Encyclopedia
Calvinism is a system of
Christian theology and an approach to Christian life and thought within the Protestant tradition articulated by
John Calvin, a
Protestant Reformer in the
16th century, and subsequently by successors, associates, followers and admirers of Calvin, his interpretation of
Scripture, and perspective on Christian life and theology. Calvin's system of theology and Christian life forms the basis of the
Reformed tradition, a term roughly equivalent to
Calvinism.
The Reformed tradition was originally advanced by stalwarts such as
Martin Bucer,
Heinrich Bullinger and
Peter Martyr Vermigli, and also influenced English reformers such as
Thomas Cranmer and John Jewel. However, because of Calvin's great influence and role in the confessional and ecclesiastical debates throughout the seventeenth century, this Reformed movement generally became known as Calvinism. Today, this term also refers to the doctrines and practices of the Reformed churches, of which Calvin was an early leader, and the system is perhaps best known for its doctrines of
predestination and
election.
Historical background
John Calvin's international influence on the development of the doctrines of the Protestant
Reformation began at the age of 25, when he started work on his first edition of the
Institutes of the Christian Religion in 1534 . This work underwent a number of revisions in his lifetime, including an impressive French vernacular translation. Through it and together with his polemical and pastoral works, his contributions to confessional documents for use in churches, and a massive collection of commentaries on the Bible, Calvin had a direct personal influence on Protestantism. He is only one of many to influence the doctrines of the Reformed churches, though he eventually became the most prominent.
The rising importance of the Reformed churches, and of Calvin, belongs to the second phase of the
Protestant Reformation, when evangelical churches began to form after
Luther was excommunicated from the
Catholic Church. Calvin was a French exile in
Geneva. He had signed the Lutheran Augsburg Confession in 1540, but his influence was first felt in the Swiss Reformation, which was not
Lutheran, but rather followed
Huldrych Zwingli. It became evident early on that doctrine in the Reformed churches was developing in a direction independent of
Luther's, under the influence of numerous writers and reformers, among whom Calvin eventually became pre-eminent. Much later, when his fame was attached to the Reformed churches, their whole body of doctrine came to be called
Calvinism.
The spreading of Calvinism
Although much of Calvin's practice was in Geneva, his publications spread his ideas of a correctly reformed church to many parts of Europe. Calvinism became the theological system of the majority in
Scotland , the
Netherlands, and parts of
Germany and was influential in
France,
Romania and
Poland.
Most settlers in the
American Mid-Atlantic and
New England were Calvinists, including the Puritans and Dutch settlers of New Amsterdam . Dutch Calvinist settlers were also the first successful European colonizers of
South Africa, beginning in the
17th century, who became known as Boers or
Afrikaners.
Sierra Leone was largely colonised by Calvinist settlers from
Nova Scotia, who were largely Black Loyalists, blacks who had fought for the
British during the
American War of Independence. John Marrant had organized a congregation there under the auspices of the Huntingdon Connection.
Some of the largest Calvinist communions were started by
19th and
20th century missionaries; especially large are those in
Korea and
Nigeria.
General description
Given that its present form has multiple main tributaries, the name "Calvinism" is somewhat misleading if taken to imply that every major feature of the doctrine of the "Calvinist churches", or of all Calvinist movements, can be found in the writings of Calvin. Others are often credited with as much of a final formative influence on what is now called Calvinism as Calvin himself did – for example Calvin's successor
Theodore Beza, the Dutch theologian Franciscus Gomarus, the founder of the
Presbyterian church,
John Knox, and any number of later figures such as the English Baptist
John Bunyan, the American preacher
Jonathan Edwards, and Neo-orthodox theologian Karl Barth.
Despite the various contributing streams of thought, the central issue in Calvinist theology that is often used to represent the whole is the system's particular soteriology , which emphasizes that man is incapable of adding anything from himself to obtain salvation and that God alone is the initiator at every stage of salvation, including the formation of faith and every decision to follow Christ. This doctrine was definitively formulated and codified during the
Synod of Dort , which rejected an alternate system known as
Arminianism.
