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Calvinism is a theology system and an approach to the Christian life that emphasizes the rule of God over all things. Named after John Calvin, this variety of Protestantism is sometimes called the Reformed tradition, the Reformed faith, or Reformed theology.Warfield, p. 359: "Sometimes designates merely the individual teaching of John Calvin. Sometimes it designates, more broadly, the doctrinal system confessed by that body of Protestant Churches known historically, in distinction from the Lutheran Churches, as 'the Reformed Churches' ... but also quite commonly called 'the Calvinistic Churches' because the great scientific exposition of their faith in the Reformation age, and perhaps the most influential of any age, was given by John Calvin. Sometimes it designates, more broadly still, the entire body of conceptions, theological, ethical, philosophical, social, political, which, under the influence of the master mind of John Calvin, raised itself to dominance in the Protestant lands of the post-Reformation age, and has left a permanent mark not only upon the thought of mankind, but upon the life-history of men, the social order of civilized peoples and even the political organization of States."

The Reformed tradition was advanced by theologians such as Martin Bucer, Heinrich Bullinger, Peter Martyr Vermigli, and Huldrych Zwingli and also influenced England reformers such as Thomas Cranmer and John Jewel. Yet due to John Calvin's great influence and role in the confessional and ecclesiastical debates throughout the 17th century, the tradition generally became known as Calvinism. Today, this term also refers to the doctrines and practices of the Reformed churches, of which Calvin was an early leader, and the system is best known for its doctrines of predestination (Calvinism) and total depravity.

Historical background John Calvin's international influence on the development of the doctrines of the Protestant Reformation began at the age of 25, when he started work on his first edition of the Institutes of the Christian Religion in 1534 (published 1536). This work underwent a number of revisions in his lifetime, including an impressive French vernacular translation. The Institutes together with Calvin's polemical and pastoral works, his contributions to confession of faith for use in churches, and his massive out-pouring of Bible commentary, Calvin had a direct personal influence on Protestantism. He is only one of many to influence the doctrines of the Reformed churches, though he eventually became the most prominent.

The rising importance of the Reformed churches, and of Calvin, belongs to the second phase of the Protestant Reformation, when evangelical churches began to form after Martin Luther was excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church. Calvin was a French exile in Geneva. He had signed the Lutheran Augsburg Confession as it was revised by Philipp Melancthon in 1540, but his influence was first felt in the Swiss Reformation, which was not Lutheran, but rather followed Huldrych Zwingli. It became evident early on that doctrine in the Reformed churches was developing in a direction independent of Martin Luther, under the influence of numerous writers and reformers, among whom Calvin eventually became pre-eminent. Much later, when his fame was attached to the Reformed churches, their whole body of doctrine came to be called Calvinism.

Spread Although much of Calvin's practice was in Geneva, his publications spread his ideas of a correctly reformed church to many parts of Europe. Calvinism became the theological system of the majority in Scotland (see John Knox), the Netherlands, and parts of Germany (especially those adjacent to the Netherlands) and was influential in France, Hungary, then-independent Transylvania, and Poland. Calvinism gained some popularity in Scandinavia, especially Sweden, but was rejected in favor of Lutheranism after the synod of Uppsala in 1593.

Most settlers in the United States Mid-Atlantic and New England were Calvinists, including the Puritans and Dutch settlers of New Amsterdam (New York). Dutch Calvinist settlers were also the first successful European colonizers of South Africa, beginning in the 17th century, who became known as Boers or Afrikaner Calvinism.

Sierra Leone was largely colonised by Calvinist settlers from Nova Scotia, who were largely Black Loyalists, blacks who had fought for the British Empire during the American War of Independence. John Marrant had organized a congregation there under the auspices of the Huntingdon Connection.

Some of the largest Calvinist communions were started by 19th century and 20th century missionary; especially large are those in Korea and Nigeria.

General description where the 17th century congregation stands to hear a sermon.Given that its present form has multiple main tributaries, the name "Calvinism" is somewhat misleading if taken to imply that every major feature of the doctrine of the "Calvinist churches", or of all Calvinist movements, can be found in the writings of Calvin. Others are often credited with as much of a final formative influence on what is now called Calvinism as Calvin himself is – for example Calvin's successor Theodore Beza, the Dutch theologian Franciscus Gomarus, the founder of the Presbyterian church, John Knox, and any number of later figures such as the English Baptist John Bunyan and the American preacher Jonathan Edwards.

Despite the various contributing streams of thought, the central issue in Calvinist theology that is often used to represent the whole is the system's particular soteriology (doctrine of Salvation#Christian views of salvation#Protestantism), which emphasizes that man is incapable of adding anything from himself to obtain salvation and that God alone is the initiator at every stage of salvation, including the formation of faith and every decision to follow Christ. This doctrine was definitively formulated and codified during the Synod of Dort (1618-1619), which rejected an alternate system known as Arminianism.

