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John Calvin and Roman Catholicism: Critique and Engagement, Then and Now
This informative collection offers a new approach to the study of John Calvin. The authors move beyond traditional approaches to consider the influential reformer within the broader context of the Roman Catholic Church and his complicated relationship to it.
Several themes emerge in these studies, including the sense in which Calvin saw himself as a church reformer rather than the founder of a new tradition; Calvin's engagement with his Roman Catholic contemporaries; and the importance of contemporary Calvin studies produced by Roman Catholic scholars.
This volume provides pastors and church historians with thoughtful perspectives on Calvin's reforming work and points to an emerging ecumenical spirit in which Protestants and Roman Catholics can acknowledge that they have much to learn from each other.
Several themes emerge in these studies, including the sense in which Calvin saw himself as a church reformer rather than the founder of a new tradition; Calvin's engagement with his Roman Catholic contemporaries; and the importance of contemporary Calvin studies produced by Roman Catholic scholars.
This volume provides pastors and church historians with thoughtful perspectives on Calvin's reforming work and points to an emerging ecumenical spirit in which Protestants and Roman Catholics can acknowledge that they have much to learn from each other.
224 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 2, 2014
I picked up this book, already familiar with the editor, during an engaging discussion about whether or not Roman Catholic baptism ought to be honored in Reformed Churches. I knew Calvin answered this with a resounding "yes", and I wanted to read what specifically he had written on this subject in its historical context. This book satisfied my curiosity, but I also wanted to learn more in regards to Calvin's interaction with Roman Catholicism in general.
The essays in this book:
Introduction: Why John Calvin and Roman Catholicism?
-- Randall C. Zachman
1. Roman Catholic Lives of Calvin from Bolsec to Richelieu: Why the Interest?
-- Irena Backus
2. Calvin and the Nicodemites
-- George H. Tavard, AA
3. Friend and Foe: Reformed Genevans and Catholic Neighbors in the Time of Calvin
-- Karen E. Spierling
4. Rules of Engagement: Catholics and Protestants in the Diocese of Geneva, 1580-1633
-- Jill Fehleison
5. In partibus infidelium: Calvinism and Catholic Identity in the Dutch Republic
-- Charles H. Parker
6. John Calvin, Accidental Anthropologist
-- Carlos M. N. Eire
7. Revising the Reform: What Calvin Learned from Dialogue with the Roman Catholics
-- Randall C. Zachman
8. Calvin and Sacramentality: A Catholic Perspective
-- Dennis E. Tamburello
While the others were interesting and helped fill out some history for me, the last two essays were of the greatest interest to me.
In chapter 7, Randall Zachman writes on Calvin's views on baptism and the Roman Church:
"The form of the church is not to be found in the splendor of the Roman episcopacy, but rather in the Word and sacraments; this form is at times not seen in the world, as Calvin thought was the case before the emergence of Martin Luther in 1520. To defend his claim that the church can at times be hidden from view, Calvin appeals to the example of the church during the time of the prophets: "What form do we think it displayed when Elijah complained that he alone was left [1 Kings 19:10, 14]?"' To show that the church is not to be identified with the splendor of bishops in synodic communion, Calvin turns to the trial of Jesus before the Sanhedrin. "Was not such pomp manifested in that council where priests, scribes, and Pharisees assembled to deliberate concerning the execution of Christ [John 11:47-53, 57] ?114 If the church is to be identified with its external form, then both Elijah and Jesus must be guilty of schism. "Now, let them go and cling to this outward mask making Christ and all the prophets of the living God schismatics; Satan's ministers, conversely, the organs of the Holy Spirit"' On the contrary, if the certain marks of the church are the pure preaching of the Word and the lawful administration of the sacraments, then the prophets and Jesus are members of the true church, even if its form was not visible in their day, and even if they were being persecuted and killed by those who claimed to represent the visible form and splendor of the church.
"Even though Calvin will often describe the Church of Rome as though it were the antithesis of the true Christian and catholic church, he also holds that the true church was hidden in the Roman Church, only to emerge in his own day with the teaching of Luther. This means that the Roman Church contains within itself the true church, since God remains faithful in spite of human faithlessness. "Hence it arises, that our baptism does not need renewal, because although the Devil has long reigned in the papacy, yet he could not altogether extinguish God's grace; nay, a Church is among them; for otherwise Paul's prophecy would have been false, when he says that Antichrist was seated in the temple of God (2 Thess. 2:4)"6 Thus Calvin is willing to grant to his opponents the truth of their claim that the church of God is with them, only he insists that it is hidden and is not to be seen in the public face of the Roman Church. "For when they thunder out with full cheeks-'We are the Church of God; or, `the seat of the Church is with us'-the solution is easy; the Church is indeed among them, that is, God has his Church there, but hidden and wonderfully preserved: but it does not follow that they are worthy of any honor; nay, they are more detestable, because they ought to bear sons and daughters to God; but they bear them for the Devil and for idols.