Calvinism is sometimes called "Augustinianism" because the central issues of Calvinistic soteriology were articulated by St. Augustine in his dispute with the
British monk Pelagius. In contrast to the free-will position advocated by
Charles Finney and other dissenters , Calvinism places strong emphasis, not only on the abiding goodness of the original creation, but also on the total ruin of man's accomplishments and the frustration of the whole creation caused by sin, and it therefore views salvation as a new work of creation by God rather than an achievement of those who are saved from sin and death.
More broadly, "Calvinism" is virtually synonymous with "Reformed Protestantism", encompassing the whole body of doctrine taught by Reformed churches. In addition to maintaining a Calvinist soteriology, one of the more important and distinctive features of this system is the regulative principle of worship, which in principle rejects any form of worship not explicitly instituted for the church in the
Bible and which sets Reformed theology apart from
Lutheranism, which holds to the normative principle of worship.
Summaries of Calvinist theology
Sovereign grace
Calvinism stresses the complete ruin of man's ethical nature against a backdrop of the sovereign grace of God in salvation. It teaches that
fallen humanity is morally and spiritually unable to follow God or escape their condemnation before him and that only by divine intervention in which God must change their unwilling
hearts can people be turned from rebellion to willing obedience.
In this view, all people are entirely at the mercy of God, who would be just in condemning all people for their sins but who has chosen to be merciful to some. One person is saved while another is condemned, not because of a willingness, a faith, or any other virtue in the first person, but because God sovereignly chose to have mercy on him. Although the person must believe the gospel and respond to be saved, this obedience of faith is God's gift, and thus God completely and sovereignly accomplishes the salvation of sinners. Views of predestination to damnation are less uniform than is the view of predestination to salvation among self-described Calvinists .
In practice, Calvinists teach these doctrines of grace primarily for the encouragement of the church because they believe the doctrines demonstrate the extent of God's love in saving those who could not and would not follow him, as well as squelching pride and self-reliance and emphasizing the Christian's total dependence on the grace of God. In the same way, sanctification in the Calvinist view requires a continual reliance on God to purge the Christian's depraved heart from the power of sin and to further the Christian's joy.
"Life is religion"
The theological system and practical theories of church, family, and political life, all ambiguously called "Calvinism", are the outgrowth of a fundamental religious consciousness that centers on "the sovereignty of God." In principle, the doctrine of God has pre-eminent place in every category of theology, including the Calvinist understanding of how a person ought to live. Calvinism presupposes that the goodness and power of God have a free, unlimited range of activity, and this works out as a conviction that God is at work in all realms of existence, including the spiritual,
physical, and intellectual realms, whether secular or sacred, public or private, on
earth or in
heaven.
According to this viewpoint, the plan of God is worked out in every event. God is seen as the creator, preserver, and governor of each and every thing. This produces an attitude of absolute dependence on God, which is not identified only with temporary acts of piety ; rather, it is an all-encompassing pattern of life that, in principle, applies to any mundane task just as it also applies to
taking communion. For the Calvinist Christian, all of life is the Christian faith.
The five points of Calvinism
Calvinist theology is often identified in the popular mind as the so-called "five points of Calvinism," which are a summation of the judgments rendered by the
Synod of Dort and which were published as a point-by-point response to the five points of the
Arminian Remonstrance . Calvin himself never used such a model, and never combated Arminianism directly. They therefore function as a summary of the differences between Calvinism and Arminianism but not as a complete summation of Calvin's writings or of the theology of the Reformed churches in general. The central assertion of these canons is that God is able to save every person upon whom he has mercy and that his efforts are not frustrated by the unrighteousness or the inability of men.
The five points of Calvinism, which can be remembered by the
English acronym TULIP are:
- Total depravity : As a consequence of the Fall of man, every person born into the world is enslaved to the service of sin. According to the view, people are not by nature inclined to love God with their whole heart, mind, or strength, but rather all are inclined to serve their own interests over those of their neighbor and to reject the rule of God. Thus, all people by their own faculties are morally unable to choose to follow God and be saved because they are unwilling to do so out of the necessity of their own natures.