Calvinism is sometimes called "Augustinianism" because the central issues of Calvinistic soteriology were articulated by Augustine of Hippo in his dispute with the United Kingdom monk Pelagius. In contrast to the free-will position advocated by Charles Finney and other dissenters (often labeled Pelagianism or Semipelagianism), Calvinism places strong emphasis, not only on the abiding goodness of the original creation, but also on the total ruin of man's accomplishments and the frustration of the whole creation caused by sin, and it therefore views salvation as a new work of Creation theology by God rather than an achievement of those who are saved from sin and death.

More broadly, "Calvinism" is virtually synonymous with "Reformed Protestantism", encompassing the whole body of doctrine taught by Reformed churches. In addition to maintaining a Calvinist soteriology, one of the more important and distinctive features of this system is the regulative principle of worship, which in principle rejects any form of worship not instituted for the church in the Bible and which sets Reformed theology apart from Lutheranism, which holds to the normative principle of worship.

Distinctives The distinctives of Calvinist theology can be stated in a number of ways. Perhaps the most well known summary is contained in the five points of Calvinism, though these points identify some differences with other Christians on the doctrines of salvation rather than summarizing the system as a whole. Broadly speaking, Calvinism stresses the sovereignty or rule of God in all things — in salvation but also in all of life.

Sovereign grace Calvinism stresses the total depravity of man's ethical nature against a backdrop of the sovereign Divine grace of God in salvation. It teaches that Fall of Man humanity is morally and spiritually unable to follow God or escape their condemnation before him and that only by divine intervention in which God must change their unwilling heart (Symbolism and Metaphor) can people be turned from rebellion to willing obedience.

In this view, all people are entirely at the mercy of God, who would be just in condemning all people for their sins but who has chosen to be merciful to some. One person is saved while another is condemned, not because of a foreseen willingness, faith, or any other virtue in the first person, but because God sovereignly chose to have mercy on him. Although the person must believe the gospel and respond to be saved, this obedience of faith is God's gift, and thus God completely and sovereignly accomplishes the salvation of sinners. Views of predestination to damnation (the doctrine of reprobation) are less uniform than is the view of predestination to salvation (the doctrine of election) among self-described Calvinists (see Supralapsarianism and Infralapsarianism).

In practice, Calvinists teach these doctrines of grace primarily for the encouragement of the church because they believe the doctrines demonstrate the extent of God's love in saving those who could not and would not follow him, as well as squelching pride and self-reliance and emphasizing the Christian's total dependence on the grace of God. In the same way, sanctification in the Calvinist view requires a continual reliance on God to purge the Christian's depraved heart from the power of sin and to further the Christian's joy.

Life is religion The theological system and practical theories of church, family, and political life, all ambiguously called Calvinism, are the outgrowth of a fundamental religious consciousness that centers on "the sovereignty of God." In principle, the doctrine of God has a pre-eminent place in every category of theology, including the Calvinist understanding of how a person ought to live. Calvinism presupposes that the goodness and power of God have a free, unlimited range of activity, and this works out as a conviction that God is at work in all realms of existence, including the spirituality, nature, and intellectual realms, whether secular or sacred, public or private, on earth or in heaven.

According to this viewpoint, the plan of God is worked out in every event. God is seen as the creator, preserver, governor, and redeemer of each and every thing. This produces an attitude of absolute dependence on God, which is not identified only with temporary acts of piety (for example, prayer); rather, it is an all-encompassing pattern of life that, in principle, applies to any mundane task just as it also applies to Eucharist. For the Calvinist Christian, all of life is within the sphere of the Christian religion.

Five points of Calvinism Calvinist theology is often identified in the popular mind as the so-called "five points of Calvinism," which are a summation of the judgments (or canons) rendered by the Synod of Dort and which were published as a point-by-point response to the five points of the Arminianism Remonstrance (see History of Calvinist-Arminian debate). Calvin himself never used such a model, and never combated Arminianism directly. They therefore function as a summary of the differences between Calvinism and Arminianism but not as a complete summation of Calvin's writings or of the theology of the Reformed churches in general. The central assertion of these canons is that God is able to save every person upon whom he has mercy and that his efforts are not frustrated by the unrighteousness or the inability of men.

The five points of Calvinism, which can be remembered by the English language mnemonic TULIP are:

Calvinism is often further reduced in the popular mind to one or another of the five points of TULIP. The doctrine of unconditional election is sometimes made to stand for all Reformed doctrine, sometimes even by its adherents, as the chief article of Reformed Christianity. However, according to the doctrinal statements of these churches, it is not a balanced view to single out this doctrine to stand on its own as representative of all that is taught. The doctrine of unconditional election, and its corollary in the doctrine of predestination are never properly taught, according to Calvinists, except as an assurance to those who seek forgiveness and salvation through Christ, that their faith is not in vain, because God is able to bring to completion all whom He intends to save. Nevertheless, non-Calvinists object that these doctrines discourage the world from seeking salvation.

