Calvinist Theology Research Articles

Judentum und evangelische Theologie 1909-1965: Das Bild des Judentums im Spiegel der ersten drei Auflagen des Handwörterbuchs "Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart" (review)

Reviewed by: Judentum und evangelische Theologie 1909-1965: Das Bild des Judentums im Spiegel der ersten drei Auflagen des Handwörterbuchs "Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart," Eberhard Busch, Professor of Reformed Theology Judentum und evangelische Theologie 1909-1965: Das Bild des Judentums im Spiegel der ersten drei Auflagen des Handwörterbuchs "Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart," by Ulrich Oelschläger. Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer, 2005. 360 pp. €35. As I opened this book I asked myself whether, in view of its title, it held anything for me. My hesitation increased when, as a Protestant-Reformed theologian, I saw that John Calvin's theology is absent from this book; the evangelical-reformed tradition does not play a part in the articles of this encyclopedia about Judaism. But I soon revised my first impressions. The author of this book has produced a very noteworthy investigation that is also exciting to read. He paints with brilliant precision just what the subtitle promises: "the picture of Judaism in the mirror of the first three editions of the encyclopedia Religion in History and the Present Time." And he does so with a magnifying glass in his hands. He focuses sharply on his subject, analyzes it exactly, and helps the readers grasp his points by printing the crucial quotations in boldface type. He shows not only the differences between the three editions and the progression of their views, but also what is common to the different editions, especially the origin, in at least the first two editions, of the New Protestant liberal theology (pp. 18, 76). The third edition seems to be more interested in a Christian theological perspective, whereas the Judaistic research in the fourth edition is free from it (pp. 333f). Above all this book is important because it shows the differences between the treatments of the same topics by Protestant theologians and Jewish scholars. The former were not willing to amend their statements even in view of well-founded corrections from the Jewish side; this is why the periodical History and Science of Judaism once mocked the "argumentum ex ignorantia in majorem ecclesiae gloriam" (i.e., the argument of ignorance in favor of the greater glory of the Church) (p. 105). It may be asked here whether the subtitle "The [End Page 184] image of Judaism in the mirror . . ." invites us to take seriously the prohibition of images in the Bible and to distinguish between "Judaism" and the "image of it." According to Oelschläger, that "image" includes the attempt to subsume "Judaism" under the label of the law, understood in the negative sense of legality, in contrast to the Christian word of God's grace. Oelschläger claims that the RGG presents "the picture of Judaism as a rigid religion of legality—a picture which developed following Luther in Protestant theology and which has been cultivated since Julius Wellhausen in historical-critical scientific research" (p. 150). In this sense the articles in the RGG speak about "Talmudism" (p. 150), about the legality "of the Pharisees" or "of the Jews" (pp. 150, 160ff). Thus the Jews are foreigners in the nations which are their landlords ("in ihren 'Wirtsvölkern'"), as was still found in the 1959 edition of the RGG (p. 211, cf. p. 72). In the thirties Protestant theologians discussed this question, debating whether conversion to the Christian faith would cause the Jews to emerge from their obduracy, or whether their behavior is incorrigible because of their race. Among the figures discussed in this book, to me the most exciting is the New Testament scholar in Tübingen, Gerhard Kittel. He emphasizes the full belonging of Jesus to his people and his mission to it. He stresses that Paul also after his conversion remained obliged to his people; he maintains this idea in distinction to Rudolf Bultmann, who points out the relation of Paul to Hellenism (pp. 259ff). Kittel even declares that "the history of Israel is not an accidental past, but the acting of God with his people" (p. 261). But the idea that the Christian communion is "the new people of God" (p. 262) leads him to the idea of the essential contrast between the Jewish "religion of work...

On the Compatibility of a Conservation Ethic with Biological Science

If value entails or implies purpose, it follows that natural objects (e.g., endangered species) lack value and thus cannot be worth protecting except for a purpose they may serve-either the end for which God created the world (according to natural theology) or some use to which human beings may put them (according to a consequentialist or utilitarian ethic). If value requires purpose, the refutation of natural theology after Darwin implies that humanity has no obligation to respect or preserve the natural world except insofar as it is economically efficient to do so. Drawing on the distinction between explanation and communication found in Calvinist theology, I argue that value does not entail purpose. The expressive, aesthetic, or communicative aspects of nature may be valuable or endow natural objects with value apart from any use or purpose these objects may serve. The crucial distinction between explanation and communication-one scientific, the other aesthetic-offers a rationale for an obligation to protect the natural world that may appeal to members of faith communities and to biologists and other scientists. This approach also helps resolve the "lurking inconsistency" some scholars see in the relationship between a deterministic biological science and a conservationist ethic.

