One can scarcely imagine a figure with a greater
reputation for 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.
Table of Contents (Clicking on the links below will take you to those parts of this article)
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. Calvin's Influence on the Use of Philosophy in Theology
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.
(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.
(Almost as frequently cited as the Calvini Opera.)
Ioannis
Calvini Opera Exegetica. Various
editors. Geneva: Droz, 1992-. (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. (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.
(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. (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. (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-. (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. (An
important work on Calvin's social ethic.)
Bouwsma,
William. John Calvin: A Sixteenth Century Portrait.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988.
(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. (A helpful
engagement of Calvin's work as humanism.)
Cottret,
Bernard. Calvin: A Biography.
Translated by M. Wallace McDonald. Grand
Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000. (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. (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. (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. (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. (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. (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.
(A standard biography of Calvin.)
Millet, Olivier.
Calvin et la dynamique de la parole:
Etude de Rhétorique réformée.
Geneve: Editions Slatkine: 1992. (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.
(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.
(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. (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. (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. (The best
textually-argued source for considering Calvin's appropriation of the created
order.)
Steinmetz,
David. Calvin in Context Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1995. (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. (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. (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. (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.)
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