Influence Of Calvinism Research Articles

The Influence of Calvinism on European Legal Thought and Jurisprudence

According to Theodor Heuss, the spiritual and cultural unity of Europe is built on three hills, the Acropolis, the Capitol and Golgotha. The Capitolium is one of the foundations of European culture, and one of the pillars of Europe's entity that represents law. The Capitolium, as interpreted by Theodor Heuss, is Roman law. For centuries, the concept of law was understood to mean Roman law, codified and compiled in the Justinian Corpus Iuris in the 6th century AD. The fundamental tenets of Roman law are inseparable from European civilisation. The Calvinist Reformation is inextricably linked to Lutheranism. It should be emphasised that the work of John Calvin, compared with the Lutheran oeuvre, has a greater legal dimension. For Luther is essentially a theologian who considers all legal phenomena as negative. John Calvin, unlike Martin Luther, is a lawyer (iurisperitus, iurisconsultus).

Schoolmasters of Karcag and Kisújszállás at Western European Universities and Academies Between the 17th and 19th Century

The aim of our paper is to discuss the significance of particle schools of Karcag and Kisújszállás in 18–19th century education history. Greater Cumania, the region that both towns are within, was almost 100% Calvinist since the Reformation, therefore, examining the influence of Calvinism on the region’s education is crucial. Our purpose is to introduce the schoolmaster’s office, the financial basis, and circumstances of going to Western European universities in the 18–19th centuries, since the schoolmasters of these two towns have not been investigated yet. Our research is based on primary (archival) sources, mainly Hungarian Reformed districtual, diocesan, and congregational documents, canonical visitation records, and protocols. Our paper also provides a detailed prosopography database of the schoolmasters of Karcag and Kisújszállás.

Byron and the Russian Silver Age (1900s). The Protestant Cain as ‘native’ and ‘foreign’

The influence of Calvinism on Byron’s philosophy, as evidenced by his journals and epistolary legacy, as well as the leitmotif of his oeuvre, is well researched. But his unique interpretation of the Protestant ideas in specific works is largely uncovered by his scholars. Particularly interesting in this context is Byron’s mystery play Cain . The piece is a dramatization of Calvin’s idea about humanity’s predisposition to falling from grace or being saved, from the viewpoint of a man seeking knowledge who is branded with a curse. Byron’s Cain is typified by anxiety, a hungry search for knowledge, suffering, struggle, and defiance of God. This newly coined Cain entered Russian literature during the Silver Age. A keen look at the works of Nikolay Gumilyov, Ivan Bunin, and Vyacheslav Ivanov, as well as the latter’s polemic with Dmitry Merezhkovsky, reveals the emergence of the romantic Protestant character on a quest to supersede the traditional Russian understanding of the biblical story and the endemic beliefs about good and evil.

Music as Mission: Willem Mudde and his Significance for Church Music Muziek als missie: Over Willem Mudde en zijn betekenis voor de kerkmuziek

Under the influence of Calvinism, the musical situation in the Protestant churches in the Netherlands was for a long time marked by sobriety, with attention focused on congregational singing. In the 20th century, church music gained importance through a dominant flow of Lutheran influence. Generally, the liturgical movement highlighted the role of music in worship. The Lutheran church musician Willem Mudde successfully called attention to the German church music reform movement. Inspired by the writings of the German theologian Oskar Söhngen, he strived to apply the ideals and practices of this German movement to the Dutch Protestant churches. He succeeded through his zeal and organisational skills, not only in the Lutheran church but also in other Protestant churches. The idealistic character and educational aims of the movement, however, could not offset the growing individualism and the ongoing crisis in the churches.

The influence of Calvinism on the South African Council of Churches

The impact of Calvinist theology and of reformed leadership on the South African Council of Churches (SACC) is vast. After a brief history of the SACC, the author notes the contribution that a number of reformed and presbyterian clergy and theologians have made – as presidents, general secretaries or as theo- logians who helped develop the SACC’s message. At least five principles that Calvin held dear, are reflected in the SACC’s agenda during the past decades: the quest for unity, the con- cern for mission, covenanting for justice, providing a prophetic witness in the community, and when the need arose, the willingness to confront the government of the day. The article concludes with a brief look at the future of the SACC and of the continued input that reformed theologians may be able to make.