Jean Calvin, Calvinism, and population health: impressions from Switzerland

Is religion still important for population health? As John-Paul Vader noted in his recent editorial in this journal, which accompanied the annual European Public Health Association meeting in Montreux, this is an under-researched question.1 And in an increasingly secularized continent like Europe the answer is certainly far from obvious. After the Montreux meeting I therefore decided to go to Geneva, the great city of the Reformation. I went to see the new ‘Musee International de la Reformation’, as well as the ‘Mur de la Reformation’ which was erected in 1909 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Calvin, the greatest of the Geneva Reformers. Jean Calvin (1509–1564) was a French exile and follower of Martin Luther, who developed a specific doctrine which spread to parts of Germany, the Netherlands, and Scotland, and crossed the Atlantic to North America where many early settlers were Calvinists. The central issue of Calvinist theology is its view of salvation. By nature, no man is capable of …

“I am More Fit to Die Than People Think”: Byron on Immortality

What is Poetry?--The Feeling of a Former world and a Future. Byron, Ravenna Journal Elizabeth Longford affirms a commonly accepted view that Byron mocked the idea of Christian by citing one of his best-known letters on the subject: And our carcases, which are to rise again, are they worth raising? hope, if mine is, that shall have a better pair of legs than have moved on these two-and-twenty years, or shall be sadly behind in the squeeze into paradise (44). (1) That Calvinism shaped Byron's thoughts about the afterlife is as well-known and frequently commented on as his deformed foot; and Longford's observation about Byron's occasional mocking of anthropomorphic views of a contemporary and significant concept of Christian immortality is illustrated in his Vision of Judgment (1822). (2) Byron's exploration of visions of immortality, however, is not limited to Calvin's theology, and especially not to those who systematically condemn most of humankind to hell. Because the larger context of immortality is lost when discussing Byron's reaction to Calvinism, it is worthwhile to remember, as Byron did, that perhaps the Calvinists who instructed the young Byron in Aberdeen at the turn of the nineteenth century did not have exclusive rights to Paradise. Consequently, this article will explore the contexts for and reasons behind Byron's fascination with immortality as it is influenced by his interest in both Christian and Islamic perspectives; his reading of the Bible; his inclusion, especially in Manfred (1817) and Childe Harold III (1816) and IV (1818), of speculation that the immortal substance of humankind resides in the mind; his examination of the specter of death and its aftermath as a consequence of the Fall in the mystery plays Cain (1821) and Heaven and Earth (1823); and his reaction to Robert Southey, who led Byron to The Vision of Judgment which, like Cain, Heaven and Earth, and Manfred, features spirits, phantoms, and people from religious tradition and accepts a poetic vision of a life that transcends mortality. Byron's interest in the afterlife and his references to eternity, often in biblical contexts, (3) shape significant portions of his poetry and his poetic theory. On 28 January 1821, before he began writing the scriptural plays, Byron recorded in the Ravenna Journal: What is Poetry?--The feeling of a Former world and a Future (LJ, VIII, 37); and in The Prophecy of Dante (1821) he observed: For what is Poesy but to create, / From overfeeling, Good or Ill, and aim / At an external life beyond our fate (IV, 11-14). Byron also refers to an afterlife in conversations, letters, and journals; and occasionally includes speculations about the state of immortality in seemingly random fashion throughout his poetry--whether in the juvenilia or Don Juan. Byron's attitude toward and belief about immortality varies, but he dismisses the concept as insignificant or irrelevant neither to his worldview nor to his writing. In practice, Calvinism--a remnant of indoctrination at Aberdeen by those who subjected Byron as an impressionable child to visions of eternal torment--functions best, especially in the scriptural plays and Vision of Judgment, as a focal point to explore avenues to an afterlife and to question the assumptions of those who taught eternal damnation. During his final illness in Greece, where he was actively involved in the battle for Greek independence, Byron was not tormented by doubt, if reports of his final conversations are to be believed. Dr. Julius Millingen, the physician who attended Byron at Missolonghi, recorded that Byron asked, before losing consciousness for the time: Shall sue for mercy? Byron then responded to his own question: Come, come, no weakness! Let's be a man to the last (Marchand, Biography, III, 1217). Shortly before his death, Byron commented to his valet William Fletcher: I am not afraid of dying, am more fit to die than people think (Marchand, Biography, III, 1221); and on his deathbed he confided to his firemaster William Parry: I fancy myself a Jew, a Mahomedan, and a Christian of every profession of faith. …

