disapproval of philosophy than John Calvin. The French expatriate
penned some of the most vitriolic diatribes against philosophy and its
role in scholastic theology ever written. Thus, in one way, this
reputation is rather well-earned, and an article upon Calvin in an
encyclopedia of philosophy can be rather brief. However, in another
way, Calvin's consideration, knowledge, and use of philosophy in his
own work refutes the obscurantist representation left by a
surface-level reading. A closer reading of Calvin's great work, the
Institutes of the Christian Religion, along with his commentaries and
treatises demonstrates that instead of denying the importance of
philosophy, Calvin generally seeks to set philosophy in what he
regards as its proper place. His vehemence stems from his belief that
the rationalism of some of the scholastics had displaced God's wisdom,
most securely found in the work of the Holy Spirit in the scriptures,
as the pinnacle for knowledge of the divine.
1. Biography
John Calvin, (1509-1564) was born in Noyon, the son of a notary,
Gerard Cauvin, and his wife, Jeanne LeFranc. Although Calvin's father
displayed no particular piety, his mother is recorded as having taken
him to visit shrines, and on one such occasion he is supposed to have
kissed a fragment of the head of St. Ann. Calvin was the fourth of
five sons in a family that was definitely not of the aristocracy.
Normally, this would have worked against his chances of receiving a
thorough education,but through the good fortune of his father's
professional relationship to a family of the local nobility, he
received a private education with that family's children. Having
distinguished himself at an early age, Calvin was deemed worthy of
receiving the support of a benefice, a church-granted stipend, at the
age of 12, so as to support him in his studies. Although normally
benefices were granted as payment for work for the church, either
present or in the future, there is no record that Calvin ever
performed any duties for this position. Later on he held two more
benefices, for which he also did no work. Thus supported by the
Church, at age 14, Calvin was enrolled at the College de la Marche in
the University of Paris, though he quickly transferred to the College
de Montaigu.
In Paris, Calvin first came into contact with the new humanistic
learning while preparing for a career as a priest,. Though all the
contacts which Calvin made cannot be traced, it seems clear that he
met many of the leading humanists of his day. Calvin earned his
masters degree at the age of 18. However, he did not proceed with his
original plan to prepare for a clerical career. Gerard Cauvin,
recently excommunicated in a dispute with the cathedral chapter at
Noyon, ordered his son to enroll instead at Orleans in the law
faculty. Calvin obeyed, and applied himself, finishing his doctorate
in law sometime before 14 January 1532. In that same year, his first
published book appeared, a commentary on Seneca's De Clementia.
Significantly, it contains no overt evidence of an awareness of, let
alone a preoccupation with, the contemporary events in the religious
world.
Around 1533, Calvin experienced a "subita conversione," a sudden
conversion. As Calvin is notoriously reticent about revealing his
personal life, his writings do not grant much insight as to the exact
time or cause of this event. Ganoczy relates it to the prosecution of
Cop for heresy, during which Calvin fled Paris, and at which time his
apartment was searched and his papers confiscated. In any case, on May
4, 1534, he appeared in Noyon, and surrendered his clerical benefices.
Probably from that point on, Calvin no longer had a personal
attachment to the church of Rome.
Writing rapidly, Calvin finished the first edition of his Institutes
of the Christian Religion in 1536. It enjoyed a wide popular demand,
and the original supply was exhausted within a year. Instead of simply
reprinting it, Calvin revised it, and the edition of 1539 expanded
substantially the original work. This would be Calvin's pattern
throughout the subsequent Latin editions of 1543, 1550, and 1559.
French editions were printed in 1545 and 1560, and Calvin's French is
easily as influential as Luther's German for the formation of the
modern vernacular. Each Latin edition was a rearrangement of earlier
material, as well as the addition of new components. If this had been
the sole gift from Calvin's pen, it might seem enough. But Calvin also
wrote commentaries on almost every book of the Bible, issued numerous
tracts, and preached almost every day in Geneva.
Geneva was to be Calvin's triumph and tribulation. In 1536, Guillaume
Farel shamed Calvin into sharing the leadership of Geneva. This period
of Calvin's life lasted until the city council threw him out in April
of 1538. Calvin was too rigid for their taste. He settled in
Strasbourg, and pastored a congregation. It was here that he began his
other life work: commenting upon the books of the Bible. Beginning
with the Romans commentary, written at least partially and published
in Strasbourg in 1540, Calvin would comment upon most of the books of
the scripture. However, Geneva called him back in 1541. Calvin,
believing that Geneva was his particular call, returned. He was to
live there, alternately supporting and berating the council, until his
death in 1564. It was in this period that Calvin made his other great
contribution to the Church, preparing, and then forcing the city
council to ratify, his Ecclesiastical Ordinances of the Church of
Geneva. In this, all the principles of Reformed polity are found. In
1564, debilitated by a series of illnesses, Calvin died in Geneva. By
the terms of his will, he was buried in an unmarked grave, so as to
avoid any possibility of idolatry.