An additional point of disagreement with Arminianism implicit in the five points is the Calvinist understanding of the doctrine of Jesus' substitutionary atonement as a punishment for the sins of the elect, which was developed by Augustine of Hippo and especially Anselm of Canterbury. Calvinists argue that if Christ takes the punishment in the place of a particular sinner, that person must be saved since it would be unjust for him then to be condemned for the same sins. The definitive and binding nature of this "Atonement (Satisfaction view)" has led Arminians to subscribe instead to the Atonement (Governmental view) in which no particular sins or sinners are in view.

Worship regulated by God The regulative principle regarding worship (RPW), which distinguishes the Calvinist approach to the public worship of God, from others, is that only those elements that are instituted or appointed by command or example in the Bible are permissible in worship. In other words, the RPW presupposes that God institutes in the Scriptures everything he requires for worship in the Church, and everything else is prohibited. The briefest statement of the regulative principle comes from the Westminster Shorter Catechism, answer 51, which states that the second commandment forbids the worshiping of God by images or any other way not appointed in his word. Answer 109 of the Larger Catechism and chapter 21, sect 1 of the Westminster Confession of Faith expand upon the same doctrine.

Variants Many efforts have been undertaken to reform or expand on Calvinism, and these variations appear to a greater or lesser degree throughout the history of Calvinism.

Lapsarianism Within scholasticism Calvinist theology, there are two schools of thought over when and whom God predestined: supralapsarianism (from the Latin language: supra, before + lapsare, to fall) and infralapsarianism (from the Latin: infra, after). The former view, sometimes called "high Calvinism," argues that The Fall of Man occurred partly to facilitate God's purpose to choose some individuals for salvation and some for damnation. Infralapsarianism, sometimes called "low Calvinism," is the position that, while the Fall was indeed planned, it was not planned with reference to who would be saved.

Supralapsarians believe that God chose which individuals to save before he decided to allow the race to fall and that the Fall serves as the means of realization of that prior decision to send some individuals to hell and others to heaven (that is, it provides the grounds of condemnation in the reprobation and the need for salvation in the elect). In contrast, infralapsarians hold that God planned the race to fall logically prior to the decision to save or damn any individuals because, it is argued, in order to be "saved," one must first need to be saved from something and therefore the Fall must precede predestination to salvation or damnation.

These two views vied with each other at the Synod of Dort (1618), an international body representing Calvinist Christian churches from around Europe, and the judgments that came out of that council sided with infralapsarianism (Canons of Dort, First Point of Doctrine, Article 7). The influential Westminster Confession of Faith also teaches the infralapsarian view but is sensitive to those holding to supralapsarianism. The Lapsarian controversy has a few vocal proponents on each side today, but overall it doesn't get much attention among modern Calvinists.

Arminianism The theological and political movement called Arminianism was begun by Jacob Arminius and revised and pursued by the Remonstrants. Arminius rejected several tenets of the Calvinist doctrines of salvation — namely, the latter four of what would later be known as the five points of Calvinism — while the Remonstrants also rejected one other point, namely, total depravity. The term "Arminianism" often serves as an umbrella term for both Arminius's doctrine and the Remonstrants', but Arminius's followers sometimes distinguish themselves as "reformed Arminians."

The Remonstrants' doctrine was condemned at the Synod of Dort, and neither the Remonstrant's nor Arminius's followers are commonly considered Calvinists. The Remonstrant view is relatively common in Evangelicalism, and Arminius's system was revived by John Wesley and is common particularly in Methodism.

Four-point Calvinism Another revision of Calvinism is called Amyraldism, "hypothetical universalism", or "four-point Calvinism", which drops the limited atonement in favor of an unlimited atonement saying that God has provided Christ's atonement for all alike, but seeing that none would believe on their own, he then elects those whom he will bring to faith in Christ, thereby preserving the Calvinist doctrine of unconditional election.

This doctrine was most thoroughly systematized by the French Reformed theologian at the University of Saumur, Moses Amyraut, for whom it is named. His formulation was an attempt to bring Calvinism more nearly alongside the Lutheran view. It was popularized in England by the Reformed pastor Richard Baxter and gained strong adherence among the Congregationalist church and some Presbyterian church in the 13 colonies, during the 17th century and 18th century.

Amyraldism can be found among various Evangelicalism groups in the United States and within the Anglican Diocese of Sydney. "Five point" Calvinism is prevalent in conservative and moderate groups among Presbyterian churches, Reformed churches, Reformed Baptists and some non-denominational churches.

Hyper-Calvinism Hyper-Calvinism first referred to an eccentric view that appeared among the early England Particular Baptists in the 1700s. Their system denied that the call of the gospel to "repentance and believe" is directed to every single person and that it is the duty of every person to trust in Christ for salvation. While this doctrine has always been a minority view, it has not been relegated to the past and may still be found in some small denominations and church communities today. The term also occasionally appears in both theological and secular controversial contexts, where it usually connotes a negative opinion about some variety of determinism, predestination, or a version of Evangelical Christianity or Calvinism that is deemed by the critic to be unenlightened, harsh, or extreme.