Religious Music and Secular Music: A Calvinist Perspective, Re-formed

Although Calvin's theology of music runs counter to the tenor of our times, it can be reformed so as to alert us to both assets and risks of music in Christian worship and life. In particular, Calvin can help reintroduce critical discernment in a context in which churches appear eager to absorb virtually every style of secular music (the reverse of what Calvin desired). More positively, he can encourage us to find and create music that not only touches the heart but lends itself to the high calling of lifting hearts into “the presence of God and the angels.”

The biblical historical structure of Calvin's Institutes

Recent work on Calvin's theology has focused on the integral relationship between his Institutes and his biblical commentaries. Particularly significant have been the claims that we can understand the development of the structure of the Institutes only in relationship to Calvin's work on his commentaries and that we can understand the content of the Institutes best through a recognition of the traces of the commentaries that are found therein. This article will extend this work, arguing that we best understand the final form of the 1559 Institutes through its relationship to Calvin's recently completed commentaries on the historical books of the Old Testament and the gospels. These commentaries, with their focus on the history of God's covenant with God's people, fulfilled in Christ's history, provide this covenant history as a framing device by which the first two books of the 1559 Institutes are shaped. This framing is evident in the new ordering of material in the text, in Calvin's provision of new chapters to fill out this narratively structured order, and in the traces of his scriptural work within the text. Once the structural role of the covenant history is recognised within Books I and II, then Calvin's exposition of Christ's redeeming work through his exegesis of Christ's gospel history II.xvi is seen as the culmination of the theological developments of the first half of the Institutes, completing Calvin's depiction of the broader covenant history as a thoroughly christological reality.

The Cambridge Companion to Reformation Theology ed. by David Bagchi and David C. Steinmetz

BOOK REVIEWS The Cambridge Companion to Reformation Theology. Edited by DAVID BAGCHI and DAVID C. STEINMETZ. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Pp. x + 298. $70.00 (cloth), $25.99 (paper). ISBN 0-521-77224-9 (cloth), 0-521-77662-7 (paper). This well-conceived volume of introductions makes clear the breadth and vigor of theological thought and writing in the sixteenth century in Europe. Sixteen scholars offer introductory accounts for nonspecialists of the main figures and schools, beginning with late medieval systematic theology, Lollardry, and the Hussite reformation. Some chapters are outstanding. E. Rummel is solid on Erasmus's genuinely theological contribution. S. Hendrix is concise but splendidly informative on Luther's teaching through the phases of his incredible productivity. R. Kolb charts well the movement of Lutheran theology through the controversies leading to the Formula of Concord (1577). D. Steinmetz surveys Calvin surehandedly, R. Muller exudes vigor and mastery on Reformed theology after Calvin, and W. 0. Packull clears a path through the maze of Anabaptist theological works. D. Bagchi is informative and thoughtful on early Catholic controversialists. Other chapters seem to have less to offer theologically, for example, on Cranmer and on writing in Reformation Scotland. The volume begins with the editors' introduction, emphasizing how a knowledge of theology is essential to understanding the world-historical event ofthe Reformation. They tell quite well how present-day scholarship situates the era's theology, that is, in relation to the wider sixteenth-century culture, to early modern confessionalizing drives in cities and principalities, and to the interaction between elites and the ordinary lives of believers. The bibliographies are generally good (for critical comments, see below). The volume's conclusion is accurate on directions for ongoing research, leading to an engaging final word to an intended student-reader. An index will serve well anyone wanting to study how the main figures handled major theological topics, such as baptism, the meaning of the Old Testament, the church, eucharist, God, justification, predestination, and sacraments. Problems and defects in the volume come in three sizes: small, medium, and large. Some small flaws escaped editorial oversight, as when the author of the chapter on the Hussites speaks of "observation" where "observance" is meant (23) and of "conservation" for "consecration" (24). The Formula ofConcord is 289 290 BOOK REVIEWS wrongly dated in 1579 on page 135. Also, Steinmetz erroneously promotes Johann Gropper to be archbishop of Cologne (240). In the medium range of problems, the structure ofthe volume leads it to omit reference to valuable recent studies that treat significant areas of life (and death) in the Reformation era by studying topics across multiple authors and taking up the same issue in different confessional settings. One thinks of C. Eire, The War against the Idols (1986), on iconoclasm, and of B. Gregory, Salvation at Stake (1999), on martyrs and martyrological literature. Some lacunae limit the value of the bibliographies, beginning with omissions of some primary texts available in English, such as Jan Hus's "On Simony," in M. Spinka, ed., Advocates ofReform (1953); Martin Bucer's "The Kingdom of Christ," given in large part in W. Pauck, ed., Melanchthon and Bucer (1969); and Willam Tyndale's Answer to More in the critical edition by A. O'Donnell and J. Wicks (2000), in which this reviewer offered a concise account of Tyndale's impressive theological tenets. W. P. Stephens's chapter on Zwingli, which digests his Zwingli: An Introduction to His Thought (1992), notes the importance for the Zurich reformer of his reading of "Hoen's letter" (89), but then offers no help to one wanting to learn more about Hoen or even locate a copy of the letter. For this, one should consult H. A. Oberman, ed., Forerunners of the Reformation (originally 1966, newly released by James Clarke, 2003). Later in the volume, Packull presents the SchleitheimArticles as a good expression ofAnabaptist faith and community life, but offers no help toward finding the text of the Articles, which are given in M. G. Baylor, ed., The Radical Reformation (1991). Secondary studies deserving but not receiving mention in the Companion are R. Rex, The Lollards (2002) and G. Tavard, The Starting Point of Calvin's Theology (2000...

