Calvin's Institutes Research Articles

Calvin and Przywara's Analogia Entis: A New Start for an Old Debate

This paper brings the thought of John Calvin into dialogue with Erich Przywara's Analogia Entis in order to reboot the Reformed-Catholic dialogue on the analogy of being, which Karl Barth has tended to dominate. The paper begins by distilling from Analogia Entis, and explicating, nine key principles that express Przywara's understanding of the analogy of being (Part I). It then turns to the relationship between God and creation expressed in Calvin's Institutes 1.1–5, demonstrating that in these crucial opening chapters Calvin explicitly affirms his own version of each of these nine principles save one, which he explicitly endorses elsewhere in the Institutes (Part II). Based on this analysis, the paper proposes that the relationship between Calvin and Przywara ought best to be viewed as one of dissimilarity amid greater similarity and that Calvin be retrieved as a fruitful resource for Reformed-Catholic détente on the issue of ontology.

Calvin Institute of Christian Worship's Vital Worship Grants

Calvin Institute of Christian Worship's Vital Worship Grants

Luther's Treatise on Christian Freedom and Its Legacy by Robert Kolb

Reviewed by: Luther's Treatise on Christian Freedom and Its Legacy by Robert Kolb Mark D. Tranvik Luther's Treatise on Christian Freedom and Its Legacy. By Robert Kolb. Lanham: Lexington Books/Fortress Academic, 2020. 161 pp. As readers of this journal know, in the world of Luther scholarship we are celebrating a series of 500th anniversaries. The Ninety-five Theses made a big splash in 2017. In 2020 several significant Luther texts were highlighted. None is more important than On Christian Freedom (1520) where Luther laid out for common people an elegant outline of his theology. We are indebted to the prolific Robert Kolb for a book that does an admirable job of placing this key work in context, summarizing its contents, and tracing its influence in the past five centuries. The book is divided into three separate sections. In the first part Kolb provides a nuanced and balanced summary of Luther's life. He is careful to describe the theological and political context and stresses the importance of the community surrounding Luther, thus avoiding the temptation of treating him simply as a heroic individual. The second section is the heart of the book and consists of a careful commentary on the texts (both Latin and German) of On Christian Freedom. Kolb carefully explores the thesis that frames the argument of the treatise—a Christian is at the same time free in faith and bound in love to the neighbor. Particularly helpful is Kolb's insistence that Luther's understanding of freedom still connects with people today and is not merely an artifact of the Reformation (36–38). Preachers and teachers will want to pay special attention to the way "the great exchange" between Christ and the sinner is unpacked. Luther's use of striking images and language to convey the depth of God's love for the unlovable can stimulate the [End Page 242] imaginations of those charged with proclaiming the gospel today (52–54). Finally, Kolb makes clear that Luther's understanding of freedom is anything but "empty" or merely something that resides within the believer. Christian liberty is for the sake of the neighbor. And the word "neighbor" is not some sort of abstraction for Luther. God's Word resonates in our daily lives through our vocations. We are always in some sort of earthly relationship. The good news is actually incarnated in our lives as family members, citizens, workers, and church members (74–79). The last section considers the impact of Luther's writing. Kolb notes that the reception of the treatise has varied. Some have seen it as a dangerous step toward antinomianism. Perhaps most surprising is the way the text has been noted but mostly ignored, particularly from the immediate post-Reformation era until the time of the modern Luther renaissance, when it has received much more attention. It might be noted that Kolb did miss the extensive comments on Christian freedom in John Calvin's Institutes. More attention to the Reformed perspective and its concern for discipline might have added a helpful dimension. Overall, this book is vintage Robert Kolb. It contains careful historical scholarship combined with a pastoral desire to make the insights of On Christian Freedom relevant to the lives of Christians today. We can be thankful that he continues to inform the faith with grace and erudition. Mark D. Tranvik Luther Seminary Saint Paul, Minnesota Copyright © 2021 Johns Hopkins University Press and Lutheran Quarterly, Inc.