The influence of Calvinism on the South African Council of Churches

The influence of Calvinism on the South African Council of Churches

Leben aus der Schrift

Calvin's influence and the Barmen Theological Declaration share the awareness that the church is faced with a decision. In the face of the pressure on the French Protestants on the one side and the false teaching of the German Christians on the other, evangelical solidarity and Christian liberty had to be maintained. For the sake of the integrity of the church Calvin and the Barmen theses concentrate on the biblical witness as the source of proclamation - with ecclesiological consequences: on the basis of her message the church receives the character of a church of freedom in which God is brought to speech bindingly, publicly and in opposition to respective untruths.

Calvin's Influence on the Theology of the English Reformation

AbstractThis paper traces the influence of John Calvin on the English Reformation from the time of the breach with Rome under Henry VIII until the great ejection of dissenting puritan clergy from the ministry of the Church of England in 1662. It argues that Calvin's teaching only began to have an impact on the English Reformation during the reign of Elizabeth I and that although his theology had a widespread impact on both individuals and groups within the Church of England it never shaped the Church's official doctrine, liturgy or pattern of ministry, although it seemed likely that this would be the case at the time of the Westminster Assembly in the 1640s. It also raises the question of whether Calvin sought episcopacy from the Church of England in the reign of Edward VI.

My Three Calvins: Religion and Politics Revisited, American Style

Abstract: Calvin's influence on the culture and politics of the United States can be seen as taking three distinct forms. Some receive the Reformed inheritance in a conservative, even imperial, way; others in a liberal or progressive way. Still others receive it as a critique of the pretensions of knowledge and thus as a threshold to secular humanism. While these distinct approaches look as if they are opposed to one another, paradoxically they intertwine, overlap, and qualify one another. Such complexity suggests that political conversation in North America on matters like abortion should be far more collaborative and nuanced.

Gender Education and the Transformation of Calvinism in the Netherlands, 1870‐1970

Examining from a gender perspective religious education within a prominent branch of Dutch Protestantism, this article investigates the interplay between oppressive and emancipating educational forces. The so‐called Neo‐Calvinists‐‐progressively minded, yet orthodox‐‐sought successfully to update traditional Calvinism and keep it abreast with modern developments from circa 1870 onwards, notably by reforming school, family and youth culture. Notwithstanding Calvinism being traditionally sexist biased, the role of women and girls was becoming more important. Firstly, the article sketches both the influence of Calvinism in the history of the Netherlands and Dutch ‘pillarized’ culture and society between 1880 and 1970, Neo‐Calvinism being one of the main ‘pillars’ within this religiously compartmentalized society. Secondly, it focuses on Neo‐Calvinist gender education and its paradoxical effects.

Christelijke ethiek en de geest van het kapitalisme

SummaryMax Weber's century old thesis on christian ethics and the spirit of capitalism, written has been the object of an endless discussion. This has much to do with the interest of the author: Weber was neither intrigued by the fact of a connection between protestantism and capitalism, nor by the influence of Calvinism on the development of the modern capitalism. His interest, however, was exclusively focused on the question “how can the relation between protestant ethic and capitalism be conceived and reconstructed”. We try to explain many misconceptions by recovering what Weber really has said. Therefore the concepts of ‘spirit of capitalism' and ‘protestant ethic’ are clarified and discussed. First, the spirit of capitalism is not an economic system, but an ethos. The definition of it in respect with the content, the motivation, the aim, and morality is elaborated in a comparison with the commercial ethos of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. This makes clear that Weber's first concern was an analysis of the origin of the modern spirit, not as an intellectual construction, but as an expression of behavior.Second, we investigate what is meant by the terms ‘protestantism’ and ‘ethics’ and what the religious roots of the new spirit are: innerworldly ascetism, the notion of calling, and the concepts of wealth and poverty.It is no wonder that there was a lot of criticism because Weber's writings on the above topic were situated on the crossroads of sociology, theology, history and economy. We present and comment on the main criticisms: (1) protestantism rejects capitalism; (2) the spirit of capitalism is much older than the Reformation; (3) there is no monocausal relation between the protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism; (4) the role of catholicism in this development was as/more important in the rise of capitalism. Most of these criticisms result from a superficial presentation of Weber's writings and explanations in his own Anticritics, and don't do justice to Weber's ‘idealtypische’ and ‘verstehende’ approach. This approach was not intended to give a complete and exhaustive ‘last’ explanation of the essence of a social phenomenon.