Three Minds, Three Books, Three Years: Reinhold Niebuhr, Perry Miller, and Mordecai Kaplan on Religion

T hree truly exceptional books appeared in the early 1930sexceptional not only for their absolute brilliance but for emphasizing religion in history as well as modern times. In 1932, Reinhold Niebuhr published Moral Man and Immoral Society, which shook liberal Christianity to its core with its powerful denunciation of naive faith in optimism and progress and its blunt assertion of the reality of evil still darkening human achievement. A year later, Perry Miller published Orthodoxy in Massachusetts, the first in a series of stunning histories by Miller that described the intellectual power residing inside sixteenthand seventeenth-century Calvinist theology. Miller resuscitated the reputation of New England's Puritans, and his work shaped the writing of American history for half a century. Then, in 1934, Mordecai M. Kaplan publishedJudaism as a Civilization: Toward a Reconstruction of American-Jewish Life, which demanded wholesale rebuilding of Judaism as traditionally conceived and practiced, and which challenged traditional theistic and prophetic conceptions of religion broadly construed.'

Coming to sermon: the practice of doctrine in the preaching of John Calvin

It has been said that Calvin's preaching demonstrates a doctrine of a ‘kerygmatic real presence’. So in preaching, and in the reading of, the word, Christ is present to the believer. This might also be spoken of in terms of an encounter with God through his word, or as a personal confrontation with God and eventual justification, or as the experience of the grace of God, or perhaps as the practice and experience of faith trusting in the word. In these many ways Calvin's theology has been identified as being, to some extent, both didactic and affective. Gerrish helpfully speaks of Calvin's theology as ‘gift and response’ or ‘grace and gratitude’. It is in Calvin's preaching that this dynamic of affective and didactic, grace and gratitude is enacted.

Theology in America: Christian Thought from the Age of the Puritans to the Civil War (review)