Neo-orthodoxy In the mainline Reformed churches, Calvinism has undergone expansion and revision through the influence of Karl Barth and neo-orthodoxy theology. Barth was an important Swiss Reformed theologian who began writing early in the 20th century, whose chief accomplishment was to counter-act the influence of the Enlightenment in the churches, especially as this had led to the toleration of Nazism in Germany. The Barmen declaration is an expression of the Barthian reform of Calvinism. Conservative Calvinists (as well as some liberal reformers) regard it as confusing to use the name "Calvinism" to refer to neo-orthodoxy or other liberal revisions stemming from Calvinist churches due to their differing theological views.

Neo-Calvinism Besides the traditional movements within the conservative Reformed churches, several trends have arisen through the attempt to provide a contemporary, but theologically conservative approach to the world.

A version of Calvinism that has been adopted by both theological conservatives and liberals gained influence in the Netherlands Reformed churches, late in the 1800s, dubbed "neo-Calvinism", which developed along lines of the theories of Dutch theologian, statesman and journalist, Abraham Kuyper. More traditional Calvinist critics of the movement characterize it as a revision of Calvinism, although a conservative one in comparison to modernist Christianity or neo-orthodoxy. Neo-Calvinism, "calvinianism", or the "reformational movement", is a response to the influences of the Enlightenment, but generally speaking it does not touch directly on the articles of salvation. Neo-Calvinists intend their work to be understood as an update of the Calvinist worldview in response to modern circumstances, which is an extension of the Calvinist understanding of salvation to science, society and politics issues. To show their consistency with the historic Reformed movement, supporters may cite Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion, book 1, chapters 1-3, and other works. In the United States, Kuyperian neo-Calvinism is represented among others, by the Center for Public Justice, a faith-based political think-tank headquartered in Washington, D.C.

Neo-Calvinism branched off in more theologically conservative movements in the United States. The first of these to rise to prominence became apparent through the writings of Francis Schaeffer, who had gathered around himself a group of scholars, and propagated their ideas in writing and through a Calvinist study center in Switzerland, called L'Abri. This movement generated a reawakened social consciousness among evangelicalism.

Christian Reconstructionism A neo-Calvinist movement called Christian Reconstructionism is much smaller, more radical, and Theocracy, but by some believed to be widely influential in American family and political life. Reconstructionism is a distinct revision of Kuyper's approach, which sharply departs from that root influence through the complete rejection of Religious pluralism, and by formulating suggested applications of the sanctions of Biblical Law for modern civil governments. These distinctives are the least influential aspects of the movement. Its intellectual founder, the late R.J. Rushdoony, based much of his understanding on the presuppositional apologetics insights of Cornelius Van Til, professor at Westminster Theological Seminary (although Van Til himself did not hold to such a view). It has some influence in the conservative Reformed churches in which it was born, and in Calvinistic Baptist and Charismatic movement churches mostly in the United States, Canada, and to a lesser extent in the UK

Reconstructionism aims toward the complete rebuilding of the structures of society on Christian and Biblical presuppositions, not, according to its promoters, in terms of "top down" structural changes, but through the steady advance of the Gospel of Christ as men and women are converted, who then live out their obedience to God in the areas for which they are responsible. In keeping with the Theonomy, it seeks to establish laws and structures that will best instantiate the ethical principles of the Bible, including the Old Testament as expounded in the case laws and summarized in the Decalogue. Not a political movement, strictly speaking, Reconstructionism has nonetheless been influential in the development of aspects of the Christian Right that some critics have called "Dominionism." Reconstructionism assumes that God institutes in the Scriptures everything he requires for the ordering of self and society, extending the regulative principle of worship to all areas of life.

Usury and capitalism One school of thought attributes Calvinism with setting the stage for the later development of capitalism in northern Europe. In this view, elements of Calvinism represented a revolt against the medieval condemnation of usury and, implicitly, of profit in general. Such a connection was advanced in influential works by R. H. Tawney (1880 - 1962) and by Max Weber (1864–1920).

Calvin expressed himself on usury in a letter to a friend, Johannes Oecolampadius, in which he criticized the use of certain passages of scripture invoked by people opposed to the charging of interest. He reinterpreted some of these passages, and suggested that others of them had been rendered irrelevant by changed conditions. He also dismissed the argument (based upon the writings of Aristotle) that it is wrong to charge interest for money because money itself is barren. He said that the walls and the roof of a house are barren, too, but it is permissible to charge someone for allowing him to use them. In the same way, money can be made fruitful.

He qualified his view, however, by saying that money should be lent to people in dire need without hope of interest.