Calvin's thought is marked by a constant dialectic between the
perspective of a wholly pure and good creator (God) and the corrupted
created being (humanity). His anthropology and soteriology shows his
dependence on Augustine, with the will being somewhat limited in human
application, and powerless to effect change in its status vis-à-vis
salvation. However, Calvin balances that with a hearty emphasis on
human response to God's love and mercy in the created order, by
correct action both in the human world and the world of nature.
2. Philosophy
a. Knowledge of Philosophy
Given Calvin's occasional antipathy for philosophers, it is all too
tempting to dismiss him as someone who knew very little philosophy,
striking out at that which he did not know. However tempting that may
be, it simply is untrue. In the Institutes, his treatises, and the
commentaries, Calvin continually demonstrates a familiarity with both
general and specific philosophical knowledge which seems to have been
gained through his own study of their writings. What seems most
significant about Calvin's use of philosophy is that in general, he
refuses to accept a philosophical system. Instead, he considers
philosophy as the history of human wisdom's attempt to search out
answers to the questions of human existence. Thus, philosophers and
their theories become paradigms for consideration, rather than
structures for the organization of thought.
Hence, Calvin's effort at using philosophy must be understood as part
of his humanism, rather than a tool of the coherence of
systematization of his thought. Calvin placed logic in the curriculum
of the Genevan Academy. He could illustrate faith with the four-fold
causality of Aristotle. He can use the thoughts of the philosophers as
aids to training the mind, and believed that not many pastors, and
certainly no doctor of the church could be ignorant of philosophy.
However, that respect lived in constant tension with his irritation at
the efforts of philosophy (and philosophers) at exceeding their proper
place.
b. Epistemology
As noted, Calvin can seem overly harsh about philosophy. Concerning
the knowledge of God, Calvin states that it is at this point that it
becomes clear "how volubly has the whole tribe of philosophers shown
their stupidity and silliness! For even though we may excuse the
others (who act like utter fools), Plato, the most religious of all
and the most circumspect, also vanishes in his round globe."
(Institutes of Christian Religion I.v.11) Calvin finds that even the
most wise philosophers do not compare to the "sacred reading," which
has within itself the power to move the very heart of the reader. (ICR
I.viii.1) The power of the scripture is that it carries the gospel,
ensured by the Holy Spirit's presence, so that its words can transport
the soul. God's purpose, Calvin states, in the scriptural teaching of
his infinite and spiritual essence, is to refute even subtle
speculations of secular philosophy. (ICR I.viii.1) Even those who have
attained the intellectual first rank, cannot reach the eminence which
is natural to the Gospel. (Commentary on I Corinthians 2.7).
However, Calvin is not anti-philosophical, hating the works of
philosophers and philosophy in general. If so, would he have required
logic in the Genevan Academy? Rather, he wished to turn the question
of wisdom and philosophy clearly towards obedience to Christ. Thus, in
the commentary on I Corinthians, Calvin writes that
"For whatever knowledge and understanding a man has counts for nothing
unless it rests upon true wisdom; and it is of no more value for
grasping spiritual teaching than the eye of a blind man for
distinguishing colours. Both of these must be carefully attended to,
that (1) knowledge of all the sciences is so much smoke apart from the
heavenly science of Christ; and (2) that man with all his shrewdness
is as stupid about understanding by himself the mysteries of God as an
ass is incapable of understanding musical harmony."
The interesting point about this passage is that Calvin is neither
denigrating human philosophy, nor human reason. He is, rather,
discussing what the true purpose of that knowledge or understanding
should be, and what the real foundation of human knowledge is. Here,
Calvin is not moving back to an Aristotelian self-evident principle;
his foundation is instead true wisdom. For Calvin, the phrase "true
wisdom" (vera sapientia) hearkens immediately to the beginning
sentence of the Institutes. (ICR I.i.1) It was that basis of "true and
sound wisdom" (vera ac solida sapientia) which Calvin was seeking, the
only place from which epistemology could be safely grounded. Reason,
and the fruits of reason, have their place. However, that place does
not command a privilege over revealed wisdom.