Theology in America: Christian Thought from Age of Puritans to Civil War. By E. Brooks Holifield. (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2003. Pp. ix, 617. Cloth, $37.50.)This is a book of breathtaking ambition. E. Brooks Holifield analyzes sermons, polemical treatises, academic journal essays, and tomes of systematic theology-in all their sometimes hair-splitting detail-produced by 282 writers across almost two and a half centuries, from first-generation Puritan divines through Civil War era. These writers were typically ordained clergymen and local pastors, although by nineteenth century there had emerged a new class of professional theologians, epitomized by Princeton Seminary's Charles Hodge, who spent his entire career as an educator and editor. Holifield also gives attention to the theological populists (16) who scorned academic learning and insisted on their own authority to interpret Bible. In Holifield's account, early republic emerges as a great era in history of American theology; majority of his pages deal with time period covered by this journal.It is impossible to do justice to a work of such encyclopedic scope within confines of a brief review. Nevertheless, Holifield identified a number of key themes that impose order on his vast subject. book's central claim is that American always emphasized the reasonableness of (4), which meant, in early republic, that they employed a Baconian model of theological argument. No other single philosophical movement, Holifield observes, has ever exerted as much influence on theology in America as Scottish Realism exerted on antebellum theologians (175). As such, his findings comport with those of Mark A. Noll, who argued similarly for importance of commonsense theology in America's God: From Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln (2002).Holifield divides his narrative into three parts. Part 1, Origins, begins in New England, where earliest tradition of theological writing flourished from 1630s. Puritans laid foundations of theology in America during seventeenth century along Reformed lines. They began tradition of trying to find proper balance between and reason, which would be a dominant theme for next two centuries. Of course, Puritans also quickly fell out among themselves as they sought to establish orthodoxy in controversies over conversion, baptism, and other matters. Calvinist theology reached its apogee with Jonathan Edwards, one of only two individuals to merit a chapter-length treatment, other being Horace Bushnell. Edwards carried New England theology into mainstream of seventeenth-century philosophy and eighteenth-century aesthetic and ethical theory (105) while he defended such Calvinist tenets as original sin, divine sovereignty, free will, and election. After Edwards, however, Holifield describes New England tradition as irreparably fractured into Arminian, New Divinity, and Old Calvinist wings.Part 2, The Baconian Style, begins with deists of revolutionary era. Although few in number, deists' spirited attacks on those elements of Christianity that defied reason, such as biblical miracles or Trinity, scared into action. In response, enlisted Scottish philosophy to show rationality of faith while preserving necessity for revelation (178). Whatever their differing views of Christology, soteriology, or other controversial doctrines, everyone from Universalists to Old School Presbyterians claimed that their theology was built on a foundation of common sense. Holifield makes interesting observation that even groups seemingly on far fringes of denominational landscape, such as Shakers and Mormons, also based their appeal on the evidential style (340). …

"A Question of Balance: Evangelical Revivalism, Calvinist Theology, and Enlightenment Philosophy in George M. Marsden’s Jonathan Edwards: A Life"

Book Review| April 01 2005 "A Question of Balance: Evangelical Revivalism, Calvinist Theology, and Enlightenment Philosophy in George M. Marsden’s Jonathan Edwards: A Life" Jonathan Edwards: A Life, George Marsden. STEPHEN A. WILSON STEPHEN A. WILSON Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Connecticut History Review (2005) 44 (1): 158–162. https://doi.org/10.2307/44369681 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation STEPHEN A. WILSON; "A Question of Balance: Evangelical Revivalism, Calvinist Theology, and Enlightenment Philosophy in George M. Marsden’s Jonathan Edwards: A Life". Connecticut History Review 1 January 2005; 44 (1): 158–162. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/44369681 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All Scholarly Publishing CollectiveUniversity of Illinois PressConnecticut History Review Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. Article PDF first page preview Close Modal Issue Section: REVIEW ESSAYS You do not currently have access to this content.

JOHN MILBANK's THEOLOGY OF THE "GIFT" AND CALVIN's THEOLOGY OF GRACE: A CRITICAL COMPARISON1

In his theology of the Gift, John Milbank advocates a theology of “reciprocity” between God and humanity, involving “active” rather than “passive” reception of the divine gift. Calvin and other Reformation theologians are criticized by Milbank as demeaning the role of the human partner by advocating “passivity” in the reception of grace. This essay compares Milbank's theology of the Gift with Calvin's theology of grace, showing how Calvin overcomes the schematic options of “passivity” or “reciprocity” in the divine-human relation, all the while holding much more in common with Milbank's concerns about sanctification and participation than has generally been recognized.

From Enemy Combatant to Strange Bedfellow The Role of Religious Narratives in the Work of W. R. D. Fairbairn and D. W. Winnicott

Psychoanalysis has a well-documented history of antipathy toward religion. As a consequence of the postmodern shift in philosophy, however, there are those who, albeit cautiously, are attempting to approach religion with a renewed spirit of dialogue and inquiry as a narrative among many narratives that has informed and even enriched the development of psychoanalysis. In this spirit of dialogue, the author traces the influence of early religious affiliations on two object relations theorists, W. R. D. Fairbairn and D. W. Winnicott. Fairbairn's early imbibing of Calvinist theology in Scotland and Winnicott's involvement in the Wesleyan church are detailed. The theological differences between these Protestant perspectives (which form counterpoints to one another) are clarified and the perspectives are positioned within the framework of British culture. These religious themes are then identified within the works of Fairbairn and Winnicott. As a final consideration, the relational nature of the Judeo-Christian God, and the subsequent view of human life that flows from that theology, are posited as influential in the development of the relational shift in psychoanalysis. The author details the association between this shift and the seminal work of Fairbairn and Winnicott.

