Saturday, August 18, 2012
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
John Calvin, Reformer
Biographical data
John Calvin (1509-1564) was one of the most important figures of the
Reformation. He was born in northern France, the second of five children. His
father —Gerard Caulvin— was a minor yet practical politician who always managed
to obtain plumb jobs. He even secured a job for his son John as chaplain (in the cathedral of Noyon), despite the fact that John
was only twelve years old.
Calvin was of feeble
health, of meager and emaciated frame. He is depicted as having a thin face, a
long, pointed beard, black hair, a prominent nose, a lofty forehead, and
flaming eyes. He was modest, plain, and neat in dress, orderly and methodical
in all his habits, temperate, and even abstemious. Despite his apparent
physical weaknesses, he displayed high energy level, which he employed to read
and write for long hours at a time.
Initially John Calvin studied to become a priest, but finding himself at
odds with the doctrines of the Catholic Church, he turned to the study of the
law. Soon he allied himself with dissidents and was viewed as a “reformer.”
Under attack, he had to leave France, settling in Basel. Later in 1538 he moved
to Geneva, from which he was banished by his enemies.
Calvin’s Writings: Political Philosophy
In 1523 he was sent to Paris to prepare for the priesthood. At the Collège de la Marche, he studied Latin, leaving after a few months for Collège de Montaigu.
He settled in Strassburg, center of the Reformation in southwestern
Germany, serving as pastor of French refugees in that region. Besides his pastoral
duties he lectured on theology; an activity that enable him to gather material
for the core of the doctrine of his Institutes.
By 1541 he had
become famous, achieving at the same time great prominence, becoming a de facto dictator in both the ecclesiastical and civic life
of the community.
Calvin put into effect in Geneva a system of stern regulation of
religious doctrine and church services, and of dress, speech, amusements, and
other forms of daily conduct. Because Calvin's writings also laid great stress for
the middle-class to exhibit virtues of sobriety, thrift, frugality, and the
obligation to glorify God.
Calvinist sects became popular in the newer urban industrial regions, from
which it is widely accepted that there’s a close connection between Calvinism
and the development of modern industrial capitalism.
In the preface to his Institutes,
he stated that a main thesis the work was to answer the charge that the
Reformist doctrine was noxious to the church and the community. Although it is mainly a work in
theology, it also deals with questions of ecclesiastical organization; and the
role of civil government and the separation of church and state. In this
respect, he disagreed with the also famed Swiss reformer Ulrich Zwingli, who
believed in theocracy.
John Calvin’s Influence
Calvin based his
system upon the Apostles' Creed, and followed its lines. Ethics and theology
were handled in the closest connection.
Calvin’s reformation
in theology was a practical affair. Even the doctrine of predestination was
developed, not as a grand thesis of theology, but as a matter of practical
concern to reform both institutions and the common people. To gain influence in
Rome, he revived Augustinian doctrine.
Like Augustine,
Calvin says, "The Church is our mother" ("Institutes," IV.
i. 1). Outside of the Church there is no salvation; that State and Church have separate
and exclusive jurisdiction, yet they mutually support each other. Furthermore,
the state could come from aristocracy or from democracy.
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