Notes

See also

History

Doctrine

People groups

Resources

External links

Calvinist websites

Calvinist schools

Calvinism and other theological systems

Calvinism is a theology system and an approach to the Christian life that emphasizes the rule of God over all things. Named after John Calvin, this variety of Protestantism is sometimes called the Reformed tradition, the Reformed faith, or Reformed theology.Warfield, p. 359: "Sometimes designates merely the individual teaching of John Calvin. Sometimes it designates, more broadly, the doctrinal system confessed by that body of Protestant Churches known historically, in distinction from the Lutheran Churches, as 'the Reformed Churches' ... but also quite commonly called 'the Calvinistic Churches' because the great scientific exposition of their faith in the Reformation age, and perhaps the most influential of any age, was given by John Calvin. Sometimes it designates, more broadly still, the entire body of conceptions, theological, ethical, philosophical, social, political, which, under the influence of the master mind of John Calvin, raised itself to dominance in the Protestant lands of the post-Reformation age, and has left a permanent mark not only upon the thought of mankind, but upon the life-history of men, the social order of civilized peoples and even the political organization of States."

The Reformed tradition was advanced by theologians such as Martin Bucer, Heinrich Bullinger, Peter Martyr Vermigli, and Huldrych Zwingli and also influenced England reformers such as Thomas Cranmer and John Jewel. Yet due to John Calvin's great influence and role in the confessional and ecclesiastical debates throughout the 17th century, the tradition generally became known as Calvinism. Today, this term also refers to the doctrines and practices of the Reformed churches, of which Calvin was an early leader, and the system is best known for its doctrines of predestination (Calvinism) and total depravity.

Historical background John Calvin's international influence on the development of the doctrines of the Protestant Reformation began at the age of 25, when he started work on his first edition of the Institutes of the Christian Religion in 1534 (published 1536). This work underwent a number of revisions in his lifetime, including an impressive French vernacular translation. The Institutes together with Calvin's polemical and pastoral works, his contributions to confession of faith for use in churches, and his massive out-pouring of Bible commentary, Calvin had a direct personal influence on Protestantism. He is only one of many to influence the doctrines of the Reformed churches, though he eventually became the most prominent.

The rising importance of the Reformed churches, and of Calvin, belongs to the second phase of the Protestant Reformation, when evangelical churches began to form after Martin Luther was excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church. Calvin was a French exile in Geneva. He had signed the Lutheran Augsburg Confession as it was revised by Philipp Melancthon in 1540, but his influence was first felt in the Swiss Reformation, which was not Lutheran, but rather followed Huldrych Zwingli. It became evident early on that doctrine in the Reformed churches was developing in a direction independent of Martin Luther, under the influence of numerous writers and reformers, among whom Calvin eventually became pre-eminent. Much later, when his fame was attached to the Reformed churches, their whole body of doctrine came to be called Calvinism.

Spread Although much of Calvin's practice was in Geneva, his publications spread his ideas of a correctly reformed church to many parts of Europe. Calvinism became the theological system of the majority in Scotland (see John Knox), the Netherlands, and parts of Germany (especially those adjacent to the Netherlands) and was influential in France, Hungary, then-independent Transylvania, and Poland. Calvinism gained some popularity in Scandinavia, especially Sweden, but was rejected in favor of Lutheranism after the synod of Uppsala in 1593.

Most settlers in the United States Mid-Atlantic and New England were Calvinists, including the Puritans and Dutch settlers of New Amsterdam (New York). Dutch Calvinist settlers were also the first successful European colonizers of South Africa, beginning in the 17th century, who became known as Boers or Afrikaner Calvinism.

Sierra Leone was largely colonised by Calvinist settlers from Nova Scotia, who were largely Black Loyalists, blacks who had fought for the British Empire during the American War of Independence. John Marrant had organized a congregation there under the auspices of the Huntingdon Connection.

Some of the largest Calvinist communions were started by 19th century and 20th century missionary; especially large are those in Korea and Nigeria.

General description where the 17th century congregation stands to hear a sermon.Given that its present form has multiple main tributaries, the name "Calvinism" is somewhat misleading if taken to imply that every major feature of the doctrine of the "Calvinist churches", or of all Calvinist movements, can be found in the writings of Calvin. Others are often credited with as much of a final formative influence on what is now called Calvinism as Calvin himself is – for example Calvin's successor Theodore Beza, the Dutch theologian Franciscus Gomarus, the founder of the Presbyterian church, John Knox, and any number of later figures such as the English Baptist John Bunyan and the American preacher Jonathan Edwards.

Despite the various contributing streams of thought, the central issue in Calvinist theology that is often used to represent the whole is the system's particular soteriology (doctrine of Salvation#Christian views of salvation#Protestantism), which emphasizes that man is incapable of adding anything from himself to obtain salvation and that God alone is the initiator at every stage of salvation, including the formation of faith and every decision to follow Christ. This doctrine was definitively formulated and codified during the Synod of Dort (1618-1619), which rejected an alternate system known as Arminianism.