- Unconditional election: God's choice from eternity of those whom he will bring to himself is not based on foreseen virtue, merit, or faith in those people. Rather, it is unconditionally grounded in God's mercy.
- Limited atonement : The death of Christ actually takes away the penalty of sins of those on whom God has chosen to have mercy. It is "limited" to taking away the sins of the elect, not of all humanity, and it is "definite" and "particular" because atonement is certain for those particular persons.
- Irresistible grace : The saving grace of God is effectually applied to those whom he has determined to save and, in God's timing, overcomes their resistance to obeying the call of the gospel, bringing them to a saving faith in Christ.
- Perseverance of the saints : Any person who has once been truly saved from damnation must necessarily persevere and cannot later be condemned. The word saints is used in the sense in which it is used in the Bible to refer to all who are set apart by God, not in the technical sense of one who is exceptionally holy, canonized, or in heaven .
Calvinism is often further reduced in the popular mind to one or another of the five points of TULIP. The doctrine of unconditional election is sometimes made to stand for all Reformed doctrine, sometimes even by its adherents, as the chief article of Reformed Christianity. However, according to the doctrinal statements of these churches, it is not a balanced view to single out this doctrine to stand on its own as representative of all that is taught. The doctrine of unconditional election, and its corollary in the doctrine of predestination are never properly taught, according to Calvinists, except as an assurance to those who seek forgiveness and salvation through Christ, that their faith is not in vain, because God is able to bring to completion all whom He intends to save. Nevertheless, non-Calvinists object that these doctrines discourage the world from seeking salvation.
An additional point of disagreement with Arminianism implicit in the five points is the Calvinist understanding of the doctrine of Jesus' substitutionary atonement as a punishment for the sins of the elect, which was developed by St. Augustine and especially
St. Anselm. Calvinists argue that if Christ takes the punishment in the place of a particular sinner, that person
must be saved since it would be unjust for him then to be condemned for the same sins. The definitive and binding nature of this "satisfaction model" has led Arminians to subscribe instead to the governmental theory of the atonement in which no particular sins or sinners are in view.
Attempts to reform Calvinism
Many efforts have been undertaken to reform Calvinism and especially the doctrine of the Reformed church. The most notable and earliest of these was the theological and political movement called
Arminianism, already mentioned in connection with the Synod of Dort.
"Four-point Calvinism"
Another revision of Calvinism is called Amyraldism, "hypothetical universalism", or "four-point Calvinism", which drops the point on Limited Atonement in favor of an unlimited atonement saying that God has provided Christ's atonement for all alike, but seeing that none would believe on their own, he then elects those whom he will bring to faith in Christ, thereby preserving the Calvinist doctrine of unconditional election.
This doctrine was most thoroughly systematized by the French Reformed theologian at the University of
Saumur, Moses Amyraut, for whom it is named. His formulation was an attempt to bring Calvinism more nearly alongside the Lutheran view. It was popularized in England by the Reformed pastor
Richard Baxter and gained strong adherence among the Congregationalists and some
Presbyterians in the
American colonies, during the
17th and
18th centuries.
In the
United States, Amyraldism can be found among various evangelical groups, but "five point" Calvinism is prevalent especially in conservative and moderate groups among the Reformed churches, Reformed Baptists, and some non-denominational churches.
Neo-Orthodoxy
In the mainline Reformed churches, Calvinism has undergone expansion and revision through the influence of Karl Barth and neo-orthodox theology. Barth was an important Swiss Reformed theologian who began writing early in the 20th century, whose chief accomplishment was to counter-act the influence of
the Enlightenment in the churches, especially as this had led to the toleration of
Nazism in the Germanic countries of Western Europe. The Barmen declaration is an expression of the Barthian reform of Calvinism. Conservative Calvinists regard it as confusing to use the name "Calvinism" to refer to neo-orthodoxy or other liberal revisions stemming from Calvinist churches.
