John Calvin and the Swiss Reformation (Geneva-style)

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’

4. 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

5. Geneva

6. 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

7. Systematic character: the ‘Institutiones’

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

9. 1560: the Geneva Bible (English trans. divided in verse and modeled upon Calvin’s method) is published

10. 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

11. 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)

12. 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’

13. 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!

14. In a sense…

15. 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!

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