Calvinism is sometimes called "Augustinianism" because the central issues of Calvinistic soteriology were articulated by Augustine of Hippo in his dispute with the United Kingdom monk Pelagius. In contrast to the free-will position advocated by Charles Finney and other dissenters (often labeled Pelagianism or Semipelagianism), Calvinism places strong emphasis, not only on the abiding goodness of the original creation, but also on the total ruin of man's accomplishments and the frustration of the whole creation caused by sin, and it therefore views salvation as a new work of Creation theology by God rather than an achievement of those who are saved from sin and death.

More broadly, "Calvinism" is virtually synonymous with "Reformed Protestantism", encompassing the whole body of doctrine taught by Reformed churches. In addition to maintaining a Calvinist soteriology, one of the more important and distinctive features of this system is the regulative principle of worship, which in principle rejects any form of worship not instituted for the church in the Bible and which sets Reformed theology apart from Lutheranism, which holds to the normative principle of worship.

Distinctives The distinctives of Calvinist theology can be stated in a number of ways. Perhaps the most well known summary is contained in the five points of Calvinism, though these points identify some differences with other Christians on the doctrines of salvation rather than summarizing the system as a whole. Broadly speaking, Calvinism stresses the sovereignty or rule of God in all things — in salvation but also in all of life.

Sovereign grace Calvinism stresses the total depravity of man's ethical nature against a backdrop of the sovereign Divine grace of God in salvation. It teaches that Fall of Man humanity is morally and spiritually unable to follow God or escape their condemnation before him and that only by divine intervention in which God must change their unwilling heart (Symbolism and Metaphor) can people be turned from rebellion to willing obedience.

In this view, all people are entirely at the mercy of God, who would be just in condemning all people for their sins but who has chosen to be merciful to some. One person is saved while another is condemned, not because of a foreseen willingness, faith, or any other virtue in the first person, but because God sovereignly chose to have mercy on him. Although the person must believe the gospel and respond to be saved, this obedience of faith is God's gift, and thus God completely and sovereignly accomplishes the salvation of sinners. Views of predestination to damnation (the doctrine of reprobation) are less uniform than is the view of predestination to salvation (the doctrine of election) among self-described Calvinists (see Supralapsarianism and Infralapsarianism).

In practice, Calvinists teach these doctrines of grace primarily for the encouragement of the church because they believe the doctrines demonstrate the extent of God's love in saving those who could not and would not follow him, as well as squelching pride and self-reliance and emphasizing the Christian's total dependence on the grace of God. In the same way, sanctification in the Calvinist view requires a continual reliance on God to purge the Christian's depraved heart from the power of sin and to further the Christian's joy.

Life is religion The theological system and practical theories of church, family, and political life, all ambiguously called Calvinism, are the outgrowth of a fundamental religious consciousness that centers on "the sovereignty of God." In principle, the doctrine of God has a pre-eminent place in every category of theology, including the Calvinist understanding of how a person ought to live. Calvinism presupposes that the goodness and power of God have a free, unlimited range of activity, and this works out as a conviction that God is at work in all realms of existence, including the spirituality, nature, and intellectual realms, whether secular or sacred, public or private, on earth or in heaven.

According to this viewpoint, the plan of God is worked out in every event. God is seen as the creator, preserver, governor, and redeemer of each and every thing. This produces an attitude of absolute dependence on God, which is not identified only with temporary acts of piety (for example, prayer); rather, it is an all-encompassing pattern of life that, in principle, applies to any mundane task just as it also applies to Eucharist. For the Calvinist Christian, all of life is within the sphere of the Christian religion.

Five points of Calvinism Calvinist theology is often identified in the popular mind as the so-called "five points of Calvinism," which are a summation of the judgments (or canons) rendered by the Synod of Dort and which were published as a point-by-point response to the five points of the Arminianism Remonstrance (see History of Calvinist-Arminian debate). Calvin himself never used such a model, and never combated Arminianism directly. They therefore function as a summary of the differences between Calvinism and Arminianism but not as a complete summation of Calvin's writings or of the theology of the Reformed churches in general. The central assertion of these canons is that God is able to save every person upon whom he has mercy and that his efforts are not frustrated by the unrighteousness or the inability of men.

The five points of Calvinism, which can be remembered by the English language mnemonic TULIP are:

Calvinism is often further reduced in the popular mind to one or another of the five points of TULIP. The doctrine of unconditional election is sometimes made to stand for all Reformed doctrine, sometimes even by its adherents, as the chief article of Reformed Christianity. However, according to the doctrinal statements of these churches, it is not a balanced view to single out this doctrine to stand on its own as representative of all that is taught. The doctrine of unconditional election, and its corollary in the doctrine of predestination are never properly taught, according to Calvinists, except as an assurance to those who seek forgiveness and salvation through Christ, that their faith is not in vain, because God is able to bring to completion all whom He intends to save. Nevertheless, non-Calvinists object that these doctrines discourage the world from seeking salvation.