The role of the Holy spirit in Calvin's doctrine of the sacraments

Calvin has frequently been labeled "the theologian of the Holy Spirit". Although there have been a number of studies of various aspects of the Holy Spirit in Calvin's theology since the significant works of Simon van der Linde (1943) and Werner Krusche (1957), none has dealt with the role the Spirit plays in Calvin's doctrine of the sacraments. The Word and faith are requisites for any efficacious experience of the sacraments, but "whatever God offers us in the sacraments depends on the secret operation of his Spirit" (Calvin). Baptism signifies the forgiveness of our sins and regeneration, although the beginning of that regeneration may precede or follow the act of baptism. In the Lord's Supper the Holy Spirit performs two related functions: he unites that which is separated by time and space, viz., the ascended Lord and the believer, and in the action of the sacrament feeds the believer with the flesh and blood of Christ. Thereby Christ is truly present in the Supper. This is a spiritual presence, but it is not something psychological or unreal. In the last analysis, Calvin concedes that this is a mystery which is "too lofty" for his "mind to comprehend". In any case, he would "rather experience it than understand it". (Acta Theologica, Supplementum 3, 2002: 66-88)

Reforming French Protestantism: the development of Huguenot ecclesiastical institutions, 1557-1572

Theology encounters history and culture in sixteenth-century France in this examination of French Protestantism. The analysis reveals how Calvinism's growing influence led to the unification of French Protestant churches despite the opposition of the royalty. The interaction between newly adopted Calvinist theology and French society led to the development of the Presbyterian polity of the church government, a concept that quickly spread through western Europe.

Subjection and Companionship: The French Reformed Marriage

This paper examines the relationship between Reformation ideals of gender and sexuality with the reality of Reformed life in France in the late sixteenth century. Centring on the theory and practice of marriage, the paper examines Jean Calvin's discourse on marriage, noting his significant departure from pre-Reformation concepts of sexuality and his affirmation of companionship in the conjugal bond. Yet, the author also highlights the significant complications with, or even detractions from, this model inherent in Calvin's theology of the Fall, and his understanding of ‘subjection'. These strands of Reformed theory are then compared with two cases drawn from the registers of the consistories, or church courts, of two Protestant towns in southern France, in 1578 and 1595. The findings suggest that ideas of subjection and companionship, though helpful perhaps in the theory of marriage, rarely began to encompass the colourful and messy realities of daily life among the Huguenots.

‘The Magic Name’

Continuing the paper begun in July 2003, pp.173-184. Although C.H. Spurgeon never visited the Antipodes himself, his influence was considerable, transmitted through his sons, the students of his college, and by his published sermons. His Australian followers did not all adopt his brand of Calvinist theology. They were sympathetic over his Downgrade stand, but did not feel the need to copy his withdrawal from denominational life. His influence was strongest in New South Wales.