CHILDLIKE REVERENCE AND TRUST: CALVIN AND THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM ON PRAYER

Prayer is a central theme in both Calvin's Institutes and the Heidelberg Catechism, although it is a neglected theme in present-day dogmatics. The present article compares Calvin's and the Heidelberg Catechism's stance on prayer in the context of the renewal of prayer as an effect of the Reformation of the 16th century. Both emphasise the experiential character of prayer and the importance of God's promise. The discussion of 'Amen' serves as a grand finale to the Heidelberg Catechism.
 KEYWORDS: Calvin, Heidelberg Catechism, prayer, promise, Reformation, experience.

Scripts we live by: on inheriting canonical texts

ABSTRACTIn this article, I theorize the interpretation of harmful canonical texts with special reference to John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion. As a result of the actions and rhetoric of some of its North American evangelical readers, the Institutes has come to function as an intellectual foundation for certain expressions of modern homophobia. In conversation with Jacques Derrida on inheritance and Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick on reparativity, I thus consider how queer evangelicals (especially those who wish to continue identifying themselves as such) ought to engage both Calvin’s text, particularly, as well as, more generally, those other canonical texts that are sources of trauma. In so doing, I proffer a capacious view of interpretation as not only what one says but also how one lives.

"Making High Majesty Look Like Itself": Eyeing Authority in Shakespeare's Richard II and Calvin's Institutes

In this essay, I read William Shakespeare's Richard II with John Calvin's Institutes in order to explore the ambiguous relationship between divine and temporal power in the early modern period. Although Calvin's distinction between the person of the ruler and his office appears to ensure obedience, this logic enables his followers (and occasionally Calvin himself) to critique authority. Such dialectical tension similarly characterizes Richard II: while Northumberland gestures toward the Calvinist distinction to resist Richard, York invokes it when declaring allegiance to Bolingbroke. I argue that such allegiance, predicated as it is on God's inscrutability, paradoxically unsettles monarchy's claim to divine justification.

John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion, by Bruce Gordon

John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion, by Bruce Gordon

The whole Church sings. Congregational singing in Luther's Wittenberg. By Robin A. Leaver. (Calvin Institute of Christian Worship Liturgical Studies Series.) Pp. xiv + 206 incl. 11 ills and 10 tables. Grand Rapids, Mi: Eerdmans, 2017. £17.99 (paper). 978 0 8028 7375 0

The whole Church sings. Congregational singing in Luther's Wittenberg. By Robin A. Leaver. (Calvin Institute of Christian Worship Liturgical Studies Series.) Pp. xiv + 206 incl. 11 ills and 10 tables. Grand Rapids, Mi: Eerdmans, 2017. £17.99 (paper). 978 0 8028 7375 0 - Volume 69 Issue 4

Visual Arts in the Worshipping Church (Calvin Institute of Christian Worship Liturgical Studies) by Lisa J. DeBoer

Visual Arts in the Worshipping Church (Calvin Institute of Christian Worship Liturgical Studies) <i>by Lisa J. DeBoer</i>

Quakerism understood in relation to Calvinism: The theology of George Fox

AbstractThis article starts from the position that Quakerism has yet to be properly located within the firmament of Christian theology. A new starting point is proposed in the relation to the historical environment of Calvinism, the effect of which is to place Quakerism within the ancient stand-off between Augustine and Pelagius. In the article's first part, four theological propositions taken from the Journal of George Fox are first contrasted with propositions from John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion and then correlated with those of James Arminius to confirm the Pelagian nature of the theology. The second part of the article departs from particular doctrinal elements and attempts to grasp the contrasting characters of Quakerism and Calvinism.

