John Calvin: A Sixteenth-Century PortraitHistorians have credited--or blamed--Calvinism for many developments in the modern world, including capitalism, modern science, secularization, democracy, individualism, and unitarianism. These same historians, however, have largely ignored John Calvin the man. When people consider him at all, they tend to view him as little more than the joyless tyrant of Geneva who created an abstract theology as forbidding as himself. This volume, written by the eminent historian William J. Bouwsma, who has devoted his career to exploring the larger patterns of early modern European history, seeks to redress these common misconceptions of Calvin by placing him back in the proper historical context of his time. Eloquently depicting Calvin's life as a French exile, a humanist in the tradition of Erasmus, and a man unusually sensitive to the complexities and contradictions of later Renaissance culture, Bouwsma reveals a surprisingly human, plausible, ecumenical, and often sympathetic Calvin. John Calvin offers a brilliant reassessment not only of Calvin but also of the Reformation and its relationship to the movements of the Renaissance. |
Contents
| 1 | |
| 9 | |
Calvins Anxiety | 32 |
A World Out of Joint | 49 |
Cosmic Inheritances | 69 |
Restoring Order | 86 |
Rational Religion | 98 |
Humanism | 113 |
Knowing | 150 |
Power | 162 |
Drama | 177 |
Conclusion | 230 |
Society | 253 |
Polity | 288 |
Bibliography | 295 |
Being | 131 |
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abyss Acts Anabaptist ancient anxiety Augustine believed biblical Bucer called Calvin thought Calvinists century Christ Christian Polity church Comm commentary conception culture death declared Deut discourse divine doctrine Erasmian Erasmus especially example exile Ezek faith father fear Ganoczy Geneva God's Gospel Hans Baron heart heaven History Holy Höpfl human humanist II Sam insisted Inst italics added Jerrold E John Calvin Karl Barth knowledge language learned Letter to Farel Lorenzo Valla Luke Luther Matt Medieval mind Modern nature observed papacy Parker pastors person Petrarch philosophical political Polity of Calvin princes Quintilian Rabelais recognized Reformation religion religious Renaissance Renaissance Human rhetoric Roman rulers Scripture seems sense Serm sermons social sometimes soul spiritual Strasbourg Studies suggests teaching Testament theology things tion traditional Traité des scandales truth virtue wicked Wolfgang Capito word wrote
Popular passages
Page 41 - When, however, I had performed all these things, though I had some intervals of quiet, I was still far off from true peace of conscience; for, whenever I descended into myself, or raised my mind to thee, extreme terror seized me — terror which no expiations nor satisfactions could cure. And the more closely I examined myself, the sharper the stings with which my conscience was pricked, so that the only solace which remained to me was to delude myself by obliviousness.
Page 209 - But in the obedience which we have shown to be due to the authority of governors, it is always necessary to make one exception, and that is entitled to our first attention, — that it do not seduce us from obedience to him, to whose will the desires of all kings ought to be subject, to whose decrees all their commands ought to yield, to whose majesty all their sceptres ought to submit.
Page 140 - ... curse. This curse, while it seizes and envelops innocent creatures through our fault, must overwhelm our souls with despair. For even if God wills to manifest his fatherly favor to us in many ways, yet we cannot by contemplating the universe infer that he is Father. Rather, conscience presses us within and shows in our sin just cause for his disowning us and not regarding or recognizing us as his sons.
Page 75 - I set myself so much in opposition to common sense, as to contend that there was no difference between the justice, moderation, and equity of Titus and Trajan, and the rage, intemperance, and cruelty of Caligula, Nero, and Domitian ; between the continence of Vespasian, and the obscene lusts of Tiberius ; 1 Jer. xvii. 9 ; Gen. viii. 21 ; Ps. xciv. 11 ; xxxvi. 2 ; xiv. 2, 3 ; Gen. vi. 3; Gal. v. 19. * Latin,
Page 214 - For there is no other way to enter into life unless this mother conceive us in her womb, give us birth, nourish us at her breast, and lastly, unless she keep us under her care and guidance until, putting off mortal flesh, we become like the angels [Matt. 22:30]. Our weakness does not allow us to be dismissed from her school until we have been pupils all our lives.
Page 23 - I have been bereaved of the best companion of my life, of one who, had it been so ordered, would not only have been the willing sharer of my indigence, but even of my death.
Page 285 - ... the first place, therefore, I would, above all things, counsel my readers to beware of ingeniously contriving deceitful pretexts, by which to take advantage of their fellow-men, and let them not imagine that any thing can be lawful to them which is grievous and hurtful to others. With respect to usury, it is scarcely possible to find in the world a usurer who is not at the same time an extortioner, and addicted to unlawful and dishonorable gain.
Page 215 - ... Wherever two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them" [Matt. 18:20]. "But that we may clearly grasp the sum of this matter, we must proceed by the following steps: the church universal is a multitude gathered from all nations; it is divided and dispersed in separate places, but agrees on the one truth of divine doctrine, and is bound by the bond of the same religion. Under it are thus included individual churches, disposed in towns and villages according to human need,...
Page 186 - Let each one of us, then, proceed according to the measure of his puny capacity and set out upon the journey we have begun. No one shall set out so inauspiciously as not daily to make some headway, though it be slight. Therefore, let us not cease so to act that we may make some unceasing progress in the way of the Lord. And let us not despair at the slightness of our success; for even though attainment may not correspond to desire, when today outstrips yesterday the effort is not lost. Only let us...