Calvin and Economic Justice

by the World Alliance of Reformed Churches

An international consultation on “The Impact of Calvin’s Economic and Social Thought on Reformed Witness” was held in Geneva in November 2004. Thirty scholars, pastors, and laypersons attended. The event was conceived in response to the 24th General Council of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC), held in Accra, Ghana three months earlier.

The participants of the consultation issued a statement, parts of which follow:

“We believe that rediscovering Calvin can help members of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches to take up the challenge of the 2004 General Council which, in the face of the financial and economic powers, called churches to covenant on matters of economic injustice and environmental destruction,” the consultation statement said. “In Accra, in addition to confessing the guilt of those of us who benefit from complicity in these systems of destruction, we affirmed ‘that God is a God of justice…and in a special way the God of the destitute, the poor, the exploited, the wronged and the abused.’”

The consultation, sponsored by WARC, the John Knox International Reformed Centre, and the Faculty of Theology of the University of Geneva, said Calvin was convinced that the “earth is the Lord’s” and that its wonders are entrusted to humanity as a shared resource.

“Material things are not personal possessions but means to serve the common good; individual talents of mind or physical skill or artistic creation find their right purpose in mutual support within the whole society.

“The creator intended every human being to know that because she or he is a member of the global human family by birth, each one must recognize every other person as his or her ‘own flesh and bone.’”

The consultation stated that Calvin, who has been called the father of capitalism, has often been misrepresented and may in fact be better characterized as an inspiration for Reformed churches’ efforts around liberation, justice and the common good. “We believe that the rediscovery of Calvin has something relevant to contribute to the witness of Reformed people and churches today with regard to social and economic issues,” the consultation says in its statement.

Anticipating the 500th anniversary celebrations of Calvin’s birth in 2009, the consultation issued a challenge to all Christians to reconsider whether Calvin might offer some insights into new or better ways to approach social and economic issues. “Calvin was certainly no stranger to challenges in these aspects of life but he met them with a biblical vision of the spiritual and practical coherence of God’s world. Calvin did not compartmentalize any dimension of human life or separate it from all the others.

The scholars, pastors and lay people said that Calvin has been at times represented selectively, misrepresented and sometimes deliberately distorted. The consultation argues, for example, that there has been “deliberate or at least practical denial of Calvin’s inconvenient insistence that Christians must do for their neighbours what they would have their neighbours do for them, even to the point of expending their lives, honour and possessions.” It adds, “No doubt Calvin, like the originator of any historical movement, would be utterly amazed at many things ascribed to him today.”

Today when the global market holds a hegemonic control over people that reminds many of political empires, daily working toward the renewal of all life remains the calling of all Christians, the statement continues. “However, for Calvin, working together to renew the social and economic world is also the responsibility of the church as church, both in local situations and international contexts, acting both with those of the same confession and with all followers of the gospel - the ecumenical church.

“The rediscovered Calvin is a person working with church and other civil leaders. Eminently practical, Calvin knew that ‘what is everyone’s job is no one’s job,’ which is one compelling reason to have specific offices leading the church or community to be actively engaged.”

Calvin’s teaching reminds Christians of their responsibility to learn God’s will and teach it to fellow Christians, that they ought to seek and offer reproof, forgiveness and reconciliation. In addition, “All Christians are obligated to serve the poor, needy and afflicted - recognizing that these brothers and sisters are their equals in God’s sight, they embody Christ.”

“All Christians are also part of the larger church and the church as church is called to fulfill these ministries and so it establishes structures of leadership to enable corporate witness,” the consultation stated.

The statement concludes that Calvin reconsidered offers nourishment - in the form of vision and resources - for such a justice journey. “Calvin was deeply and personally convinced that stewardship of all earthly gifts for the common good and justice and love in all human relationships, are not optional for any human being.”

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