"If one looks at the mark that Rome holds out, the historic episcopacy in communion with the bishop of Rome, then the Roman Church is opposed to the true church of Christ. However, if one looks at the true marks of the church, such as baptism, then God has in fact preserved the true church in hiddenness in the Church of Rome, for otherwise the church of Christ would have perished. "For God always preserves a hidden seed, that the Church should not be utterly extinguished: for there must always be a Church in the world, but sometimes it is preserved miserably as in a sepulchre, since it is nowhere apparent."' The appearance of the evangelical and orthodox church in Calvin's day therefore represents the emergence of the true church from its time of hiddenness within the Roman Church, and not the beginning of a new church. "Since, then, the Lord wonderfully defends his Church, and preserves it in the world, so that at one time he seems to bury it, and then raises it from death; at one time he cuts it down as to its outward appearance, and then afterward he renews it; we ought to take heed, lest we measure according to our own judgment and carnal reason, what the Lord declares respecting the preservation of his Church. For its safety is often hid from the eyes of men."9 Alexandre Ganoczy therefore rightly claims that for Calvin, when one becomes an evangelical, one "does not break with the Church. Quite the contrary, in being converted one contributes to the purification of the Church in which one was baptized." Location 1643-1660
In Chapter 8, Dennis E. Tamburello, a Roman Catholic writer discusses Calvin's view of Sacraments. I found this particularly interesting, because Calvin switches to a view that the laying on of hands for a minister is actually a "lesser" Sacrament. Certainly not a Sacrament on the level that baptism and communion are, as those are for every believer. But the "laying on of hands" for the minister is definitely an insinuated command to carry on through the Church.
Tamburello further writes on Calvin's view of Church government:
"Both the concession that ordination is a sacrament, and that bishops, presbyters, and deacons are a form of church government sanctioned by the Word of God, clearly indicate that Calvin revised his understanding of church reform in the direction of older Catholic thought and practice in the years immediately following his dialogue with representatives of the Roman Church. His experience in these dialogues likely made Calvin vividly aware of the need to root evangelical and orthodox thought and practice more deeply in continuity with the orthodox and catholic tradition. It is hoped that these reflections might show that his dialogue with his Roman opponents had a more positive influence on Calvin than might otherwise be discernable in light of his continual polemic against them, and that he actually took the point of many of their criticisms of his earlier theological positions and changed his teaching accordingly, at times quite dramatically. If nothing else, the changes he makes in the 1543 Institutes support Alexandre Ganoczy's description of Calvin's own self-understanding. "He never stopped claiming his unshakable attachment to the unity of the Catholic Church which he did not want to replace, but to restore."
My previous readings of Calvin's commentators, I was led to believe that Calvin was the father of Presbyterianism, and that nothing had fundamentally changed from Calvin's initial writing of his Institutes at age 29, and the final version in 1563. I learned that both notions were false. Calvin's ecclesiology in the final form in his Institutes more closely resembled Episcopalianism than Presbyterianism. Also Calvin had fundamentally changed his views on both ecclesiology and on the Sacraments.
This was a helpful book in tearing down many of the misconceptions I had developed from learning about Calvin as a Presbyterian.
The essays in this book:
Introduction: Why John Calvin and Roman Catholicism?
-- Randall C. Zachman
1. Roman Catholic Lives of Calvin from Bolsec to Richelieu: Why the Interest?
-- Irena Backus
2. Calvin and the Nicodemites
-- George H. Tavard, AA
3. Friend and Foe: Reformed Genevans and Catholic Neighbors in the Time of Calvin
-- Karen E. Spierling
4. Rules of Engagement: Catholics and Protestants in the Diocese of Geneva, 1580-1633
-- Jill Fehleison
5. In partibus infidelium: Calvinism and Catholic Identity in the Dutch Republic
-- Charles H. Parker
6. John Calvin, Accidental Anthropologist
-- Carlos M. N. Eire
7. Revising the Reform: What Calvin Learned from Dialogue with the Roman Catholics
-- Randall C. Zachman
8. Calvin and Sacramentality: A Catholic Perspective
-- Dennis E. Tamburello
While the others were interesting and helped fill out some history for me, the last two essays were of the greatest interest to me.
In chapter 7, Randall Zachman writes on Calvin's views on baptism and the Roman Church:
"The form of the church is not to be found in the splendor of the Roman episcopacy, but rather in the Word and sacraments; this form is at times not seen in the world, as Calvin thought was the case before the emergence of Martin Luther in 1520. To defend his claim that the church can at times be hidden from view, Calvin appeals to the example of the church during the time of the prophets: "What form do we think it displayed when Elijah complained that he alone was left [1 Kings 19:10, 14]?"' To show that the church is not to be identified with the splendor of bishops in synodic communion, Calvin turns to the trial of Jesus before the Sanhedrin. "Was not such pomp manifested in that council where priests, scribes, and Pharisees assembled to deliberate concerning the execution of Christ [John 11:47-53, 57] ?114 If the church is to be identified with its external form, then both Elijah and Jesus must be guilty of schism. "Now, let them go and cling to this outward mask making Christ and all the prophets of the living God schismatics; Satan's ministers, conversely, the organs of the Holy Spirit"' On the contrary, if the certain marks of the church are the pure preaching of the Word and the lawful administration of the sacraments, then the prophets and Jesus are members of the true church, even if its form was not visible in their day, and even if they were being persecuted and killed by those who claimed to represent the visible form and splendor of the church.