Hamlet and Protestant Aural Theater

Over past half-century many Shakespeareans have argued that either Protestantism or Catholicism informs general Christian ethos of Hamlet. John Dover Wilson, Raymond Waddington, Roland Mushat Frye are among many who find King Claudius a Lutheran who, though longing to repent of his fratricide, harbors a trapped, limed soul (3.3.68) whose inability to pray, to use Martin Luther's words, clearly manifest[s] that endeavor effect of free will are simply nothing (135). Peter S. Milward finds something Lutheran [Hamlet's] brooding emphasis on corruption of human nature (161), Charles Cannon stresses play's Calvinism, saying that the problems of theater dealt Hamlet lead Shakespeare [...] toward possibility of predestination (203). More recently, Anthony Low has argued that play stages dismissal of Catholic doctrine of Purgatory, Hamlet Purgatory Stephen Greenblatt echoes Low's claim. Still, a 2001 Commonweal review of Greenblatt's influential book, Edward Oakes approvingly quotes a Jesuit friend's comment on Hamlet: What a Catholic play that was! (29). My purpose here is not to argue that Hamlet is a Catholic or a play. Agreeing with David Daniell, I believe that Shakespeare's plays declare their author's allegiance to neither faith to exclusion of other (2). Thus, I will not assert that Hamlet's oblique instruction to Guildenstern, Hide fox, all after (4.2.30-31), is a cryptic reference to John Foxe's Book of Martyrs, (1) or that Horatio's description of post-haste romage land signals Denmark's energetic papalism (1.1.107). I will, however, argue influence of what Daniell calls Shakespeare's Protestant on Hamlet. Both play its eponymous hero seem specifically constructed to record display views on theater's potential for good or for evil, ideas expressed much English discourse near time of play's creation. Elsewhere I have argued that Shakespeare's exploration of those ideas at brink of seventeenth century inspired him to construct his greatest tragedy as an unusual anti-play (63). Here I will demonstrate that Hamlet's paradoxical drama may also be described as aural theater. I As Daniell has cogently maintained, Shakespeare's inheritance can logically be inferred from fact that, in his fifty-two years, Shakespeare lived a nation that was officially, aggressively, massively Protestant. Quoting Peter Lake, Daniell writes that, though some late-sixteenth century Catholics met barns private households, godly inherited public space of parish church, which altar was now a communion table the rood loft with its doom and images of saints had been removed. The liturgy was English, not Latin; mass had been replaced with a communion service. No trace of cult of saints or notion of Purgatory [...] was left either service book or outward ceremonial face of Church (2). Many of views expressed by most popular pastors of age--among them Thomas Playfere, Stephen Egerton, John Field, Lancelot Andrewes, whose London parish contained the Fortune Red Bull theatres whose services were eagerly attended by some players (Story xv)--showed influence of John Calvin's theology. In Shakespeare's lifetime, moreover, 142 editions of The Geneva Bible were printed; this, Daniell notes, ha[d] to do with demand (6). Whatever Shakespeare's personal beliefs or private instruction may have been, it is inarguable that his environment recurrently exposed him to strains of thought, it thus is not surprising that echoes of moral views should be found his greatest tragedy. The particular aspect of thought that I want to trace Hamlet is one Jonas Barish has famously called anti-theatrical prejudice. …

The Ethics of Modernity in Indian Politics: Past and Present

Max Weber has shown that the informing spirit of Western capitalism originated from the Christian Reformation. The capitalist spirit can be regarded as a stand-in of Western modernity as a whole. Western modernity was initially the outcome of the theology of Calvinism. Calvinist modernity inspired political revolutions that since the seventeenth century irreversibly transformed Western feudal societies into bourgeois democratic nation-states. Something comparable happened in India in the nineteenth century with the rediscovery of Vedanta. Rediscovery, reinterpretation and public dissemination of Vedanta constituted the Indian version of a Reformation. In the beginning of the twentieth century this Vedantic Reformation inspired the revolutionary political movement, which sought to free India from foreign domination. Vedanta was regarded as informing the spirit of Indian modernity because Vedanta emphasizes individual emancipation. This same emancipation was to imply collective emancipation from the bonds of colonialism and tyranny. These values of Vedantic modernity remain an important source of inspiration for the socio-political emancipation of the whole of the Indian population.

Godly Fear, Sanctification, and Calvinist Theology in the Sermons and "Holy Sonnets" of John Donne

I N an influential interpretation of John Donne's religious poetry, John Stachniewski suggests that doctrinal Calvinism underwrites expressions of passivity, fear, and resentment in Holy Sonnets. After tracing influence of Calvinist emphasis on total depravity, double predestination, and prevenient grace in sonnets, Stachniewski concludes that the sonnets reveal that Donne experienced tormented doubt of his salvation in a way not dissimilar to [the] Calvinist despairers.' In response to such a one-sidedly Calvinist reading of sonnets-a reading that Stachniewski shares with John Carey and, with certain qualifications, Barbara Lewalski-Richard Strier has argued provocatively that Donne's Holy Sonnets are not consistently Calvinist in theology, and that throughout Holy Sonnets Donne alternates between on one hand an Erasmian belief in repentance as a means to salvation, and on other hand a Reformation belief in passively received, justified righteousness.2 In advancing his argument, Strier suggests that Stachniewski and others have mistakenly linked Holy Sonnets and Calvinism because Donne's evident preoccupation with religious fear, broadly defined, is a preoccupation that runs throughout Reformation theology and Puritan sermons. Strier questions such an affiliation by pointing out that Calvinist theology, particularly doctrine of justification by