pastors responsible not only for leading the congregation but also for ensuring that its responsibilities of service are fulfilled. Deacons had duties towards the poor. He saw both church an d society in contractual terms - they are voluntary associations. Those who are called to lead are accountable to the led. This would heavily impact on the development of European and North American democracy, as Calvinists and Puritans fled religious persecution in Europe. He stripped the liturgy of non-Biblical practices, vastly simplifying services, which centered on the reading and exposition of the word. Communion was offered four times a year. He liked music but banned it from Church. He allowed singing but preferred Psalms. Citizens who would not sign the 'articles of faith' were counted as 'non-jurors', and could not take communion. Calvin stressed preaching but for him the sacraments, especially communion, was also essential for Christian growth. He described the church as that place where the story of slavation is told and where the sacraments are 'seen', or displayed. Through the bread and wine, we are spiritually nourished. The Holy Spirit enables us to experience the 'real presence' of Christ. By taking communion less frequently, its significance is actually enhanced. Sacraments help is to overcome our mistrust of God. Calvin took human doubt seriously. Suffering anxiety himself about his convictions, he stressed the need to take control of one's life and environment.
Personality
Calvin's personality has been maligned. Some have depicted him as psychotic, repressed or even schizophrenic, loving liberty one one hand and burning a heretic on the other. His personality has often seemed opaque. Unlike Luther's, his writings do not reveal much of the inner man. He is assumed to have been sombre, strict, austere. Certainly, he struggled to gain control of Geneva, a city that had been renowned for its rowdiness, and he had to give the appearance of authority. Yet that authority was not autocractic; in fact he had very little if any power, only influence. Those who knew him have written of his aptitude to make and keep friends, and of the way he could empathize with people's physical and spiritual needs and find an appropriate Biblical text to help deal with a wide range of situations. He did have a hot temper but he was also a sensitive man towards the condition of his fellow men and women.
The spreading of Calvinism
As much as Calvin's practice in Geneva, his publications spread his ideas of a correctly reformed church to many parts of Europe. Calvinism became the theological system of the majority in Scotland, the Netherlands, and parts of Germany and was influential in France, Hungary (especially in Transylvania) and Poland.
Most settlers in the American Mid-Atlantic and New England were Calvinists, including the Puritans and Dutch settlers of New Amsterdam (New York). Dutch Calvinist settlers were also the first successful European colonizers of South Africa, beginning in the 17th century, who became known as Boers or Afrikaners.
Sierra Leone was largely colonised by Calvinist settlers from Nova Scotia, Canada who were largely Black Loyalists, blacks who had fought for the British during the American War of Independence. John Marrant had organised a congregation there under the auspices of the Huntingdon Connection (a Methodist church).
Some of the largest Calvinist communions were started by 19th and 20th century missionaries; especially large are those in Korea and Nigeria. Calvin's doctrine of predestinatio initially made Reformed and Presbyterian Christians and also Baptist reluctant to engage in mission, since God would save people regardless of human action. However, Calvinists such as George Whitefield [[1714-1770)and Chales Spurgeon (1834-1892)distinguished between evangelism as 'proclaiming good news', and saving souls, that is, those who will respond are already saved through Christ's death. Those whose names are already written in the Book of Life, too, need to be disciplined and taught and to have the opoprtunity to grow spiritually. In practice, Calvinists have engaged in very succesful missionary endeavour. David Livingstone (1813-1873)one of the most famous missionaries of the Congregationalist London Misionary Society saw himself as taking civilization and culture, as well as the gospel, into the heart of Africa.
Usury and Capitalism
One school of thought about Calvinism long has been that it represented a revolt against the medieval condemnation of usury, and implicitly profit, helping to set the stage for the development of capitalism in northern Europe. Such a connection was advanced in influential works by R.H. Tawney and by Max Weber.
Calvin expressed himself on usury in a letter to a friend, Oecolampadius. In this letter, he criticized the use of certain passages of scripture invoked by people opposed to the charging of interest — he re-interpreted some of these passages, and suggested that others of them had been rendered irrelevant by changed conditions.
He also dismissed the argument (based upon the writings of Aristotle) that it is wrong to charge interest for money because money itself is barren. He said that the walls and the roof of a house are barren, too, but it is permissible to charge someone for allowing him to use them. In the same way, money can be made fruitful.
He also said, though, that money should be lent to people in dire need without hope of interest.
Reformed Geneva
John Calvin had been travelling to Strasbourg during the time of the Ottoman wars and passed through the cantons of Switzerland. While in Geneva William Farel asked Calvin to help him with the cause of the church. Calvin wrote of Farel's request "I felt as if God from heaven had laid his mighty hand upon me to stop me in my course". Together with Farel, Calvin attempted to institute a number of changes to the city's governance and religious life. They drew up a catechism and a confession of faith, which they insisted all citizens must affirm. The city council refused to adopt Calvin and Farel's creed, and in January 1538 denied them the power to excommunicate, a power they saw as critical to their work. The pair responded with a blanket denial of the Lord's Supper to all Genevans at Easter services. For this the city council expelled them from the city. Farel travelled to Neuchâtel, Calvin to Strasbourg.
For three years Calvin served as a lecturer and pastor to a church of French Huguenots in Strasbourg. It was during his exile that Calvin married Idelette de Bure. He also came under the influence, as noted above, of Martin Bucer, who advocated a system of political and ecclesiastical structure along New Testament lines. He continued to follow developments in Geneva, and when Jacopo Sadoleto, a Catholic cardinal, penned an open letter to the city council inviting Geneva to return to the mother church, Calvin's response on behalf of embattled Genevan Protestants helped him to regain the respect he had lost. A number of Calvin's supporters won election to the Geneva city council, and he was invited back to the city in 1541.