This instrumental view allows Calvin to give high praise to the fruits
of reason. Human reason can even occasionally ascend to consider the
truths which are more properly above its grasp, but cannot provide the
necessary controls to make sure that its investigations are carefully
and correctly considered. "Reason is intelligent enough to taste
something of things above, although it is more careless about
investigating these." (ICR II.ii.13). Calvin divides reason, giving it
various depths of penetration according to its subject matter. He
could write "this then, is the distinction: that there is one kind of
understanding of earthly things; another of heavenly. I call 'earthly
things' those which do not pertain to God or his Kingdom, to true
justice, or to the blessedness of the future life; but which have
their significance and relationship with regard to the present life
and are, in a sense, confined within its bounds." (ICR II.ii.13)
Thus, Calvin is simply fulfilling his own division when he comments
from I Corinthians 3 that "The apostle does not ask us to make a total
surrender of the wisdom which is either innate or acquired by long
experience. He only asks that we subjugate it to God, so that all our
wisdom might be derived from His Word." (Commentary on I Corinthians
3.18). Calvin is wishing, quite explicitly, to consider the various
arts as maid-servants. He cautions against making them mistresses.
There can be no doubt that Calvin made this move for at least two
reasons. The first is that for Calvin, the effects of sin are far more
drastic than for some other Christian thinkers. Sin has corrupted not
only the will, but also the intellect. After the introduction of sin
into the world, human possibility is radically limited, and no
un-aided intellect, not even the sharpest, will be able to penetrate
into the mysteries of God's truth and God's current will for humanity.
As important as that insight is another which many have failed to
grasp. Calvin's theology involves a radical notion of God's
accommodation to human capacity, or more truly, human frailty. Even
before the Fall, humans were only able to know God because of God's
self-disclosure; humans were only able to please God because of God's
prior guidance in the form of rules. There was never a moment when
humans were able truly to initiate either the knowledge of God or the
movement toward God. That is immeasurably more true after the
establishment of sin in the world, and its effects. Calvin thus
dismisses all efforts at going beyond the scriptures (and a great deal
of classical metaphysics), as pure speculation, both wrong and sinful.
c. Influence
Perhaps strangely, Calvin's legacy on the subordinate position of
philosophy in the search for divine truth is neither clear, nor
lasting. During his own lifetime, Genevan theologians such as Theodore
Beza were far more sanguine about grasping the tools of scholastic
theology and philosophy, and seem to have been moving away from that
hierarchy upon which Calvin insisted. Within the next century, some of
the foremost Protestant scholastic theologians would teach at the
Genevan Academy, or at least have their ideas taught there.
A modern theological and historiographical struggle exists over what
that change entails, and what its significance must be. Some, like
Brian G. Armstrong, have argued that this shift towards scholastic
models of thought represent an inevitable shift in the content of
Reformed theology, and thus a falling away from Calvin's theological
project. Others, notably Richard Muller, have contended that there was
not an original time without scholastic theology, and that scholastic
method is content neutral. In any case, what is clear is that by the
mid-17th century, the caution which Calvin so frequently expressed
about the use of philosophy, had been lost. With its loss came the
loss of Calvin's distinctive appropriation of philosophy.
3. References and Further Reading
a. Primary Sources
* Opera Quae Supersunt Omnia. 59 volumes. Edited by Wilhelm Baum,
Edward Cunitz, & Edward Reuss. Brunswick: Schwetschke and Sons, 1895.
o Still the standard edition of Calvin's works.
* Opera Selecta. 5 volumes. 3rd ed. Edited by Peter Barth and
Wilhelm Niesel. Munich: Christian Kaiser, 1967.
o Almost as frequently cited as the Calvini Opera.
* Ioannis Calvini Opera Exegetica. Various editors. Geneva: Droz, 1992-.
o This represents a modern effort to provide true critical
editions of Calvin's exegetical works, the first volumes present fine
texts.
* Registres du Consistoire de Genève au Temps de Calvin. Tome I
(1542-1544). Edited by Thomas A. Lambert and Isabella M. Watt. Geneva:
Droz, 1996.
o Along with later volumes, this allows a far greater
contextualization of Calvin than previously possible.
* Institutes of the Christian Religion. 2 volumes. Translated by
Ford Lewis Battles, edited by John T. McNeill. Library of Christian
Classics. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1960.
o The standard English translation of Calvin's final Latin
edition of the Institutes.
* Calvin's Commentaries, translated by the Calvin Translation
Society, 1843-1855; reprint, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker, 1979, 22
volumes.
o A usable translation of Calvin's commentaries.
* Calvin's New Testament Commentaries, 12 volumes. Edited by David
W. Torrance and Thomas F. Torrance. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1960.
o Probably the most widely read edition of Calvin's New
Testament commentaries.
