Calvin: Saint or Sinner? Some Notes
---I did not invent the topic. It was a
congress of papers at a Castle in Holland in 2009. One should thank the Editor
for bringing it together, Herman J. Selderhuis. And of course the scholars
researching on the topics. ---Let us start where we should as a
Seventh-day Adventist “For
nearly thirty years Calvin labored at Geneva, first to establish there a church
adhering to the morality of the Bible, and then for the advancement of the
Reformation throughout Europe. His course as a public leader was not faultless, nor were his doctrines free from error. But he was instrumental in promulgating truths that were of special
importance in his time, in maintaining the principles of Protestantism
against the fast-returning tide of popery, and in promoting in the reformed
churches simplicity and purity of life, in place of the pride and corruption
fostered under the Romish teaching. “
Ellen White, Great Controversy page
236. ---One sentence, but she knew some more things.
She just did not elaborate on it in her dealing with the Great Reformer, John
Calvin who was used by God. ---But the Congress delved deeper into the
errors. They did it in 2009. ---They were celebrating 500 years of
Calvin. And what better way to do it, they thought, than to scratch around in
his life and works. ---And they did. ---Here is the table of Contents of the Congress: ---“Calvin: Saint or Sinner?” The issue
was in this paper, they cannot focus on Calvin as sinner, even though that is a
problem, for they need to point out that he is a saint. But that is also a
problem for there was no comparison between Calvin and Catholic saints. ---Theodore Beza and Nicolas Colladon and Antoine
de la Faye wrote biographies of Calvin but they wanted to glorify him amid
criticism. Some were talking of a Calvin-cult. ---One of the seven Capital sins of
Calvin, a paper by a certain Max Engammare, is that he was aware of his
weakness of his pride. That is not really a problem because if you know your
weakness, you are halfway solving it, provided you repent and confess before
God. Correct? ---Geneva where Calvin worked a long time
had the myth of a non-saint. It was the paper of Isabelle Graessle. ---He was a weak man with lots of
illnesses, Olivier Millet presented. ---Calvin thought of himself as a prophet
on the basis of Deuteronomy 18:14-22 “There will always be prophets”. So he saw
himself as one of the ones in always. It was the paper of Jon Balserak. Ellen
White never called herself a prophetess. She said herself. ---In Exegesis, Calvin was influenced by
Catholic Tradition and by the Allegorization hermeneutics of Origen of
Alexandria. This was one of the problems namely how to separate Calvin from the
Catholic theology since he borrowed so much from Augustine and the other Church
Fathers. --- John L. Thompson stated at the
congress that Calvin was a reformer of exegesis, the Origenic way, yet stayed
much closer to Catholic traditional exegesis than is often thought. ---According to John Thompson, Calvin
wanted to listen to the Catholic tradition of the Church, but from the
conviction that much of earlier Catholic exegesis did not do justice to what
God had said (see the summary of the Editor Herman J. Selderhuis). ---He kept Sunday instituted by the
Catholic Church, they claim. He baptized infant method and fight for that
method against the Anabaptists who baptized adult. The debate started already
in 1526 in general but Calvin was only converted in 1531-1535. He believed in
original sin like Augustine. ---So the question should be asked: Is
Calvin just a spiritual Reformer, since he still clings to Catholic doctrines
in many ways? Elsie Ann McKee did a paper on this. ---Let us rephrase it: Question: Is Calvin
the Reformer of Spirituality rather than Doctrine? Thompson went into this. Not
good news for those who want to see him clear and clean. Ellen White said, “not
without error”. These Calvinists are just echoeing what she already said around
1900 and 1911. One hundred years before the congress. ---In Anthropology, the congress found
that Calvin takes a position between Luther and Erasmus. It was the paper of
Anthony N. S. Lane. ---Christian Link exposed the problems
with the Predestination Doctrine of Calvin. “Not without some errors” Ellen
White said in Great Controversy page
236. ---Kees van der Kooi went into the
Christology of Calvin and this paper will be of importance to Adventists,
especially on the Nature of Christ. Did He take human nature before or after
the fall essentially? Big dialectics because of this. Severe implications and
bulldozing of important texts from the Bible, depending which view is taken.
Before the Fall is anthropological/experiential. After the Fall is biblical
fundamental. Easy to choose, is it not. Especially if you are an Adventist. ---Calvin was known to be without patience
dealing with heretics. Is it “Holy Terror or Pastoral Care?” Scott Manetsch
looked at Church Discipline in Calvin’s Geneva, 1542-1596. ---If someone was a heretic, Calvin would
not think twice to use the stake to burn him/her. He said that in his letters
that are also online. Source:
See especially the letter of Calvin to Madame de Cany (at footnote 363) in
Chapter CCXCII of Letters of John Calvin, Volume I by Jean
Calvin | Project Gutenberg https://www.gutenberg.org/files/45463/45463-h/45463-h.htm In January 1552
from Geneva John Calvin wrote to Madame de Cany saying that if someone did not
escape, he would have burnt him at the stake. “And I assure you, Madame, that had he not so soon escaped, I should,
by way of discharging my duty, have done my best to bring him to the stake”.
Crossing Calvin’s line can bring you to Calvin’s stake of fire to be burnt. Hello.
“Not without some errors” Ellen White said. Correct? ---Calvin was intolerant
of difference with him. Evidence is in his letters also about Servetus (burnt
at stake), Gentili, and Jerome Bolsec (exile). ---If this Congress did something to add
to our knowledge of Calvin, it is to elaborate and list the errors that Ellen
White did not mention but just briefly in one breath mentioned. ---Amazing, is it not? Calvin was 26 years
younger than Martin Luther.
Source:
Herman J. Selderhuis (Editor), Calvin: Saint or Sinner? In Spatmittelalter,
Humanismus, Reformation: Studies in the Late Middle Ages, Humanism and the
Reformation herausgegeben von Berndt Hamm (Erlangen) in Verbindung mit Amy
Nelson Burnett (Lincoln, NE), Johannes Helmrath (Berlin) Volker Leppin (Jena),
Heinz Schilling (Berlin).Mohr Siebeck, 2010,reissued 2019.
---Volker Leppin read a paper to compare Calvin’s Institutes with Middle Age Catholic Theology. Hello.
https://www.mohrsiebeck.com/uploads/tx_sgpublisher/produkte/leseproben/9783161503399.pdf