This post is Part 2 of a three part series. You can read Part 1 here, and Part 3 here. Earlier, I introduced Calvin's commentary on the 16th century Church of England. I pointed out how Calvin complimented the state of religion in England at the time, instructed the...
John Calvin
The Beatific Vision: Keeping Theology Theological
Both Catholics and Protestants are wrong when they think the Beatific Vision is just for Catholics.
Calvin on the Church of England – Part 1
This post is Part 1 of a three part series. You can read Part 2 here, and Part 3 here. John Durel was a Franco-Anglican minister who became a key Reformed apologist for the Church of England after the restoration of the Stuart monarchy. Mostly forgotten today, Durel...
Baptismal Trajectories in Early Christianity, Part I: The Liturgical “Dark Age” and Second Temple Judaism
Can we find a fresh explanation for differing baptismal practices in the early church?
Calvin’s Complex Ecumenism
With “catholicity” resurgent among Reformed Christians, John Calvin’s ecumenism demands a closer examination.
Why Liturgy Makes Better Preaching
At a basic level, good liturgy is an insurance policy against bad preaching.
The Neglected Craft: Prudence in Reformed Political Thought
Aristotle described politics as involving art or craft (techne). It, too, required skill. It, too, could produce excellent, even wondrous edifices: regimes. Once upon a time, the Reformed tradition saw politics in the same manner. Althusius, for example, spoke of “the art of governing.”[1] Joseph Caryl, a Westminster Divine, described rulers as engaging in an “art” or a “craft.” These thinkers, moreover, developed this artistry, doing so consciously within a Reformed framework.
“Nursing Fathers”: The Magistrate and the Moral Law
Not many passages in the New Testament speak directly to political order. The first part of the thirteenth chapter of Romans is perhaps the most famous. I would like to focus in this essay on vv. 3-4, which may appear prima facie to be something of an interpretive crux. Are these verses descriptive or prescriptive? That is, are they simply declarative, or are they imperatival, telling us what magistrates ought to do?
Calvin on the Public Rites of Confession and Absolution
In the third book of his Institutes, John Calvin argues that the church’s worship should begin with a corporate prayer of confession:
“Besides the fact that ordinary confession has been commended by the Lord’s mouth, no one of sound mind, who weighs its usefulness, can dare disapprove it….
Calvin’s Luther: Unity and Continuity in Protestantism
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] John Calvin: More Lutheran or Zwinglian? Everybody knows that Calvin was closer to Zurich than to Wittenberg. What this essay presupposes is: Maybe he wasn't? In fact, Calvin was neither Zwinglian nor Lutheran in the...