Other variations in Calvinism
Besides the traditional movements within the conservative Reformed churches, several trends have arisen through the attempt to provide a contemporary, but theologically conservative approach to the world.
Neo-Calvinism
A version of Calvinism that has been adopted by both theological conservatives and liberals gained influence in the
Dutch Reformed churches, late in the 19th century, dubbed "neo-Calvinism", which developed along lines of the theories of Dutch theologian, statesman and
journalist,
Abraham Kuyper. More traditional Calvinist critics of the movement characterize it as a revision of Calvinism, although a conservative one in comparison to modernist Christianity or neo-orthodoxy. Neo-calvinism, "calvinianism", or the "reformational movement", is a response to the influences of
the Enlightenment, but generally speaking it does not touch directly on the articles of salvation. Neo-Calvinists intend their work to be understood as an update of the Calvinist worldview in response to modern circumstances, which is an extension of the Calvinist understanding of salvation to
scientific,
social and political issues. To show their consistency with the historic Reformed movement, supporters may cite Calvin's
Institutes, book 1, chapters 1-3, and other works. In the United States, Kuyperian neo-Calvinism is represented among others, by the
Center for Public Justice, a faith-based political think-tank headquartered in
Washington, D.C.Neo-Calvinism branched off in more theologically conservative movements in the United States. The first of these to rise to prominence became apparent through the writings of
Francis Schaeffer, who had gathered around himself a group of scholars, and propagated their ideas in writing and through a Calvinist study center in Switzerland, called
L'Abri. This movement generated a reawakened social consciousness among Evangelicals, especially in response to
abortion, and was one of the formative influences which brought about the "Moral Majority" phenomenon in the United States, in the early 1980s.
Christian Reconstructionism
Another Calvinist movement called Christian Reconstructionism is much smaller, more radical, and theocratic, but by some believed to be widely influential in American family and political life. Reconstructionism is a distinct revision of Kuyper's approach, which sharply departs from that root influence through the complete rejection of
pluralism, and by formulating suggested applications of the sanctions of Biblical Law for modern civil governments. These distinctives are the least influential aspects of the movement. Its intellectual founder, the late
Rousas J. Rushdoony, based much of his understanding on the
apologetical insights of
Cornelius Van Til,
professor at Westminster Theological Seminary. It has some influence in the conservative Reformed churches in which it was born, and in Calvinistic Baptist and Charismatic churches mostly in the United States, Canada, and to a lesser extent in the UK
Reconstructionism aims toward the complete rebuilding of the structures of society on Christian and Biblical presuppositions, not, according to its promoters, in terms of "top down" structural changes, but through the steady advance of the Gospel of Christ as men and women are converted, who then live out their obedience to God in the areas for which they are responsible. In keeping with the Theonomic Principle, it seeks to establish laws and structures that will best instantiate the ethical principles of the
Bible, including the Old Testament as expounded in the case laws and summarized in the Decalogue. Not a political movement, strictly speaking, Reconstructionism has nonetheless been influential in the development of the Christian Right and what some critics have called, "Dominionism".
Lapsarianism
Within scholastic Calvinist theology, there are two schools of thought over
when and
whom God predestined: supralapsarianism and infralapsarianism . The former view, sometimes called "high Calvinism," argues that
the Fall occurred partly to facilitate God's purpose to choose some individuals for salvation and some for damnation. Infralapsarianism, sometimes called "low Calvinism," is the position that, while the Fall was indeed planned, it was not planned with reference to who would be saved.
Supralapsarians believe that God chose which individuals to save before he decided to allow the race to fall and that the Fall serves as the means of realization of that prior decision to send some individuals to
hell and others to
heaven . In contrast, infralapsarians hold that God planned the race to fall logically prior to the decision to save or damn any individuals because, it is argued, in order to be "saved," one must first need to be saved from something and therefore the Fall must precede predestination to salvation or damnation.
