1 / 16

John Calvin and the Swiss Reformation (Geneva-style)

John Calvin and the Swiss Reformation (Geneva-style). From last time. Luther’s theology Zwingli: a different path to the Reformation Erasmian influence Eucharist: NO real presence, ‘saluting of the flag’. Brief Biography. Born in 1509 in France Educated in the Humanist tradition

Download Presentation

John Calvin and the Swiss Reformation (Geneva-style)

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. John Calvin and the Swiss Reformation (Geneva-style)

  2. From last time.. • Luther’s theology • Zwingli: a different path to the Reformation • Erasmian influence • Eucharist: NO real presence, ‘saluting of the flag’

  3. Brief Biography • Born in 1509 in France • Educated in the Humanist tradition • In 1536 he moved from France to Geneva • His main work was the ‘Institutiones Christianae Religionis’, or ‘Foundations of Christian Religion’, first ed. 1536; last ed. 1559

  4. Geneva

  5. What are the main feature of Calvinism? • Systematic character • Emphasis on the Bible • The doctrine of Eucharist • The relationship between State and Church • Predestination: an important twist

  6. Systematic character: the ‘Institutiones’

  7. Calvin commissioned the first translation of the Bible in French, 1535

  8. 1560: the Geneva Bible (English trans. divided in verse and modeled upon Calvin’s method) is published

  9. The Doctrine of Eucharist • Calvin, like Zwingli, was a scholar, and he was influenced by Humanism: as Zwingli, he saw Luther’s doctrine of real presence as too much ‘corporeal’ • However, he also thought that Zwingli’s reduction of the Eucharist to the ‘saluting of the flag’ business was a little too much (or too little)…. • Therefore his doctrine is something in between, in the sense that for Calvin the Eucharist did not simply have ‘symbolic VALUE’, but was a SYMBOL itself

  10. Church and State • Calvin envisioned society as divided into four main functions: • 1) Elders (the most important ones, were in charge of discipline) • 2) Doctors (teachers, and Calvin considered himself one of them) • 3) Pastors (in charge if preaching) • 4) Deacons (in charge of charities)

  11. Church and State II: look at your sources! • ‘Secret vices are to be secretly admonished’: what about public ones? • Elders have to first ‘make friendly remonstrance’ to the ones who commit ‘vices notorious and public’ • If the sinners persist, they ‘must abstain from the Supper’ • Religious and political ‘discipline’ as a value: we need to eradicate those who show ‘contumacy and rebellion’

  12. The Doctrine of Predestination • As Luther, Calvin believed in predestination… • ..however, unlike Luther, for whom only faith will tell you whether you were saved, for Calvin there was an easier way to tell whether or not God loved you: • Your personal success!

  13. In a sense…

  14. Calvin, capitalism and Max Weber • In other words, if you are successful in this world it means that God loves you, so with Calvin we see the beginning of a moral legitimization of profit and secular success…. • ….Calvinism and Capitalism!

  15. Max Weber, ‘The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism’, 1904-5

More Related