An additional point of disagreement with Arminianism implicit in the five points is the Calvinist understanding of the doctrine of Jesus' substitutionary atonement as a punishment for the sins of the elect, which was developed by Augustine of Hippo and especially Anselm of Canterbury. Calvinists argue that if Christ takes the punishment in the place of a particular sinner, that person must be saved since it would be unjust for him then to be condemned for the same sins. The definitive and binding nature of this "Atonement (Satisfaction view)" has led Arminians to subscribe instead to the Atonement (Governmental view) in which no particular sins or sinners are in view.

Worship regulated by God The regulative principle regarding worship (RPW), which distinguishes the Calvinist approach to the public worship of God, from others, is that only those elements that are instituted or appointed by command or example in the Bible are permissible in worship. In other words, the RPW presupposes that God institutes in the Scriptures everything he requires for worship in the Church, and everything else is prohibited. The briefest statement of the regulative principle comes from the Westminster Shorter Catechism, answer 51, which states that the second commandment forbids the worshiping of God by images or any other way not appointed in his word. Answer 109 of the Larger Catechism and chapter 21, sect 1 of the Westminster Confession of Faith expand upon the same doctrine.

Variants Many efforts have been undertaken to reform or expand on Calvinism, and these variations appear to a greater or lesser degree throughout the history of Calvinism.

Lapsarianism Within scholasticism Calvinist theology, there are two schools of thought over when and whom God predestined: supralapsarianism (from the Latin language: supra, before + lapsare, to fall) and infralapsarianism (from the Latin: infra, after). The former view, sometimes called "high Calvinism," argues that The Fall of Man occurred partly to facilitate God's purpose to choose some individuals for salvation and some for damnation. Infralapsarianism, sometimes called "low Calvinism," is the position that, while the Fall was indeed planned, it was not planned with reference to who would be saved.

Supralapsarians believe that God chose which individuals to save before he decided to allow the race to fall and that the Fall serves as the means of realization of that prior decision to send some individuals to hell and others to heaven (that is, it provides the grounds of condemnation in the reprobation and the need for salvation in the elect). In contrast, infralapsarians hold that God planned the race to fall logically prior to the decision to save or damn any individuals because, it is argued, in order to be "saved," one must first need to be saved from something and therefore the Fall must precede predestination to salvation or damnation.

These two views vied with each other at the Synod of Dort (1618), an international body representing Calvinist Christian churches from around Europe, and the judgments that came out of that council sided with infralapsarianism (Canons of Dort, First Point of Doctrine, Article 7). The influential Westminster Confession of Faith also teaches the infralapsarian view but is sensitive to those holding to supralapsarianism. The Lapsarian controversy has a few vocal proponents on each side today, but overall it doesn't get much attention among modern Calvinists.

Arminianism The theological and political movement called Arminianism was begun by Jacob Arminius and revised and pursued by the Remonstrants. Arminius rejected several tenets of the Calvinist doctrines of salvation — namely, the latter four of what would later be known as the five points of Calvinism — while the Remonstrants also rejected one other point, namely, total depravity. The term "Arminianism" often serves as an umbrella term for both Arminius's doctrine and the Remonstrants', but Arminius's followers sometimes distinguish themselves as "reformed Arminians."

The Remonstrants' doctrine was condemned at the Synod of Dort, and neither the Remonstrant's nor Arminius's followers are commonly considered Calvinists. The Remonstrant view is relatively common in Evangelicalism, and Arminius's system was revived by John Wesley and is common particularly in Methodism.

Four-point Calvinism Another revision of Calvinism is called Amyraldism, "hypothetical universalism", or "four-point Calvinism", which drops the limited atonement in favor of an unlimited atonement saying that God has provided Christ's atonement for all alike, but seeing that none would believe on their own, he then elects those whom he will bring to faith in Christ, thereby preserving the Calvinist doctrine of unconditional election.

This doctrine was most thoroughly systematized by the French Reformed theologian at the University of Saumur, Moses Amyraut, for whom it is named. His formulation was an attempt to bring Calvinism more nearly alongside the Lutheran view. It was popularized in England by the Reformed pastor Richard Baxter and gained strong adherence among the Congregationalist church and some Presbyterian church in the 13 colonies, during the 17th century and 18th century.

Amyraldism can be found among various Evangelicalism groups in the United States and within the Anglican Diocese of Sydney. "Five point" Calvinism is prevalent in conservative and moderate groups among Presbyterian churches, Reformed churches, Reformed Baptists and some non-denominational churches.

Hyper-Calvinism Hyper-Calvinism first referred to an eccentric view that appeared among the early England Particular Baptists in the 1700s. Their system denied that the call of the gospel to "repentance and believe" is directed to every single person and that it is the duty of every person to trust in Christ for salvation. While this doctrine has always been a minority view, it has not been relegated to the past and may still be found in some small denominations and church communities today. The term also occasionally appears in both theological and secular controversial contexts, where it usually connotes a negative opinion about some variety of determinism, predestination, or a version of Evangelical Christianity or Calvinism that is deemed by the critic to be unenlightened, harsh, or extreme.

Neo-orthodoxy In the mainline Reformed churches, Calvinism has undergone expansion and revision through the influence of Karl Barth and neo-orthodoxy theology. Barth was an important Swiss Reformed theologian who began writing early in the 20th century, whose chief accomplishment was to counter-act the influence of the Enlightenment in the churches, especially as this had led to the toleration of Nazism in Germany. The Barmen declaration is an expression of the Barthian reform of Calvinism. Conservative Calvinists (as well as some liberal reformers) regard it as confusing to use the name "Calvinism" to refer to neo-orthodoxy or other liberal revisions stemming from Calvinist churches due to their differing theological views.

Neo-Calvinism Besides the traditional movements within the conservative Reformed churches, several trends have arisen through the attempt to provide a contemporary, but theologically conservative approach to the world.

A version of Calvinism that has been adopted by both theological conservatives and liberals gained influence in the Netherlands Reformed churches, late in the 1800s, dubbed "neo-Calvinism", which developed along lines of the theories of Dutch theologian, statesman and journalist, Abraham Kuyper. More traditional Calvinist critics of the movement characterize it as a revision of Calvinism, although a conservative one in comparison to modernist Christianity or neo-orthodoxy. Neo-Calvinism, "calvinianism", or the "reformational movement", is a response to the influences of the Enlightenment, but generally speaking it does not touch directly on the articles of salvation. Neo-Calvinists intend their work to be understood as an update of the Calvinist worldview in response to modern circumstances, which is an extension of the Calvinist understanding of salvation to science, society and politics issues. To show their consistency with the historic Reformed movement, supporters may cite Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion, book 1, chapters 1-3, and other works. In the United States, Kuyperian neo-Calvinism is represented among others, by the Center for Public Justice, a faith-based political think-tank headquartered in Washington, D.C.

Neo-Calvinism branched off in more theologically conservative movements in the United States. The first of these to rise to prominence became apparent through the writings of Francis Schaeffer, who had gathered around himself a group of scholars, and propagated their ideas in writing and through a Calvinist study center in Switzerland, called L'Abri. This movement generated a reawakened social consciousness among evangelicalism.

Christian Reconstructionism A neo-Calvinist movement called Christian Reconstructionism is much smaller, more radical, and Theocracy, but by some believed to be widely influential in American family and political life. Reconstructionism is a distinct revision of Kuyper's approach, which sharply departs from that root influence through the complete rejection of Religious pluralism, and by formulating suggested applications of the sanctions of Biblical Law for modern civil governments. These distinctives are the least influential aspects of the movement. Its intellectual founder, the late R.J. Rushdoony, based much of his understanding on the presuppositional apologetics insights of Cornelius Van Til, professor at Westminster Theological Seminary (although Van Til himself did not hold to such a view). It has some influence in the conservative Reformed churches in which it was born, and in Calvinistic Baptist and Charismatic movement churches mostly in the United States, Canada, and to a lesser extent in the UK

Reconstructionism aims toward the complete rebuilding of the structures of society on Christian and Biblical presuppositions, not, according to its promoters, in terms of "top down" structural changes, but through the steady advance of the Gospel of Christ as men and women are converted, who then live out their obedience to God in the areas for which they are responsible. In keeping with the Theonomy, it seeks to establish laws and structures that will best instantiate the ethical principles of the Bible, including the Old Testament as expounded in the case laws and summarized in the Decalogue. Not a political movement, strictly speaking, Reconstructionism has nonetheless been influential in the development of aspects of the Christian Right that some critics have called "Dominionism." Reconstructionism assumes that God institutes in the Scriptures everything he requires for the ordering of self and society, extending the regulative principle of worship to all areas of life.

Usury and capitalism One school of thought attributes Calvinism with setting the stage for the later development of capitalism in northern Europe. In this view, elements of Calvinism represented a revolt against the medieval condemnation of usury and, implicitly, of profit in general. Such a connection was advanced in influential works by R. H. Tawney (1880 - 1962) and by Max Weber (1864–1920).

Calvin expressed himself on usury in a letter to a friend, Johannes Oecolampadius, in which he criticized the use of certain passages of scripture invoked by people opposed to the charging of interest. He reinterpreted some of these passages, and suggested that others of them had been rendered irrelevant by changed conditions. He also dismissed the argument (based upon the writings of Aristotle) that it is wrong to charge interest for money because money itself is barren. He said that the walls and the roof of a house are barren, too, but it is permissible to charge someone for allowing him to use them. In the same way, money can be made fruitful.

He qualified his view, however, by saying that money should be lent to people in dire need without hope of interest.

Notes

See also

History

Doctrine

People groups

Resources

External links

Calvinist websites

Calvinist schools

Calvinism and other theological systems



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