The Old, the New and the Now (original) (raw)
2006
During the past several decades a growing number of scholars have come to appreciate the importance of studying John Calvin's interpretive work as a commentator on Scripture in addition to his better-known writings on theology. In this volume ten essays by scholars specializing in Calvin's exegetical methods examine the approaches and themes Calvin emphasized when he interpreted major portions of Scripture. These essays focus on Calvin's work in his biblical commentaries with appropriate cross-referencing to his other writings, including his sermons. A concluding essay synthesizes the main features of what has gone before to present an overall view of John Calvin as an interpreter and commentator on Holy Scripture. An appreciation of Calvin's exegetical labors and his work as a biblical commentator are now recognized as key elements in Calvin scholarship.
The Background Of Calvin’s Thoughts
Journal Didaskalia, 2021
Every age, God will raise up certain people who will become church leaders in their day, to be witnesses of God through the truth of God's word. Their presence did not only appear suddenly, but also through a long process of life and education. In this article, we will explore about The Background of Calvin’s Thoughts, whose influence has revealed the world of theology to this day. Calvin was not only influenced by France Humanism but also medieval Theology at that time. Voluntarism was a popular theology in Calvin era. Calvin received only education in theology from medieval tradition on the first stage of his studies because he never studied theology at university. Calvin’s method which was used to build his theology is inseparable from his studying in Civil Law in Orleans. His studying in Orleans has changed Calvin to be a good jurist and he used his skill later in Geneva to compile codifications of legislation and regulation for Church and government in Geneva. In addition t...
Calvin and Tradition: Tracing Expansion, Locating Development, Suggesting Authority
Toronto Journal of Theology, 2009
This article examines one way that Calvin rewrote or edited his works across his various editions, adding patristic material. These patristic expansions represent one of the most significant methods by which the commentaries and the Institutes grew in length. The lengthening was not merely an elongation, but also an addition of authority and gravity. The article analyzes three instances of expansion to demonstrate Calvin's implicit acceptance of the medieval model of authority. While Calvin's use of patristic material was varied and at times nuanced, frequently Calvin's addition of the patristic and sounder medieval source material represented a foundational acceptance and establishment of the tradition's ''handing on'' of the basic form of right religion. Calvin's use of this practice revealed his acceptance of an orthodoxy in particular fathers, his formation of a traditional theology, and his establishment of correct tradition as a source of theological authority.
Calvin in word and deed: A communicological appreciation
Koers - Bulletin for Christian Scholarship, 2001
Calvin in word and deed: A communicological appreciation John Calvin's views on the role of the preacher, as well as the manner in which he applied these views in practice, are examined by using a simplified linear model of communication. Firstly, Calvin's view on the role of the preacher is examined-as expressed in the Institutes, his letters and commentaries. From a communication perspective, it is clear that, from what Calvin said, he thoroughly saw himself as a servant, relying on the Word of God-a servant who had to execute his assignment in obedience to what God (communicator in the model) expected from him as an instrument in His hands. Secondly, in addition to Calvin's views on his role as a preacher, it was also established how he acted in some demanding situations. The consistency of his thinking was illustrated by comparing what he did to what he said. The examination revealed that Calvin's action was to bring the Word. Calvin's actions were therefore consistent with the views articulated in his writings. Thirdly, from his letters to persecuted followers, we can deduce Calvin's views on the practical application of the ideas which he stated in the Institutes and other publications. The article concludes that, if measured against the simplified linear communication model, it can be assumed that Calvin saw himself as a communication medium or channel used by God to convey His message and not as a communicator following his own agenda.
pp. 106–109 in Engaging Calvin (ed. M D Thompson). Nottingham: IVP, 2009.
The whole Gospel is contained in Christ.' So writes John Calvin, commenting on Romans 1:3. 'To move even a step from Christ means to withdraw oneself from the Gospel. Since Christ is the living and express image of the Father, it need not surprise us that He alone is set in front of us as the One who is both the object and centre of our whole faith.' 1 This was no isolated comment, tied to the exegesis of a particular biblical text and easily forgotten. Though he did not leave us a treatise on Christology, the generally Christocentric character of Calvin's theology has long been recognised. 2 So too has been his Christological approach to the 'plain sense' of Scripture. 3 He took very seriously the character of Scripture as a testimony to Christ and just as seriously the discipline of ensuring that everything Christians say about Christ is properly 1 J. Calvin,
Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 2021
In her new collection of essays on Calvin's exegetical method, Barbara Pitkin presents a clear and expansive picture of the reformer's historical consciousness as it intersected with his "theological assumption of the unity of the covenant" (119) as narrated in scripture. Pitkin marshals a diverse set of sources from Calvin's commentaries, sermons, public lectures, and personal correspondence to show that standing behind his scholarly activities was a central concern with "the edification of the contemporary faithful, " such that his "historical approach to scripture does not yield a simple history lesson about the past but engages with that past history to build up present faith" (25). Indeed, according to the author, mirroring Calvin's sense of the unity of all history under the guidance of divine oversight was his evangelical method of "Christ-focused" exegesis that understood Jesus Christ to be the unifying center of scripture and thus the goal of all interpretation. Pitkin is careful to note that Calvin's sense of