Sárospataki Füzetek 13. (2009)
2009 / 4. szám - TANULMÁNYOK
I. John Hesselink all of the translations of meditation in Calvin’s commentaries read what appears to be obvious, viz., “meditation.” Scholars, however, in western Europe—at least in Germany and the Netherlands—seem to be averse to what appears to us in the English-speaking world as the obvious translation. For example, Otto Weber in the standard German translation of the Institutes translates the title this way: “Vom Trachten nach dem zuküftigen Leben”* 8 9—“On the Striving After the Future Life”; and a leading Dutch Calvin scholar, Willem Balke, in an article “Calvin’s opvatting van de meditatie”« asks “What does Calvin mean by the word ‘meditatie’?” He concedes that the word is usually translated ‘overdenking’, but adds that this is a great misunderstanding, for it suggests a “pious meditation (overpeinzing), whereas Calvin, a man of the Renaissance, would have been influenced by classical writers such as Virgil who would translate ‘meditatio’ as ‘oefening,’ i.e., exercise, practice or training. Balke, accordingly, proposes that the title of Chapter IX should be “The Practice of the Future Life,” for what Calvin teaches here is not some introverted introspection but “the practice (or exercise) of faith today in the midst of life and of the world.”10 I understand Balke’s concern. He does not want Calvin to be viewed as an otherworldly ascetic or self-centered pietist. Nevertheless, in English to speak of the ‘practice’ or ‘exercise’ of the spiritual life—or the German the ‘striving after’ the spiritual life—doesn’t speak meaningfully to me or most English- speaking scholars.11 Let the text speak for itself and I think it will yield an accurate portrayal of what Calvin means by ‘meditatio.’ B. A medieval notion? Admittedly there are passages in this chapter that have a very pessimistic medieval ring. Note, for example, how he begins Chapter IX: “Whatever kind of tribulation presses upon us, we must ever look to this end: to accustom ourselves to contempt (contemptum) for the present life and to be aroused thereby to meditate upon the future life.” Later in this section he refers again to “contempt for the present life” and speaks of “the vanity of the present life” and its “miseries” (.Inst. III.9.1). Later he sounds even more negative: If heaven is our homeland, what else is the earth but our place of exile? If departure from the world is entry into life, what else is the world but a sepulcher? And what else is it for us to remain in life but to be immersed Life,” which concludes the Institutes and is not divided into sub-chapters as in “The Golden Booklet” and editions from 1555 to 1560. 8 There is a perfectly good German word for ‘meditation,’ viz., “Nach-sinnen! 9 In the book Johannes Calvijn. Zijn leven, zijn Werk, Willem Bälke, Jan C. Klok, and Willem van’t Spijker editors (Kämpen: Kok, 2008). 10 Johannes Calvijn, 332.1 am translating from the Dutch. 11 I have found only one place where ‘meditatio’ is translated as ‘exercise.’ In his commentary on Luke 16:8 Calvin writes, “The heathen are more industrious in taking care of this fleeting world” than “God’s children are in caring for the heavenly and eternal life, or making it their study and exercise (studium et meditationem)," T. H. L. Parker translation.