These two views vied with each other at the Synod of Dort , an international body representing Calvinist Christian churches from around
Europe, and the judgments that came out of that council sided with infralapsarianism . The influential Westminster Confession of Faith also teaches the infralapsarian view but is sensitive to those holding to supralapsarianism. The Lapsarian controversy has a few vocal proponents on each side today, but overall it doesn't get much attention among modern Calvinists.
Hyper-Calvinism
Hyper-Calvinism first referred to an eccentric view that appeared among the early
English Particular Baptists in the 1700s. Their system denied that the call of the gospel to "repent and believe" is directed to every single person and that it is the duty of every person to trust in Christ for salvation. While this doctrine has always been a minority view, it has not been relegated to the past and may still be found in some small denominations and church communities today. The term also occasionally appears in both
theological and secular controversial contexts, where it usually connotes a negative opinion about some variety of determinism, predestination, or a version of Evangelical Christianity or Calvinism that is deemed by the critic to be unenlightened, harsh, or extreme.
Usury and capitalism
One school of thought attributes Calvinism with setting the stage for the later development of
capitalism in northern Europe. In this view, elements of Calvinism represented a revolt against the medieval condemnation of
usury and, implicitly, of profit in general. Such a connection was advanced in influential works by R. H. Tawney and by
Max Weber.
Calvin expressed himself on usury in a letter to a friend,
Oecolampadius, in which he criticized the use of certain passages of scripture invoked by people opposed to the charging of interest. He reinterpreted some of these passages, and suggested that others of them had been rendered irrelevant by changed conditions. He also dismissed the argument that it is wrong to charge interest for money because money itself is barren. He said that the walls and the roof of a house are barren, too, but it is permissible to charge someone for allowing him to use them. In the same way, money can be made fruitful.
He qualified his view, however, by saying that money should be lent to people in dire need without hope of interest.
See also
History
Doctrine
- Five points of Calvinism
- Predestination and Predestination
- Imputed righteousness
- Intercession of saints on the rejection of saint cults
- Covenant Theology
- Presuppositional apologetics: apologetics from a Calvinist perspective
- Dominionism, Dominion Theology, Theonomy, Christian Reconstructionism: relatively minor movements within the Calvinist camp
People groups
- Huguenots: followers of Calvinism in France, the 16th and 17th century.
- Puritans: radical Calvinists in England.
- Pilgrims: Puritan separatists who left Europe for America in search of religious freedom.
- Reformed churches: denominations that have historically adhered to Calvinist doctrine.
Educational institutions
- Calvin College
- Calvin Theological Seminary
- Columbia Theological Seminary
- Covenant College
- Covenant Theological Seminary
- Dordt College
- Evangelical Theological College of Wales
- Geneva College
...
Resources
- John Calvin . Institutes of the Christian Religion. ISBN 0-664-22028-2
- Ford Lewis Battles and John Walchenbach . Analysis of the Institutes of the Christian Religion of John Calvin. ISBN 0-87552-182-7
- John Thomas McNeill . The History and Character of Calvinism. ISBN 0-19-500743-3
- Andrew Purves and Charles Partee . Encountering God: Christian Faith in Turbulent Times. ISBN 0-664-22242-0
- John Wesley . Calvinism Calmly Considered. ISBN 0-88019-438-3
External links
- from by Elizabeth Shanklin
- By Dr. W. Stanford Reid
Calvinist websites
- - offers many materials from a Calvinist perspective.
- - classic articles and resources; claims to have the largest collection of Reformed/Calvinist resources on the Internet.
- - many current articles, audio sermons, and lectures by contemporary Reformed theologians and pastors on a variety of topics.
- - more Reformed and Calvinist resources.
- - still more articles from a Reformed perspective.
- - many audio sermons, lectures, and curricula on theological topics from a conservative, Calvinist denomination
Calvinism and other theological systems
- - A Summary of the Presbyterian Religion.
- - a brief comparison of Calvinism and Arminianism from The Five Points of Calvinism - Defined, Defended, Documented by Steele and Thomas
- from the Catholic Encyclopedia
- "Arminius: The Scapegoat of Calvinism" by Vic Reasoner
- - critical examination of some of Calvinism's claims from a synergist perspective