Reading the Rules of Knowledge in the Story of the Fall: Calvin and Reformed Epistemology on the Noetic Effects of Original Sin

ABSTRACT Reformed epistemology has reclaimed for contemporary apologetics not only Calvin's notion of sensus divinitatis, but also its negative counterpart—the idea of the corruption of human intellectual capacities through original sin. But while Alvin Plantinga's retrieval of the concept finds some support in Calvin's Institutes, it does not do full justice to the exegetically determined historical dynamism of Calvin's anthropology. I will support my argument with a close reading of Calvin's exegesis of the Fall, which highlights the Christological mediation of true knowledge, and Calvin's identification of disordered imagination as the primary noetic accompaniment of sin. These features deserve the attention of any contemporary retrieval of the noetic effects of original sin, while Calvin's exegesis continues to be of theological interest in itself.

Reading the Rules of Knowledge in the Story of the Fall: Calvin and Reformed Epistemology on the Noetic Effects of Original Sin

ABSTRACT Reformed epistemology has reclaimed for contemporary apologetics not only Calvin's notion of sensus divinitatis, but also its negative counterpart—the idea of the corruption of human intellectual capacities through original sin. But while Alvin Plantinga's retrieval of the concept finds some support in Calvin's Institutes, it does not do full justice to the exegetically determined historical dynamism of Calvin's anthropology. I will support my argument with a close reading of Calvin's exegesis of the Fall, which highlights the Christological mediation of true knowledge, and Calvin's identification of disordered imagination as the primary noetic accompaniment of sin. These features deserve the attention of any contemporary retrieval of the noetic effects of original sin, while Calvin's exegesis continues to be of theological interest in itself.

“An Auncient Zelous Gospeller […] Desirous to Do Any Thing to Common Good”: Edward Whitchurch and the Reformist Cause in Marian and Elizabethan England

This article examines the last years of the life of the prolific evangelical printer Edward Whitchurch (d. 1562). Although biographers have tended to paint his time under the rule of Queens Mary I and Elizabeth I as chiefly a period of quiescence and inactivity, Whitchurch in fact continued to devote himself, first cautiously under Mary and then more openly and vigorously under Elizabeth, to the evangelical cause he had so long supported. Under Mary, Whitchurch worked to thwart the production of Catholic propaganda and to aid suffering evangelicals, most notably his future wife, Archbishop Cranmer's widow. Upon Elizabeth's accession, Whitchurch zealously dedicated himself to advancing the evangelical cause, both through helping “forward” Protestants into key positions in the newly reestablished Church of England and also by assisting in several printing projects designed to bring important Reformation works before the public. The article highlights particular points of connection between Whitchurch and the evangelical Elizabethan printer Richard Harrison, arguing that Whitchurch played the key role in bringing Harrison into the print trade and sustaining him as he produced two important early Elizabethan texts, the first English translation of John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion and the 1562 folio Great Bible.

Ruth A.Meyers, Missional Worship, Worshipful Mission: Gathering as God's People Going Out in God's Name. (Calvin Institute of Christian Worship Liturgical Studies). Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2014, Xiv + 242 pp.

International Review of MissionVolume 104, Issue 2 p. 422-426 Book Review Ruth A. Meyers, Missional Worship, Worshipful Mission: Gathering as God's People Going Out in God's Name. (Calvin Institute of Christian Worship Liturgical Studies). Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2014, Xiv + 242 pp. Myungsil Kim, Myungsil KimSearch for more papers by this author Myungsil Kim, Myungsil KimSearch for more papers by this author First published: 25 January 2016 https://doi.org/10.1111/irom.12114Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Volume104, Issue2November 2015Pages 422-426 RelatedInformation

Evangelical Versus Liturgical? Defying a Dichotomy. By Melanie C.Ross. The Calvin Institute of Christian Worship Liturgical Studies Series. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 2014. Pp. 149. $17.00.

Evangelical Versus Liturgical? Defying a Dichotomy. By Melanie C.Ross. The Calvin Institute of Christian Worship Liturgical Studies Series. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 2014. Pp. 149. $17.00.

