Advanced Historical Theology
The Reformed Theology of John Calvin
Part 22
Calvin’s educational life commenced in his tenure at the
university of Paris. He
attended the College de la Marche at the age of 14, then moved to the
College de Montaigu, though some historical evidence is lacking to piece
together exactly how these educational movements shifted, or if there is
insufficient evidence to make the case that he ever attended Montaigu in
the first place. It seems a
summary of his stay in Paris may be said to 1) have taught Latin grammar
for a time, 2) then may have been formally affiliated with the College
de Montaigu, and 3) studied arts (philosophy) there.
It is sure that Calvin’s father initially wanted him to study
theology in Paris, but then moved him to study law instead for future
financial reasons. He was
influenced greatly with Aristotelian philosophy, something he would
carry with him into his theological formulations seen in his commentary
of Seneca’s de Clementia, and in his Institutes, as well
as being introduced into the school of Augustine’s thought, which
later carried over into the Institutes.
There is overall, an uncertainty as to the exact nature of
Calvin’s sojourn in Paris, though through his writings and through the
accounts of his life (especially Beza’s) traces can be found to piece
together a possible coherent “life of Calvin” during this period.
Calvin left Paris sometime in the 1520’s with his degree in the
arts in order to start his work at the university of Orleans in law
(where he came face to face with an aspect of humanism that would shape
his thinking for the rest of his life).
The University of Orleans was not a collegiate university, and
only had a course of study surrounding law (with a stress upon civil
law) which had undergone radical revisions in 16th century
France under the writings of men like Guillaume Bude.
The humanism encountered here was not that of the 21st
century “man is the measure of all things without God” concept.
Rather, it was “how ideas were obtained and expressed” with
an emphasis on going “back to the sources” (ad fontes)
concerning the meaning of a given thing. For instance, Erasmus, in his Enchiridion, said that
the church ought to go back to the scriptures and the early fathers in
order to reform itself (i.e. back to the sources).
It was not, however, the intention for Calvin, at this time, to
go back to commentaries, or the Latin text of the Bible, but the
original sources, the Greek and Hebrew text.
Calvin’s first formulations from these influences would
demonstrate themselves after he had graduated Orleans in 1531, and then
dedicated two years of his life to researching and writing his
commentary of Seneca’s de Clementia.
Calvin moved from humanist to reformer by a “sudden
conversion” (subita conversione as Calvin calls it).
It was both revelatory for him (as with the manner in which he
parallels his conversion with the Apostle Paul’s in many ways) and
enigmatic for any researcher of his life since little is given on that
subject in his own writings. He
left Paris after another stay for a time, went to Noyon, and then quit
Noyon for Basel, thinking it wise to leave France for a time due to a
tumultuous air surrounding the reformation that was underway through
other reformers. Here, in
his hermit-style retreat in Switzerland, he penned the first edition of
the Institutes for French evangelicals.
After this, he was forced to move back to France for a time in
order to settle family affairs. He
then decided to set out for Strasbourg, but the road there was hindered
and he stopped over in the little city of Geneva to stay the night.
Reformation, at this time in history, was a city phenomenon. First there was a sense of community in a given geographical
area, second, economic and social struggles saw victory in partaking in
the freedom of the Reformation (purported by Thomas Brady’s analysis
of Strasbourg), and thirdly, urban communities centered upon the
doctrine of justification by faith alone.
There was a pressure to have a social change due to the
circumstances of time. It was not as though the “Hollywood” version of the
stalwart reformer who stormed the city for the cause of reformation had
historical veracity. Political,
economic, social and military considerations were the cause of many of
the Swiss Cantons to begin to embrace the “symbiotic” relationship
of city and reformer. In
like manner, Geneva, for instance, would have such a relationship with
Calvin as the Magistrate and Council would move ahead for the good of
the political-religious state under the guidance of Calvin’s
theological-socio-economic writings and counsel.
And Geneva was primed and ready for this kind of relationship
based on the history of a Swiss confederacy coming to light over the
last sixty years before Calvin ever arrived, and then adopting many of
the same reformation principles other Swiss cantons had already
implemented. Farel, the
city’s former “reformer,” cornered Calvin on his stay and
convinced him to remain and continue the work.
Unfortunately, his first tenure there did not go well and in 1538
he was exiled (along with Farel and Courault) due to a practical
difference in implementing the Lord’s Supper to wayward and unruly
members of the city, though the Council insisted.
Calvin spent three years in exile (1538-1541) where he wrote a
new version of the Institutes, as well as a tract against the
Catholics for intruding into Geneva in his absence in his Reply to
Sadoleto. In 1541 he returned reluctantly, again by Farel’s
pressure to continue what God had started through him.
Calvin, upon return to Geneva after his Strasbourg exile,
formulated a church-state relationship with the Magistrate of the city,
or the senate, much like the Graeco-Roman city-state.
The Institutes remain his theological powerhouse of
reform, but his Ecclesiastical Ordinances (written in 1541 for
the express purpose of structuring discipline and orderliness in Geneva)
was the “backbone of the his ecclesiastical organization.”
This consistory was created in order to “police” religious
orthodoxy. Such trials as
the “Servetus affair” demonstrated the civil-religious power of the
Consistory when they burned him at the stake for heresy, and this has
certainly “colored” Calvin’s posthumous character for the last 450
years. However, as other
countries and cantons had acted in thus manner with heretics, so the
Genevan Council felt obligated to uphold the same religious convictions
with Servetus. Yet,
Calvin’s role in all this was more akin to “technical advisor or
expert witness” rather than the prosecutor that was left in the hands
of Geneva’s civil authorities. Though
this mark upon “the Reformation” stands in the sight of its critics,
Calvin can be said to be exceedingly successful in his subsequent work
during his time in Geneva (over the paralleled work of Vadian in the
city of St. Gallen who had a different idea of reformation, though
similar circumstances as Calvin).
Concerning the message of Calvin’s Christianity found in the Institutes,
one does not find a basic central core doctrine from which all others
emerge. Calvin’s main
doctrine is not predestination, for instance.
Rather, Calvin’s Institutes demonstrate a cogency about
biblical doctrine as a whole, and the Bible as a whole
affecting the Christian’s view of Jesus Christ and every
doctrine connected to Christ. Christ,
then, should be said to be the center of Calvin’s thought, but
many doctrines surround Him as the central figure of God’s
redemptive history. Book 1 demonstrates the idea of how human beings can know
anything about God. Book 2
demonstrates how human beings know God surrounding the person and
redeemer Jesus Christ. Book
3 demonstrates how human beings obtain favor, blessing, grace, benefits
and effects of grace through the redeemer Jesus Christ.
Book 4 centers around the remaining theological issues of the
church itself, and the outward means by which the church is called into
fellowship with Jesus Christ.
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