Christelijke Ethiek En De Geest Van Het Kapitalisme

SummaryMax Weber's century old thesis on christian ethics and the spirit of capitalism, written has been the object of an endless discussion. This has much to do with the interest of the author: Weber was neither intrigued by the fact of a connection between protestantism and capitalism, nor by the influence of Calvinism on the development of the modern capitalism. His interest, however, was exclusively focused on the question “how can the relation between protestant ethic and capitalism be conceived and reconstructed”. We try to explain many misconceptions by recovering what Weber really has said. Therefore the concepts of ‘spirit of capitalism' and ‘protestant ethic’ are clarified and discussed. First, the spirit of capitalism is not an economic system, but an ethos. The definition of it in respect with the content, the motivation, the aim, and morality is elaborated in a comparison with the commercial ethos of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. This makes clear that Weber's first concern was an analy...

John Calvin and the Belgic Confession

Calvin's influence on the Belgic Confession is usually taken for granted. In this article this traditional view' is subjected to a critical study. Firstly a historical investigation is made of the possible biographic contact that John Calvin (1509-64) and Guido de Brés (1522-67) could have had. This investigation lead's to the conclusion that the latter was a close pupil of the former Calvin exercised influence on the Belgic Confession (1561) via the Confessio Gailicana (1559). When comparing the general theological con­tent of the Belgic Confession with the Institutes of Calvin, significant simi­larities are found.

The Doctrine of Predestination in the Early English Reformation

It has typically been said of the English Reformation that the doctrine of unconditional predestination (that is, predestination without foreknowledge of merit or repentance but soley as an act of God's will to redeem some of mankind as a manifestation of grace) was neither emphasized nor of central importance until the “Genevan” influence of the returning Marian exiles and the wide dissemination of Calvin's writings in England after the accession of Elizabeth. It is the purpose of this article to show that, (1) a soteriologically rooted doctrine of unconditional predestination of the type characteristic of the so-called “Rhineland Reformers” was central to key figures of the early English Reformation, was accepted and expressed by many other leaders and theological writers of the English Reformation prior to the accession of Mary and was upheld by important and influential continental divines resident in England; (2) the doctrine of predestination in the English Reformation had been developed to the point of reprobation and double predestination and frequently expressed as such before 1553; (3) while this predestinarian emphasis in English Protestant theology was to a large extent the result of the influence of the continental Reformation, it had been received prior to the return of the Genevan exiles and the pervasive influence of Calvin in Elizabethan England. Thus the Genevan influence reinforced and further refined English predestinarian theology. It might be added that Calvin's influence ought not to be considered an unusually harsh one with respect to predestination; not only does Calvin follow the general pattern of earlier Reformed theology, but also does Reformed theology in the later part of the sixteenth century tend toward a more rigid and scholastic version of the doctrine quite apart from Calvin, whose real influence could well operate in the opposite direction, as the recent study by Brian Armstrong shows.

Persians and Persian Costumes in Dutch Painting of the Seventeenth Century

Whereas in England and Germany the Reformation brought a rapid decline of church art, religious painting in Holland reached another heyday in the seventeenth century, in intimate contact with Catholic Flanders and Italy. But the influence of Calvinism had been strong enough to banish the iconographic tradition built up in the course of the Middle Ages, and to replace it by a new secular conception of Biblical life culled from the realistic and historical interpretation of the Scriptures inaugurated by Erasmus of Rotterdam. According to this conception the persons of the Bible were regarded less as the actors of an eternal mystery than as contemporary human beings, and, more in harmony with the historical facts, as people of the Orient—of Eastern appearance, dress, and manners.