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Add to FavoritesThe doctrines attributed to John Calvin were mostly those of Saint Augustine of Hippo, doctrines which Calvin embraced with a passion which significantly influenced the direction of the Reformation. He was more radical than Martin Luther, who did not condemn the traditions of the Catholic Church, but rather condemned the Church's habit of giving them precedence over the basic principles of Christianity.
Luther found the church corrupt, greedy, tyrannical and decadent, but the Reformation intended to clean and revitalise the church became instead its rival, as a consequence of the refusal of the Papacy to change its ways. Some conflict would have been inevitable, but it was Calvin who promoted the doctrine of a minority who were predestined to be saved while the majority were predestined to be damned. Needless to say, it was accepted as self-evident that Calvinists, at least those in positions of power and influence, were of the Elect of the Saved, and those who opposed or disagreed with them were damned in advance. This meant that they could match the Catholics in oppressions and atrocities without feelings of guilt or fear of judgement. This experience was to have a profound effect on the world from the eighteenth century.
Eventually it became clear to many men that God had helpfully identified the Elect by giving them lighter-coloured skin than the damned majority. At the same time, the notion arose that "saved" was synonymous with "virtuous", and white men cme to regard themselves as intrinsically superior to darker men. This provided a moral basis for the imperialism of the nineteenth century, the enslavement of Negroes and in the twentieth century the imposition of Apartheid in Southern Africa. Known variously as "the White Man's Burden", "manifest destiny" or "la mission civilatrice", this was an unintended consequence of Calvin's teaching. It is most unlikely that Calvin would have approved of such an anti-Christian interpretation of his doctrine, and he certainly would not have predicted it. But would this have happened anyway? What if Calvin had not spoken out against the papacy?
The Reformation might have been less violent. The Counter-reformation might have transformed the Roman Catholic Church. The church might even have returned to its original mission, to establish the kingdom of God in the hearts and minds of all people. Might, but perhaps the weight of tradition was still too great. Would cardinals and bishops have voluntarily relinquished control of cities, sometimes nations? Would the Holy Inquisition willingly give up its power, its supra-legal privileges? Would the lucrative, idolatrous trade in relics end?
I doubt it. But without the uncompromising rigidity and misanthropy associated (often unfairly) with Calvinists, the following centuries may well have been less brutal. The Thirty Years' War might not have ravaged and depopulated Europe and if the idea of the Elect had not mutated into the idea of the Master Race, we might have been spared the horrors of total war more recently.
It's all speculation, of course. The universe, even the fragment which we inhabit, is incomprehensibly complicated. None of us lives in isolation; everything we do has at least the potential to affect what happens somewhere else. At least, that's what I think Doctor Schroedinger was trying to say to me when I saw him looking for his cat.
Learn more about this author, Bert Meinders.
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No
John Calvin's basic theology, like that of all the Reformers, was threefold. Firstly, he believed in the superiority of faith over good works. This is based on the word of Paul in the Bible, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; not by works so that no-one can boast." (Ephesians 2:8) This was different from Roman Catholic teaching, which laid stress on the merit of good works.
Secondly, Calvin believed in the universal priesthood of all believers, in direct opposition to Roman Catholicism which taught and practised that there were basically two levels of Christian, spiritual and lay (priest and parishioner).
Thirdly , Calvin promoted the Word of God, the Bible, as the ultimate authority in all matters of faith. Once again this differed from the teaching of Roman Catholicism which promoted both the Bible and tradition as having equal authority for the believer. Moreover, it taught that tradition, as expressed in the decrees of popes and councils, the only permissible, legitimate and infallible interpreter of the Bible.
Calvin's main point of theological difference from Luther was in his strong belief in the doctrine of predestination with its emphasis on the elect', by which is meant those chosen by God for salvation'. This has since become a firmly established tenet of reformed doctrine.
It was Martin Luther rather than John Calvin who more directly confronted the papacy. It was as a monk that he first began to question Roman Catholicism. In due course he became a doctor of theology and professor of biblical studies at Wittenberg. After a long spiritual crisis, he finally came to understand the nature of the righteousness of God. He rejected all authority based solely on tradition, and came to the conclusion that the Pope, by depriving the individual Christian of his freedom to approach God directly by faith, without the mediation of priests, was directly contravening God's word. Moreover, Luther attacked the practice of granting indulgences, which were favours sold by the church, during a papal fund-raising campaign, that would free souls from purgatory' (a Roman Catholic teaching). He even created a jingle mocking the practice. "As soon as the coin in the coffer rings", it went, "the soul from purgatory springs".
When Luther had thought through his objections to Roman Catholicism and the papacy, he itemized these objections as his "95 theses" which he posted on the Castle Church door at Wittenberg on 31 October 1517. In so doing he was, in fact, declaring war against the papacy and all it stood for.
In 1521, Luther was officially excommunicated by Pope Leo X. He was then ordered to appear before a council which demanded that he retract his teachings. Luther responded by stating that unless God directed him to do so through His Word, he would not go against his conscience. It was not without reason that a papal bull (sealed document) announced, "Arise, O Lord, and judge Thy cause. A wild boar has invaded Thy vineyard." With Luther, it was confrontation all the way.
John Calvin, on the other hand, was a secular scholar. As a student of the classics with some legal studies thrown in, he threw in his lot with the reformers and in 1536 published this highly influential "Institutes of the Christian Religion". As a preface to this work, Calvin addressed a letter to the King of France defending the Protestants in that land from the criticisms of their enemies. This was sufficient to ensure that Calvin became a leader in the Protestant cause.
However a more noticeable difference between Luther, the German "wild boar", and Calvin, the intellectual scholar, was the nature of their role in the Reformation. With Luther, direct confrontation, especially with the Pope, was his modus operandi'; with Calvin, it was through the power of the written word.
For the success of the Protestant Reformation, both were needed. However, it is my opinion that Martin Luther was the main initiator of the Reformation. Calvin took up Luther's cause and ran with it, elucidating and systematizing it in his writings and consolidating it through his teachings. It was Luther, not Calvin, who spoke out so loudly against papal authority. Hence Luther was probably the more indispensable to the cause. If Luther had not spoken out against the papacy, the world (and the church in particular) would indeed be different from what it is today.
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