* Calvin's Old Testament Commentaries, Rutherford House
Translation, ed. D. F. Wright. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans,
1993-.
o A fine new translation of Calvin's Old Testament Commentaries.
b. Secondary Sources
* Bieler, Andre. The Social Humanism of Calvin. Translated by Paul
T. Fuhrmann. Richmond: John Knox Press, 1961.
o An important work on Calvin's social ethic.
* Bouwsma, William. John Calvin: A Sixteenth Century Portrait.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988.
o A widely cited, controversial reconstruction of Calvin's
thought from a psychological framework.
* Breen, Quirinus. John Calvin: A Study in French Humanism. 2nd
ed. New York: Archon Books, 1968.
o A helpful engagement of Calvin's work as humanism.
* Cottret, Bernard. Calvin: A Biography. Translated by M. Wallace
McDonald. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000.
o The newest biography of Calvin, written from a historian's
viewpoint, and supplying rich contextual detail for consideration of
Calvin's influences.
* Davis, Thomas J. The Clearest Promises of God: The Development
of Calvin's Eucharistic Teaching. New York: AMS Press, 1995.
o The clearest setting out of Calvin's eucharistic teaching
and its development.
* Dowey, Edward A. Jr. The Knowledge of God in Calvin's Theology.
3rd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1994.
o Essentially unchanged from its appearance in 1952, still
indispensable for its categories and its vital grasp of the Reformer's
thought.
* Gamble, Richard C. Articles on Calvin and Calvinism, 9 vols. New
York: Garland Publishing Co., 1992.
o Gathers together most of the significant articles on
Calvin, other fine collections exist, but this is the most
comprehensive.
* Ganoczy, Alexandre. The Young Calvin. Translated by David
Foxgrover and Wade Provo. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1987.
o The best biography and tracing of Calvin's early influences.
* Kingdon, Robert. Geneva and the Coming of the Wars of Religion
in France, 1555-1563. Geneve: Librairie E. Droz, 1956.
o This seminal work demonstrated the importance of solid
historical work to undergird any effort at understanding Calvin's
world.
* McGrath, Alister E. A Life of John Calvin: A Study in the
Shaping of Western Culture. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1990.
o A standard biography of Calvin.
* Millet, Olivier. Calvin et la dynamique de la parole: Etude de
Rhétorique réformée. Geneve: Editions Slatkine: 1992.
o Not yet translated, but too important to leave off the
list – this magisterial work opens new vistas of research into
rhetoric, the early use of theological French, and Calvin's linguistic
skills.
* Muller, Richard. The Unaccommodated Calvin: Studies in the
Foundation of a Theological Tradition. Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2000.
o A conscious effort at returning Calvin studies toward the
texts and thought-worlds of the sixteenth century.
* Naphy, William. Calvin and the Consolidation of the Genevan
Reformation. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1994.
o One of the best works for understanding Calvin's Geneva.
* Parker, T.H.L. Calvin's New Testament Commentaries. 2nd ed.
Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1993.
* Calvin's Old Testament Commentaries. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1986.
o Together, these two volumes serve as a fine introduction
to Calvin's major life work – the exposition of the scripture.
* Partee, Charles. Calvin and Classical Philosophy. Leiden: E. J.
Brill, 1977.
o Probably the best place to begin in considering Calvin's
knowledge of Greek and Latin philosophy.
* Schreiner, Susan E. The Theater of His Glory: Nature and the
Natural Order in the Thought of John Calvin. Studies in Historical
Theology. Durham: Labyrinth Press, 1991.
o The best textually-argued source for considering Calvin's
appropriation of the created order.
* Steinmetz, David. Calvin in Context Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.
o This set of essays argues convincingly for understanding
Calvin always within the stream of tradition he inherited.
* Thompson, John. The Daughters of Sarah: Women in Regular and
Exceptional Roles in the Exegesis of Calvin, His Predecessors, and His
Contemporaries. Geneve: Librairie Droz, 1992.
o Demonstrates the promise of considering new questions
through solid history of exegetical models.
* Wendel, François. Calvin: Origins and Development of His
Religious Thought. Translated by Philip Mairet. Durham, NC: Labyrinth
Press, 1987.
o Originally published in 1963, this introduction is still
widely cited.
* Zachman, Randall C. The Assurance of Faith: Conscience in the
Theology of Martin Luther and John Calvin. Minneapolis: Fortress
Press, 1993.
o A sensitive study of how the different grasp of a critical
concept led to quite different outcomes in the thought of two giants
of the Reformation.
No comments:
Post a Comment