Evangelical versus Liturgical? Defying a Dichotomy (Calvin Institute of Christian Worship)

<i>Evangelical versus Liturgical? Defying a Dichotomy</i> (Calvin Institute of Christian Worship)

Hymnary.org: a comprehensive index of hymns and hymnals (review)

Reviewed by: Hymnary.org: a comprehensive index of hymns and hymnals Lindy Smith Hymnary.org: a comprehensive index of hymns and hymnals. [Grand Rapids, MI]: Calvin College, 2007-. www.hymnary.org/ (Accessed April-May 2012). [Requires a Web browser and an Internet connection. Pricing: free.] Hymnary1 is a free online resource that provides a searchable database of over one million hymn tunes and texts. The project is hosted by Calvin College's Calvin Institute of Christian Worship and Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL)2 and currently has a staff of six as well as an editorial board. A grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and cooperation with the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada has allowed for the incorporation of the Dictionary of North American Hymnology as well as the addition of half a million scanned hymnal pages to the database. Hymnary was designed for use by two distinct audiences: church musicians and hymnology researchers, though there are certainly additional potential applications by other types of users. Users can set up free accounts that allow them to create libraries of hymnals to search within and participate in forum discussions, but it is not necessary for general searching. On the homepage, there is a basic search box that searches all database fields. Results from this search are divided by Hymnary's [End Page 396] five categories (Text, Tune, Hymn, Person, and Hymnal), but this faceting is not always helpful, as a search for a general term like "love," for example, brings back tens of thousands of results in some of those categories. This method of searching is most useful if the user has either no idea of where to start or a very specific topic. Search results will also display in another category called Products, which is essentially an online store. Hymnary is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program and this arrangement helps fund the project and keeps it free for users. There is also advertising on some pages. These commercial aspects of the site are mildly intrusive at worst. For more advanced searching there is a set of customizable advanced search boxes in the left margin on every page of the site. The default search fields are Text Name, Tune Name, Person Name, Hymnal, Number, Topics, and Scripture, but a drop-down menu allows for the addition of more fields, like Meter, Incipit, Year Written, Publication Date, and Publication Place. To search in the Incipit field, users should input the beginning of the tune using numbers to indicate scale degrees. For example, the tune New Britain (commonly known as Amazing Grace) would be listed as follows: 513132165. In addition to the search fields listed above, users can choose to display their results in only one of the five database categories. If only one field is searched, the database selects the result type automatically (a search by text name will return results in the Text display, and so on) but this feature could be useful if the user is searching multiple fields simultaneously. The database creates a new sticky identifier field after a selection has been made from search results. A user can then narrow down the results by using other fields but if one wants to start an entirely new search, one needs to either clear the content from that field or return to the homepage to clear all fields. Search results for a particular text or tune direct the user to an authority page that allows for exploration of related tunes or texts, media, as well as information about the text or tune like author, composer, meter, key, date, and language. One difficulty I have found in searching is that there does not seem to be a way to effectively search for a particular scripture passage. The database does not allow one to search by verse, only by chapter. The search omits colons, making it impossible to use the standard convention for verse identification. The advanced searching tips do not address this and my own experimentations with syntax were unsuccessful. The only option seems to be to search by chapter and then browse through pages until the desired passage is found...

