Sárospataki Füzetek 13. (2009)
2009 / 2. szám - TANULMÁNYOK - Sawyer Frank: Kálvin transzformációs nézete. Some Aspect of John Calvin's Trnsformational views
Sawyer Frank a shoe repairman, iron smith, a carpenter or vegetable grocer comes home after work dusty and sweaty from the daily grind and greets his wife and children with one thought clearly in his mind - that God has called him to this labour to win his family’s bread and favour - then though his hands show the daily dirt God’s command is in his heart. (Frank Sawyer, A Way of Seeing, 2009) Calvin also followed these insights of the Protestant Reformation, which he himself helped to form during the 16th century. An application: Calvin on loans and banks We have been tracing aspects of Calvin’s social ethos found in his understanding of the dynamic and wholistic speaking of God’s word to daily life in a way that points us to the commands of God and shows us the limits of our own abilities, thereby also reminding us of the tendency of every kind of ideology to promise pseudo-salvation. Let us now note in short form how Calvin spoke about economics. Until the time of Calvin the church had not clarified the problem of usury very well. Many thought that taking interest on money loans was forbidden by Bible texts found in Leviticus 25, Deuteronomy 23, Psalm 15:5, and Ezekiel 18. Calvin addressed this question by distinguishing loans to the poor and business loans to those themselves trying to gain more wealth. He said that the Bible texts about the evils of usuary refer to misusing a poor person’s need to gain more wealth ourselves. So Calvin came up with the following kinds of guidelines: i) We should make a portion of our wealth, time and skills available to help those in need. ii) We should not use our money for gaining more wealth until we have done our Christian charity to help others freely. iii) If we ask interest on a loan, it must clearly be a business loan and not a loan to help the impoverished. iv) We should not set conditions for others on loans and financial matters that we ourselves would not want to accept. v) We must seek to act according to God’s standards of fairness and justice, rather than according to the worldly standards of greed and cheating. vi) Business loans are not merely private affairs, for the amount of interest can affect other consumers and market prices. vii) We have a duty to reform economic life, and not pursue maximization of profits at the cost of other factors (which 60 Siirns|mt<iki I'ii/.dii