"Even though Calvin will often describe the Church of Rome as though it were the antithesis of the true Christian and catholic church, he also holds that the true church was hidden in the Roman Church, only to emerge in his own day with the teaching of Luther. This means that the Roman Church contains within itself the true church, since God remains faithful in spite of human faithlessness. "Hence it arises, that our baptism does not need renewal, because although the Devil has long reigned in the papacy, yet he could not altogether extinguish God's grace; nay, a Church is among them; for otherwise Paul's prophecy would have been false, when he says that Antichrist was seated in the temple of God (2 Thess. 2:4)"6 Thus Calvin is willing to grant to his opponents the truth of their claim that the church of God is with them, only he insists that it is hidden and is not to be seen in the public face of the Roman Church. "For when they thunder out with full cheeks-'We are the Church of God; or, `the seat of the Church is with us'-the solution is easy; the Church is indeed among them, that is, God has his Church there, but hidden and wonderfully preserved: but it does not follow that they are worthy of any honor; nay, they are more detestable, because they ought to bear sons and daughters to God; but they bear them for the Devil and for idols.
"If one looks at the mark that Rome holds out, the historic episcopacy in communion with the bishop of Rome, then the Roman Church is opposed to the true church of Christ. However, if one looks at the true marks of the church, such as baptism, then God has in fact preserved the true church in hiddenness in the Church of Rome, for otherwise the church of Christ would have perished. "For God always preserves a hidden seed, that the Church should not be utterly extinguished: for there must always be a Church in the world, but sometimes it is preserved miserably as in a sepulchre, since it is nowhere apparent."' The appearance of the evangelical and orthodox church in Calvin's day therefore represents the emergence of the true church from its time of hiddenness within the Roman Church, and not the beginning of a new church. "Since, then, the Lord wonderfully defends his Church, and preserves it in the world, so that at one time he seems to bury it, and then raises it from death; at one time he cuts it down as to its outward appearance, and then afterward he renews it; we ought to take heed, lest we measure according to our own judgment and carnal reason, what the Lord declares respecting the preservation of his Church. For its safety is often hid from the eyes of men."9 Alexandre Ganoczy therefore rightly claims that for Calvin, when one becomes an evangelical, one "does not break with the Church. Quite the contrary, in being converted one contributes to the purification of the Church in which one was baptized." Location 1643-1660
In Chapter 8, Dennis E. Tamburello, a Roman Catholic writer discusses Calvin's view of Sacraments. I found this particularly interesting, because Calvin switches to a view that the laying on of hands for a minister is actually a "lesser" Sacrament. Certainly not a Sacrament on the level that baptism and communion are, as those are for every believer. But the "laying on of hands" for the minister is definitely an insinuated command to carry on through the Church.
Tamburello further writes on Calvin's view of Church government:
"Both the concession that ordination is a sacrament, and that bishops, presbyters, and deacons are a form of church government sanctioned by the Word of God, clearly indicate that Calvin revised his understanding of church reform in the direction of older Catholic thought and practice in the years immediately following his dialogue with representatives of the Roman Church. His experience in these dialogues likely made Calvin vividly aware of the need to root evangelical and orthodox thought and practice more deeply in continuity with the orthodox and catholic tradition. It is hoped that these reflections might show that his dialogue with his Roman opponents had a more positive influence on Calvin than might otherwise be discernable in light of his continual polemic against them, and that he actually took the point of many of their criticisms of his earlier theological positions and changed his teaching accordingly, at times quite dramatically. If nothing else, the changes he makes in the 1543 Institutes support Alexandre Ganoczy's description of Calvin's own self-understanding. "He never stopped claiming his unshakable attachment to the unity of the Catholic Church which he did not want to replace, but to restore."
My previous readings of Calvin's commentators, I was led to believe that Calvin was the father of Presbyterianism, and that nothing had fundamentally changed from Calvin's initial writing of his Institutes at age 29, and the final version in 1563. I learned that both notions were false. Calvin's ecclesiology in the final form in his Institutes more closely resembled Episcopalianism than Presbyterianism. Also Calvin had fundamentally changed his views on both ecclesiology and on the Sacraments.
This was a helpful book in tearing down many of the misconceptions I had developed from learning about Calvin as a Presbyterian.
June 22, 2013
This book was good, but much of it felt like scrounging around for scraps of "Calvinism" in a junkyard of liberal and quasi-Reformed assumptions. One contribution, oddly titled "John Calvin: Accidental Anthropologist," was almost entirely useless in its attempt to construct a "Catholic Calvin." Others were better, particularly the opening contribution which chronicled some important religious adversaries of Calvin. A couple others were good, but at best the book was just okay. It could have been better, maybe.
March 18, 2011
An uneven book. Carlos Eire's essay is the best part of it. There are some interesting glimpses of life between the faiths in Geneva.
March 10, 2014
4 stars for two interesting essays on Calvin and sacraments, and 2 stars for the rest...
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews