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Joseph D. Small
Director, Theology
Worship and Education
Many Presbyterians greet the news that 2009 will mark the 500th anniversary of John Calvin’s birth with a yawn, a roll of the eyes, or even a derisive snort. Why are we so dismissive of our forebear in the
Reformed tradition?
Lutherans adore Martin Luther. Methodist
hearts are strangely warmed by John
Wesley. Anglicans even have a sardonic
fondness for Henry VIII. But Presbyterians
are uncertain about John Calvin and his
legacy. Calvin is not a Reformed idol.
John Calvin would have been pleased by
our reluctance to revere him. He did not
want to be idolized by future generations.
In order to discourage veneration, he
specified that he be buried in Geneva’s
common cemetery in an unmarked grave.
Contemporary visitors to Geneva may
stumble upon Rue Calvin, but his house
no longer stands, and no one even knows
where it was.
We need not put Calvin on a pedestal in
order to appreciate the ways in which his
perspectives on Christian faith and life have
shaped Reformed churches throughout the
world, and continue to shape our church today.
At the conclusion of his admiring biography of
Calvin, Theodore Beza, his successor in Geneva, wrote, “Since it has pleased God that Calvin should continue to speak to us through his writings, which are so scholarly and full of godliness, it is up to future generations to go on listening to him ...” 1 Future generations have continued to listen, not passively, but with a lively engagement that sometimes learns from Calvin, sometimes argues with him, and sometimes discovers that contemporary questions and answers are revised by their contact with his questions and answers.
As the Calvin Jubilee approaches, we can recall some of the ways his thinking has shaped the life of the Presbyterian Church
(U.S.A.), including our understanding of the importance of education for children, youth, and adults.
Calvin placed the highest value on education in the church. He thought, “doubly fools” those “who do not deign to learn, because they think they are wise enough.” 2 Thus, Calvin established schools for Geneva’s children and youth, and he taught Scripture and theology daily. His understanding of
Christian education was not confined to the classroom, however, or limited to the most talented students. Many poor ignorant
people today, he wrote, “though ignorant and unskilled in the use of language, make known Christ more faithfully than all the theologians ... with their lofty speculations.” 3
Scripture was central to Calvin’s understanding of Christian education. We may mistakenly think of Institutes of the
Christian Religion as a scholastic work of systematic theology, but Calvin saw as its purpose, “to prepare and instruct candidates in sacred theology for the reading of the divine Word, in order that they may be able both to have easy access to it and to advance in it without stumbling.” 4 Calvin’s teaching and writing shared a thorough, lively engagement with Scripture as God’s present, living word to the church.
John Calvin did not view the Bible as a collection of facts to be learned or propositions to be mastered. In one of his
delightful images, he likens Scripture to a pair of eyeglasses: “Just as eyes, when dimmed with age or weakness or by some other defect, unless aided by spectacles, discern
nothing distinctly; so such is our feebleness, unless Scripture guides us in seeking God, we are immediately confused.” 5 We study the Bible, not for its own sake, but because Scripture helps us to see God truthfully, ourselves honestly, and God’s Way in the world clearly.
God’s new Way in the world was central to Calvin’s teaching. He did not see matters of social and economic life as footnotes to the gospel or addenda to the nature of the
church, but integral to knowledge and service of God who is Creator and Redeemer of all of life. He would have been puzzled by the contemporary distinction between compassion
and justice. Any separation of theology and ethics would have been foreign to his comprehensive thinking about Christian faith and life.
Calvin’s central concerns with Scripture and God’s Way in all of life inform the educational materials of Congregational Ministries Publishing. We Believe, our central Presbyterian curriculum, is in the spirit of Calvin’s continuing reform of the church. That is one reason why our attention to Calvin’s
Jubilee year is not an antiquarian endeavor or an exercise in hagiography. Instead, it is a chance to focus on the ways he continues to help in probing the depths of our faith
and faithfulness.
Witherspoon Press is in the process of producing a superb 60-minute DVD that will help Presbyterians learn about Calvin’s life and legacy as a way of incorporating his insights into our task of knowing God more fully and reforming the church more faithfully. Look for more news of this exciting educational resource in future issues of ideas! Also, mark July 8–11, 2009, on your calendar for a Calvin Jubilee conference at Montreat. Both the Calvin legacy DVD and the Jubilee conference will open the PC(USA) to fresh winds of the Spirit blowing from 16th century Geneva!
Notes
1. Theodore Beza, The Life of John Calvin (Durham, U.K.: Evangelical
Press, 1997), p. 140.
2. John Calvin, Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, 50:4
(Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1993) p. 54.
3. John Calvin, Commentary on the Gospel According to John, 1:45
(Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1993), p. 76.
4. Calvin: Institutes of the Christian Religion, “John Calvin to the
Reader,” 1559 (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1960) p. 4.
5. Calvin: Institutes, 1.14.1, pp. 160–161.
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