The Calvinist International
I noted a couple of years ago Calvin’s possibly revealing use of the word summa (as in, Summa theologiae) “so prominently in the first sentence [of the final edition of the Institutes (1559)],” and commented that [t]he gesture would signal, I think, a radical simplification of the theological enterprise, reconfigured in radically non-speculative terms (he is interested only […]
Some time ago, I started a little series on Calvin’s use of classical authors in the Institutes. In the first two parts, we looked at Calvin’s references to Plato and to Vergil and Lucretius. In this installment, we will see what use he makes of the Roman poet Ovid (43 BC-AD 17/18). As far as I […]
Mark Jones has a recent post on a subject long of interest on this site, viz. the use of Greek and Roman sources by Protestant theologians. As a case study that confirms Dr. Jones’ point, one might look at the way in which John Calvin makes use of Plato in his Institutes of the Christian Religion. […]
When John Calvin titled his handbook of Christian doctrine, he chose to call it an institutio (“[elements of] instruction, principles”). In doing so, he demurred from other contemporary options, such as Melanchthon’s loci communes (“commonplaces”), and also bypassed the popular medieval title summa (“summary”), used by writers such as Thomas Aquinas, Henry of Ghent, Albert the Great, and […]
This week’s Monday Calvin fix is on a theme recently discussed here a couple of times: pilgrimage. In the course of his exposition in which he seeks to demonstrate that the saints of the Old Testament were always believers in Christ–that is, they always sought eternal happiness from God and not simply the land of […]
In Institutes 2.9.2, Calvin says what he means by “the Gospel”: “[Jesus Christ] has in his flesh completed all the parts of our salvation.” By the Gospel, I understand the clear manifestation of the mystery of Christ. I confess, indeed, that inasmuch as the term Gospel is applied by Paul to the doctrine of faith (2 Tim. […]
Some time ago, I animadverted to Niels Hemmingsen’s (who else?) employment of the traditional divisio of mortal and venial sin. There it was clear that, for Hemmingsen, all sins are mortal by nature (sua natura), and so, for the distinction to be useful, it must be recast as having reference, not to an objective difference […]
When I was younger, the acronym “ACTS” was a popular shorthand for helping people to remember how to pray. The four letters stand for: Adoration; Confession; Thanksgiving; Supplication. We begin with God, and move on to sin, the solution for sin, and intercession for others. In a similar vein, John Calvin believes that all Christian duty–non […]
In Institutes 2.8.11, John Calvin gives an account of some of the reasons for which the moral law as summarized in the Decalogue is divided into two tables. In brief, the Law is a seamless whole, and its primary matter is placed first. It is absurd, in Calvin’s view, to talk about righteousness or justice (coram […]
Our Monday jolt of Calvin for this week comes from his discussion of the Law in Institutes 2.7.8. The Law pronounces a curse on all who, taking their beginning from unbelief, disobey its demands and binds the wayward to condemnation and destruction. But why? In order to serve the divine clemency: so that the wayward […]