Upon his return, armed with the authority to craft the institutional form of the church, Calvin began his program of reform. He established four categories of ministry, with distinct roles and powers:
- Doctors held an office of theological scholarship and teaching for the edification of the people and the training of other ministers.
- Pastors were to preach, to administer the sacraments, and to exercise pastoral discipline, teaching and admonishing the people.
- Deacons oversaw institutional charity, including hospitals and anti-poverty programs.
- Elders were 12 laymen whose task was to serve as a kind of moral police force, mostly issuing warnings, but referring offenders to the Consistory when necessary.
Critics often look to the Consistory as the emblem of Calvin's theocratic rule. The Consistory was an ecclesiastical court consisting of the elders and pastors, charged with maintaining order in the church and among its members. The magistrates exercised power but the church possessed the spiritual weapon of God's word. Two magistrates and a minister regularly visited every parish, to make sure all was well. Offenses ranged from propounding false doctrine to moral infractions, such as wild dancing and bawdy singing. Pubkic houses were shut and replaced by Christian refreshment places, where alcohol could be drunk while listening to Bible readings. Typical punishments were mild - an offender might be required to attend public sermons or catechism classes. It is important to bear in mind the broader geopolitical context of this institution before passing judgment. Protestants in the 16th century were particularly vulnerable to the Catholic charge that they were innovators in doctrine, and that such innovation led inevitably to moral decay and, ultimately, the dissolution of society itself. Calvin was keen to establish the moral legitimacy of the church reformed according to his program, but also to promote the health and well-being of individuals, families, and communities. Recently discovered documentation of Consistory proceedings shows that body's concern for domestic life, and women in particular. For the first time men's infidelity was punished as harshly as that of women, and the Consistory showed absolutely no tolerance for spousal abuse. The role of the Consistory was complex. It helped to transform Geneva into the city described by Scottish reformer John Knox as "the most perfect school of Christ." Some clergy were elected to the Consistory. The idea was a partnership of equals between the Church (in which some magistrates were also elders) and the City government, with the former providing the moral guidance and the latter ensuring discipline. The moral code was derived from the Bible. It favored sobriety, hard work and penalised drunkennes, dishonesty and immoral conduct.
Calvin moved quickly and brutally to suppress Genevans who questioned his authority. The most notable episodes are the cases of Pierre Ameaux and Jacques Gruet. Calvin was reluctant to ordain Genevans, preferring to choose pastors from the stream of French immigrants pouring into the city for the express purpose of supporting Calvin's program of reform. When Pierre Ameaux complained about this practice, Calvin took it as an attack on his authority as a minister, and he persuaded the city council to require Ameaux to walk through the town dressed in a hair shirt and begging for mercy in the public squares. Jacques Gruet sided with some of the old Genevan families, who resented the power and methods of the Consistory. He was implicated in an incident in which someone had placed a placard in one of the city's churches, reading: "When too much has been endured revenge is taken." Calvin consented to the torture and beheading of Gruet, who was accused of colluding in a French plot to invade the city.
In 1553, Calvin approved of the execution by burning of the Spanish Unitarian, Michael Servetus for heresy. Servetus had already been condemned by the authoritie in Spain, but escaped. Calvin, who did not himself hold magisterial office, was a witness not a jurist or judge at the trial, so while he was directly responsible for Servetus' arrest and conviction, he had personally wanted a less brutal penalty. The approval of other Protestant Swiss cities was also sought and gained. This incident has contributed greatly to Calvin's reputation as a harsh, strict, ruthless authoritarian but against the practice of the time, such an execution was not unusual, nor was Calvin solely responsible. In fact, he wielded power through persuasion, not compulsion.
In 1559, as part of his social reforms, Calvin founded a school for training children as well as a hospital for the indigent. Throughout his time in Geneva, he preached, performed numeriages marriages and baptisms, gave spiritual advice, took part in conroversy by correspondence with other reformers, as well as guiding the life of the City. He was a conscientious pastor. He took the care of souls very seriously.
Calvin's health began to fail when he suffered migraines, lung hemorrhages, gout and kidney stones. At times, he was carried to the pulpit. Calvin also had his detractors. He was threatened and abused. Calvin would spend his private moments on Lake Geneva and read scripture while drinking red wine. Towards the end Calvin said to his friends who were worried about his daily regimen of work, "What! Would you have the Lord find me idle when He comes?"
John Calvin died in Geneva on May 27, 1564. He was buried in the Cimetière des Rois under a tombstone marked simply with the initials "J.C", partially honoring his request that he be buried in an unknown place, without witnesses or ceremony. Although the people of the city had at times expressed their doubts, fearing that they had exchanged one authoritarian Church for another, when he died he was universally mourned by the city he helped to lead and to shape.
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion
- Calvin's Commentaries on the Bible
- Other writings of Calvin at the Christian Classics Ethereal Library; includes sermons in Latin and French, "On the Christian Life," and "On Prayer."
- The Works of John Calvin for purchase on CD
- History of the Christian Church, Volume VIII: Modern Christianity. The Swiss Reformation. by Philip Schaff
- Bainton, Roland (1974). Women of the Reformation in England and France. Boston, MA: Beacon Press. ISBN 0807056499.
- Robert M. Kingdon, "The Geneva Consistory in the Time of Calvin," in Calvinism in Europe 1540-1620, Andrew Pettegree et al., eds. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1994.
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