Who is john calvin

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. As noted, Calvin can seem overly harsh about philosophy. 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.

ICR I. Commentary on I Corinthians 2. 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. 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. 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.

Calvin divides reason, giving it various depths of penetration according to its subject matter. He only asks that we subjugate it to God, so that all our wisdom might be derived from His Word. 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. As important as that insight is another which many have failed to grasp. 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.

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. 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 th century, the caution which Calvin so frequently expressed about the use of philosophy, had been lost.

John Calvin — One can scarcely imagine a figure with a greater reputation for disapproval of philosophy than John Calvin. Philosophy a. Epistemology As noted, Calvin can seem overly harsh about philosophy. References and Further Reading a. Brunswick: Schwetschke and Sons, Opera Selecta. Edited by Peter Barth and Wilhelm Niesel. Munich: Christian Kaiser, Almost as frequently cited as the Calvini Opera.

Ioannis Calvini Opera Exegetica. Various editors. Geneva: Droz, Tome I Edited by Thomas A. Lambert and Isabella M. Along with later volumes, this allows a far greater contextualization of Calvin than previously possible.

Institutes of the Christian Religion. His father, a lawyer, planned a career in the church for his son, and by the mids, Calvin had become a fine scholar. He spoke proficient Latin, excelled at philosophy, and qualified to take up the intensive study of theology in Paris. Suddenly, though, his father changed his mind and decided John should achieve greatness in law. John acquiesced, and the next five or six years saw him at the University of Orleans, attaining distinction in a subject he did not love.

During these years, he dipped into Renaissance humanism. He learned Greek, read widely in the classics, and added Plato to the Aristotle he already knew. He developed a taste for writing so that by age 22, he had published a commentary on Seneca's De Clementia.

Then word of Luther's teaching reached France, and his life made an abrupt turn, though his own account is reticent and vague:. And so this mere taste of true godliness that I received set me on fire with such a desire to progress that I pursued the rest of my studies more coolly, although I did not give them up altogether. He became marked out as a "Lutheran," and, when persecution arose in Paris where he had returned to teach , he sought refuge in Basel.

There he penned the first edition of a book that was to affect Western history as much as any other. The Institutes of the Christian Religion was intended as an elementary manual for those who wanted to know something about the evangelical faith—"the whole sum of godliness and whatever it is necessary to know about saving doctrine. In The Institutes , Calvin outlined his views on the church, the sacraments, justification, Christian liberty, and political government. His unique and overarching theme is God's sovereignty.

He taught that original sin eradicated free will in people. Only by God's initiative can anyone begin to have faith and thus experience assurance of salvation. In this and later editions, Calvin developed the doctrines of predestination, or election. More importantly, he argued for the indefectability of grace—that is, grace will never be withdrawn from the elect. This was Calvin's pastoral attempt to comfort new believers. In medieval Catholicism, believers remained anxious about their spiritual destinies and were required to perform more and more good works to guarantee their salvation.

Calvin taught that once a believer understands he is chosen by Christ to eternal life, he will never have to suffer doubt again about salvation: "He will obtain an unwavering hope of final perseverance as it is called , if he reckons himself a member of him who is beyond hazard of falling away. After fleeing France to escape persecution, Calvin settled in Geneva at Farel's bidding. But after a mere 18 months, he and Farel were banished from the city for disagreeing with the city council.

Calvin headed again for Strasbourg, where he pastored for three years and married Idellete de Bure, the widow of an Anabaptist, who brought with her two children. By Calvin's reputation had spread: he wrote three other books and revised his Institutes. Still more revisions came in and , eventually amounting to 80 chapters. He was asked to return to Geneva by city authorities, and he spent the rest of his life trying to help establish a theocratic society.

Calvin believed the church should faithfully mirror the principles laid down in Holy Scripture. In his Ecclesiastical Ordinances he argued that the New Testament taught four orders of ministry: pastors, doctors, elders, and deacons.

Around these, the city was organized. Pastors conducted the services, preached, administered the Sacraments, and cared for the spiritual welfare of parishioners. In each of the three parish churches, two Sunday services and a catechism class were offered.

Every other weekday, a service was held—later on, every day. The Lord's Supper was celebrated quarterly. The audience consisted mainly of the older schoolboys and ministers, but anyone could attend.

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