Calvin Synod Herald, 2017 (118. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2017-05-01 / 5-6. szám
CALVIN SYNOD HERALD 9 ered books, written by the great apostles, no one has written a better book than this It is the Institutes upon which our Reformed Faith is based, based on the Bible, briinging to life the teachings of Christ in a clear and systematic way. Calvin prepared the very first hymnbook: remember, in the medieval Roman church, they did not sing Hymns. Calvin rediscovered the Psalms as “Hymns” with which to praise God! His tremendous changes were reflected not only in “religion”, but in all of life, which, as was mentioned earlier, he emphasized is where we must live out our faith. What did he do to this end? His teachings - and examples - changed political and social life for all of Europe. While he was pastor in Geneva, Switzerland, plagues swept all of Europe. In Geneva there was a hospital - but only for citizens of the City. He established a hospital for non-citizens: This in itself was a first. Due to the plague, there was a depression, and the resultant unemployment, Under his leadership, a weaving industry was begun to employ unemployed persons. It was also at this time that he help to establish a watch-making industry in Geneva: Imagine - watches made in Switzerland - Swiss Time-pieces - a result of the Calvinist Reformation. And also, a gold-smith industry was begun at this time. And he encouraged trade - merchants, businessmen, commerce. And these all became profitable due to his showing, in the Bible, that these are all honorable professions. Big deal, you think. Well, it really was a big deal! It was Calvin and his Calvinist theology that first proclaimed what Jesus had taught and shown in his life - which had been reiterated by the Apostle Paul: ALL work is honorable, all people are honorable, there are no stations in life that are not honorable in Gods eyes. The fact is that peasants were regarded not to be equal to other person in that time: people could not be businessmen or merchants because they were excluded from, excommunicated by, the Roman Catholic church. Calvin showed in the Bible that it is morally acceptable to charge interest when loaning money - but he also declared that if a person could not afford it, interest may NOT be charged! Geneva became the most successful city in Europe, both economically and as a Christian center. Calvin established a University in Geneva, paid for by the citizens of the city, and almost immediately there were 900 students enrolled! People from all the over the world flocked to Geneva. One of them, John Knox, the man who was the founder of the Scottish Reformed Church - which today we call the Presbyterian Church - went to Geneva and wrote: "Here can be found Christ’s most perfect school, something which has not existed on earth since the Apostles Dutch scholar Abraham Kuyper had this observation about Calvin: "Just ask yourselves: what would have become of Europe and America, if the reformation would have not started in the Sixteenth Century? Spain would have broken in pieces (the) German(s)(and) Swiss, in England and Scotland the Stuarts would have succeeded with their fatal plans. The whole American continent would have remained Spanish possessions." I mentioned that Calvin established a University in Geneva. This too is a tremendously important moment in history. The University taught not only religion and philosophy, but also the natural sciences, which Calvin insisted be about the scriptures. It is important because here, for the first time, the study of natural sciences was encouraged, for Calvin a means of understanding the world which God made for us. The medieval Church considered the natural sciences as evil and rejected the them. The best example of this is that 100 years after Calvin, when Galileo declared the world to be round, he was condemned by the Roman church. If we were to read the Bible literally, the world is flat, with 4 comers. Creation is a 3-story universe, with the heavens above, a flat earth in the center, and “the deep" under the earth. Calvin is the first major theologian to categorically state that the scriptures are not to be understood strictly literally, but are descriptive of something which God is attempting to reveal to us - and we must use all our facilities to understand His creation. The spirit of Geneva created disciples, heroes, martyrs everywhere where it reached worldwide. Following the example of Geneva, schools were established, libraries created, books were printed, often funded by tradesmen, merchants, citizens and peasants. The Scriptures remained fully authoritative for Calvin - not as a scientific description, but for revelation of creation for the good of mankind. He rejected the Catholic church’s - and Martin Luther’s stance - that the Scriptures should be taken literally, verbatim. But, said Calvin, ALL knowledge must be approached and understood in the context of the entire Scriptures. Calvin has been described as “the most Christian man amongst the Reformers ”. Reinhold Niebuhr, one of America’s greatest theologians, pointed out that “more books have been written about Calvin and Calvinism than any other man in the history of the world”. Our very government in the United States is based on Calvinistic principles: Geneva had an elected town council - our form of government is an elected government.