Sustaining Practices of Psalmody

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes Philip F. Reinders, Seeking God's Face: Praying with the Bible Through the Year (Grand Rapids: Faith Alive Christian Resources, 2010), 7. This is from Eugene Peterson's foreword to the book. John D. Witvliet, The Biblical Psalms in Christian Worship: A Brief Introduction and Guide to Resources (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007), xiii. A review of these three types was also explored in my chapter “Singing Psalm 29 Faithfully,” in Psalm 29 Through Time and Tradition, ed. L. Handy (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock), 99–114. Calvin Stapert, “Chanting to the Heavens,” Perspectives (1994): 5–6. For a more in-depth discussion of the sources of Genevan texts and tunes, see Emily R. Brink, “A Reformed Approach to Psalmody: The Legacy of the Genevan Psalter,” The Hymn 56:1 (2005): 16–25. Personal correspondence by e-mail on May 12, 2011. “Nyanyikanlah nyanyian,” st. 1 of a 2009 Indonesian setting of Psalm 148 by Tilly Lubis to a traditional Batak melody, included with a 2011 English versification by David Diephouse, “Hallelujah! Sing Praise to Your Creator,” in Psalms for All Seasons: A Complete Psalter for Worship (Grand Rapids: Faith Alive Christian Resources, 2012), 148E. An excellent Indonesian recording of this psalm is included on the CD Lihatlah Sekelilingmu, available from YAMUGER at www.yamuger.or.id (accessed 1/30/2012). Eelco Vos and The Psalm Project, Psalms Unplugged, © 2010. Compact disc. Available from www.thepsalmproject.com. Michael Morgan, “Once in Royal David's City, When the King Was in Distress,” © 2011 by Michael Morgan, in Psalms for All Seasons: A Complete Psalter for Worship, ed. M. Tel, J. Borger, & J. D. Witvliet (Grand Rapids: Brazos, Baker Publishing Group, 2012), 132B. Based on Psalm 132. “Introduction,” Psalms for All Seasons. Available at http://psalmsforallseasons.org/content/introduction (accessed 3/19/2012). Additional informationNotes on contributorsEmily R. BrinkEmily R. Brink is a senior research fellow at the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship and a fellow of the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada. She was editor of three hymnals, including the 1987Psalter Hymnalthat begins with an entire metrical psalter.She was founding editor ofReformed Worshipand is the current chair of the Consultation on Common Texts.

Leibniz's Concept of Substance and his Reception of John Calvin's Doctrine of the Eucharist

Leibniz saw the question of the eucharist as a crucial stumbling block to the agreement between Lutherans and Calvinists. Mandated together with Daniel Ernst Jablonsky to prepare working documents for the negotiations between Hanover and Brandenburg in 1697, Leibniz carefully read through the Calvinist Confessions of faith and the works of Calvin in their 1671 edition. He made an extensive collection of excerpts from the Confessions of faith and from Calvin's Institutes all intended to show that Calvinists admitted the substantial presence of Christ's body in the eucharist. (This collection of excerpts is analysed here for the first time and compared with another little-known document, the Unvorgreiffliches Bedencken). L. had argued previously in 1691/92 that, contrary to the assertions of Pellisson-Fontanier, his own conception of substance and of Christ's presence in the eucharist was completely different from Calvin's. However, by 1697, it was clear to Leibniz that Calvin's concept of substance, which was broadly speaking Aristotelian, was never defined clearly by the reformer, and could be made to coincide with Leibniz's own notion of substance as force rather than substance in its dimensional sense. At the same time L. dissociated Ubiquitarianism (doctrine characteristic of late sixteenth century Lutheranism, which defended the dimensional presence of Christ's body in heaven and in the eucharist, by arguing that Christ in his divine nature could cause his physical body to be present in several places at the same time) from Lutheranism. He also drove a wedge between the doctrines of Zwingli and Calvin. L. thus attempted to find religious union on a common ontology and he might well have succeeded if it were not for complex political circumstances, which ultimately caused the failure of the negotiations.

Handel's Messiah: comfort for God's people

Handel s oratorio Messiah is a phenomenon with no parallel in music history. No other work of music has been so popular for so long. Yet familiarity can sometimes breed contempt and also misunderstanding. This book by music expert Calvin Stapert will greatly increase understanding and appreciation of Handel s majestic Messiah, whether readers are old friends of this remarkable work or have only just discovered its magnificence. Stapert provides fascinating historical background, tracing not only Messiah s unlikely inception but also its amazing reception throughout history. The bulk of the book offers scene-by-scene musical and theological commentary on the whole work, focusing on the way Handel s music beautifully interprets and illuminates the biblical text. For anyone seeking to appreciate Handel s Messiah more, this informed yet accessible guide is the book to have and read. (Handel s Messiah: Comfort for God s People is the newest volume in the flourishing Calvin Institute of Christian Worship Liturgical Studies Series, edited by John D. Witvliet.)