The Humanity of John Calvin

1999 | Gregory Edward Reynolds

[Dr. Eckleburg]

A wonderful article on the REAL John Calvin.

[Dr. Eckleburg]

Ping to the GRPL and all who love God's word.

[drstevej]

*** His was the attitude of a pastor.***

Indeed, he was a pastor/theologian dealing with both pastoral as well as systematic theology.

[Dr. Eckleburg]

BUMP of grace.

[sinatorhellary]

Although I diagree with Mr. Calvin's major doctrines, I would say that there's a bit of the "pot calling the kettle black" when the late-medieval Roman Church is calling someone inhumane.

[RobbyS]

I never forget that Calvin was a Catholic heretic, not a Puritan. So everything he says has to be read in that light. Most later Protestant theologians have an academic knowledge of Catholicism rather than a personal one. Therefore his criticisms of Catholicism are much more instructive to this RC.

[Wrigley]

Thanks for the ping.

[BibChr]

For all his flaws, whatever they may have been, Calvin saw through the deadly deception of the RCC, escaped, and became an eloquent champion of the grace of God that saved him.

May more know that same freeing grace!

Dan

[connectthedots]

The 1994 edition of the CD-ROM Webster's Concise Interactive Encyclopedia claims that Michael Servetus "was burned alive by the church reformer Calvin,"

Just a couple observations. First, the article does not deny or dispute this claim. In that the writer appears to be an admirer of Calvin, one must assume that this allegation is true.

Secondly, this article ascribes positive characteristics about Calvin that are missing from some around here. I find it a bit difficult to believe that a man who was supposedly friendly toward those who disagreed with him on theology would have several people who did not agree with him put to death over those disagreements.

I think the author is being a bit too generous in his comments about John Calvin.

[RobbyS]

Deadly deception, eh. A case in point. Calvin at least knew what he was rejecting.

[RobbyS]

Calvin was a friend of Melancthon, and on many points of doctrine he was rather moderate. Personally he was far more temperate than Luther, not as harsh as Knox, and his patience under suffering was commendable. In many respects he was like Loyola.

[P-Marlowe]

One would hope that even those who staunchly disagree with Calvin's theology would treat Calvin with the historical fairness accorded Calvin by his nineteenth century French opponent, Ernest Renan, who called him "the most Christian man of his age."

Sorry but I would not attribute that to any theologian of any age.

I would suggest that the "most Christian man of his age" was more likely some old illiterate hard working bricklayer who blew his back out building one of those gaudy European Cathedrals and yet continued to work in pain without complaining to anyone for another 20 years and who all the while had praise in his heart and gave glory to God, and who knew as much about intricacies of "Theology" as a 7 year old Sunday School pupil.

We simply know too much about the life of John Calvin to believe that he was "the most Christian man on his block," much less "the most Christian man of his age." He wasn't. He wasn't even a close second.

[RobbyS]

A gaudy European cathedral as opposed to any American skyscraper? a monument to Christ as opposed to one to Mammon?

[P-Marlowe]

a monument to Christ as opposed to one to Mammon?

I suppose you think that mega-million-dollar-vomit-colored-monstrosity off the 101 freeway in Los Angeles is a "monument to Christ?"

[RobbyS]

You were talking about European cathedrals. I agree about the monument to Mahoney's vanity.

[Alex Murphy]

I never forget that Calvin was a Catholic heretic, not a Puritan. So everything he says has to be read in that light. Most later Protestant theologians have an academic knowledge of Catholicism rather than a personal one. Therefore his criticisms of Catholicism are much more instructive to this RC.

I'm not sure whether you're trying to say Calvin's criticisms of the RCC were even more valid for you because of his past, or are you saying his being declared a Catholic heretic was even more valid to you, given his criticisms. Could you elaborate on what you meant?

[P-Marlowe]

European Cathedrals are beautiful on the outside. They are, IMO, a monumnent more to the people who designed and built them than monuments to Jesus. I believe a proper monument to Jesus would be the human heart which is dedicated to worshiping him in humility,

That being said, I think you must admit that many of the European Cathedrals are on the gaudy side. This goes for protestant and catholic. But the fact that they were built did provide many people with job opportunities that they might not otherwise have had. But my hat is off to the people who built them and designed them rather than the people who ordered them built. They are, IMO, monuments to human acheivement.

[Vernon]

I find the article an absolutely wonderful attempt to rehabilitate the tragic history of intolerance and deeply flawed theology. The author deserves applause!

[drstevej]

"Having been for sixteen years a witness of his labors, I have pursued the history of his life and death with all fidelity; and I now unhesitatingly testify that every true Christian may find in this man the noble pattern of a truly Christian life and Christian death; a pattern, however, which it is as easy to calumniate as it would be difficult to follow."

- Theodore Beza (Calvin's Successor)

"Having been for sixteen years a witness of his labors, I have pursued the history of his life and death with all fidelity; and I now unhesitatingly testify that every true Christian may find in this man the noble pattern of a truly Christian life and Christian death; a pattern, however, which it is as easy to calumniate as it would be difficult to follow."

- Theodore Beza (Calvin's Successor)

[P-Marlowe]

You're not saying this is a revisionist history of the "most Christian man of his age," are you brother Maynard?