historical continuity (guided by divine providence) and textual unity (centered on Jesus Christ) should not be misunderstood as a shoehorning of biblical history into fixed patterns of doctrine. Rather, for Calvin, "Biblical figures can function as examples, biblical history can serve as a mirror, multiple historical fulfillments of prophecy are possible, and analogies can be drawn by interpreters" (224) precisely because the complexity of sacred history is of a piece with the complexity of the lived present. Each of the biblical texts that Pitkin examines through the lens of Calvin's interpretive work is in some way placed in conversation with social concerns related to Calvin's adopted home of Geneva. In Chapter 2, Pitkin addresses Calvin's Paulinism through his exegesis of Galatians 2, where the Apostle Paul is presented as "a past leader of the church, dealing with issues peculiar to his own historical situation, " who is also "a teacher of doctrine" and "model of appropriate Christian behavior" (43-47). By historicizing Paul as a pastor and teacher and thus as someone embroiled in a variety of internal and external disputes as he
Calvin and His Influence, ed. Irena Backus and Philip Benedict, 2011
2013
Only John Calvin's writings themselves say more about the master than the work of the Calvin specialists in this volume. The contemporary research presented here on Calvin and the influence that his work has had in the Western world and beyond for the past 500 years treats us to a wide spectrum of interdisciplinary approaches that provide contrasting, complimentary, and colliding views of Calvin, his world, and the influence he had on our world, religion, politics, and the social developments within culture as we know it. The chapters in this book were presented by plenary speakers at the Geneva Calvin Conference from may 24 to 27, 2009. The celebration was organized and sponsored by the University of Geneva, the Association Calvin 2009, and the Musée Historique de la Réformation et Bibliothéque Calvinienne. Calvin and His Influence is introduced with an expert essay in its own right. The first thirty-two pages are an overview of the state of Calvin research in 2009, whereby Irena Backus and Philip Benedict lament that intellectual, cultural, and religious dimensions of Calvin's influence have been badly neglected. The volume
Editorial: Calvin amongst the Systematicians?
International Journal of Systematic Theology, 2009
As I write, the 500th anniversary of Jean Calvin's birth has just been marked in a variety of ways. This issue is IJST's own celebration of the legacy of Calvin. The articles were invited, and each author was asked to address Calvin's thought or influence as it relates to the discipline of systematic theology. There has been something of a renaissance in Calvin studies in the past couple of decades, which, however, has often been rather hostile to any attempt to draw Calvin into the conversations of systematicians. As a result, the very attempt to put together this journal number may need some defence. Scholarly engagement with Calvin has been revitalized by careful, disciplined and excellent historical work that focuses on locating Calvin within his own intellectual, ecclesial and social context. This work arose in large part as a reaction against an earlier tradition, flourishing in the middle decades of the last century, which found in Calvin, and particularly in the Institutio, a systematic theology par excellence, an ordered exposition of the doctrines of the Christian faith which could and should be engaged with in an ahistorical way. This reading was often accompanied by a rather strange account of theological history, in which Calvin (and some of the other Reformers) shone as a brief moment of gospel light, throwing into sharp contrast the darkness of the arid Aristotelian scholasticisms that preceded and followed. There is much to celebrate in the reaction to these types of readings. The end of the odd desire to set 'Calvin against the Calvinists'; the increased insight into Calvin's ideas and logic that comes at every turn when he is read against the background of late medieval scholastic debates; the understanding that the Institutio is not a modern text of systematics; and that aspects of the book that were found strange or puzzling are rendered merely commonplace by a correct grasp of the proper literary form of the book-all this is to be welcomed by any scholar concerned for accuracy and fair representation. For the present writer, most valuable of all is the recovery-bizarre that the point had ever been lost-of Calvin's primary work as the disciplined exposition of Holy Scripture, and his primary literary output as the commentaries (and sermons), which the Institutio and many of the other more directly doctrinal works were meant merely to illuminate or serve. (The major exceptions are some of Calvin's directly controversial works, which are simply occasional pieces written to address particular urgent situations.
THE CORRESPONDENCE OF JOHN CALVIN March 2019.docx
THE CORRESPONDENCE OF JOHN CALVIN
The literature on Calvin and the Reformation in French Switzerland is extensive. Men have varied in their attitude towards the Reformer and his movement as widely as they could. No one has been so much loved and hated, admired and abhorred, praised and blamed as John Calvin was. Yet the verdict of history is increasingly in his favor, the more people get to know him, the more they come to a better understanding of his person, his teachings, and the role he played in the Protestant Reformation. We begin by examining the documents left by the Reformer for the benefit of the coming generations. The materials concerning Calvin are abundant and have not yet been fully examined. He is best known by his “Institutes of the Christian Religion,” his Commentaries, and the various booklets and pamphlets that flowed from his pen. Of importance are the letters of Calvin; for through them we have access to Calvin, not just as a reformer and theologian, legislator and disciplinarian, but to the man who lived in those troubled days of the 16th Century; who suffered, loved and rejoiced like any other man. Calvin’s correspondence reveals his true character; and when examined continuously, many treasures will unfold from their perusal. In the New Testament we see a striking reality. Luke’s Gospel and his Book of Acts were written as letters to Theophilus. The foundations of Christian theology are laid in the letters of Paul and the other apostles. The prophetic book of the New Testament, Revelation, was sent in a form of a letter to the churches in Asia Minor.