Humanism And Calvinism

Across early-modern Europe the confessional struggles of the Reformation touched virtually every aspect of civic life; and nowhere was this more apparent than in the universities, the seedbed of political and ecclesiastical society. Focussing on events in Scotland, this book reveals how established universities found themselves at the centre of a struggle by competing forces trying to promote their own political, religious or educational beliefs, and under competition from new institutions. It surveys the transformation of Scotland's medieval and Catholic university system into a greatly-expanded Protestant one in the decades following the Scottish Reformation of 1560. Simultaneously the study assesses the contribution of the continentally-educated religious reformer Andrew Melville to this process in the context of broader European social and cultural developments - including growing lay interest in education (as a result of renaissance humanism), and the involvement of royal and civic government as well as the new Protestant Kirk in university expansion and reform. Through systematic use of largely neglected manuscript sources, the book offers fresh perspectives on both Andrew Melville and the development of Scottish higher education post-1560. As well as providing a detailed picture of events in Scotland, it contributes to our growing understanding of the role played by higher education in shaping society across Europe.

To any reader who has studied Calvin, then turned to the so-called Calvinist tradition, the absence of Calvin's name and, more importantly, of some of his characteristic emphases from the writings of the majority of the theologians who took his name is a striking fact. That some profound transformation of Calvin's ideas, despite the ubiquity of the 'Institutio', took place in the generation after his death is incontrovertible. What has long passed, for example, as the Calvinist doctrine of predestination, whether among its proponents or opponents, is not what one reads in Calvin himself. This work does much to trace the complex process whereby a scholastic, metaphysical edifice replaced the dynamic, experiential, historically, and exegetically grounded faith enunciated by Calvin himself. Armstrong writes in his Introduction, It is hoped, then, that this study will both provide an introduction to the intellectual trends within French Calvinism, to the teaching of Amyraut and the relation of his thought to that of Calvin, and furnish an insight into the removal of orthodox Calvinist thought from Calvin into a narrower, more defensive, more intolerant, and more impervious system. Armstrong's study is a full, careful, and engrossing one. It is to be commended not only to readers of theological interest, but to all persons interested in intellectual history, and especially to Christians of the Reformed tradition who are seeking to understand their intellectual and spiritual roots. from a review by F. L. Battles, Theology Today

2009 is the 500th anniversary of the birth of Calvin, the Reformed theologian whose legacy has played such an important role in the shaping of modern South Africa. The popular understanding of him as grim moralist, proponent of predestination and a tyrannical God is a caricature, but one that does spring from aspects of Calvin's legacy. In this book, De Gruchy attempts to restate the Reformed tradition as a transforming force, one that opposed slavery and apartheid and that participated in the struggle for liberation and transformation in this country. De Gruchy considers Christian humanism to be an alternative to both Christian fundamentalism and secularism, as "being a Christian is all about being truly human in common with the rest of humanity," and has come to the conclusion that there is much to retrieve and celebrate in the Reformed tradition that is of importance for the ecumenical church and global society in the 21st century. The "evangelical" element in the title refers to the literal meaning of the word - "good news" - which is at the heart of being both Christian and human.

This book surveys the transformation of Scotland's medieval and Catholic university system into a greatly-expanded Protestant one in the decades following the Scottish Reformation of 1560. It also assesses the contribution of religious reformer Andrew Melville to this process in the context of broader social and cultural developments. Through systematic use of largely neglected manuscript sources, the book offers fresh perspectives on both Andrew Melville and the development of Scottish higher education post-1560.

Scholars have associated Calvinism with print and literary cultures, with republican, liberal, and participatory political cultures, with cultures of violence and vandalism, enlightened cultures, cultures of social discipline, secular cultures, and with the emergence of capitalism. Reflecting on these arguments, the essays in this volume recognize that Reformed Protestantism did not develop as a uniform tradition but varied across space and time. The authors demonstrate that multiple iterations of Calvinism developed and impacted upon differing European communities that were experiencing social and cultural transition. They show how these different forms of Calvinism were shaped by their adherents and opponents, and by the divergent political and social contexts in which they were articulated and performed. Recognizing that Reformed Protestantism developed in a variety of cultural settings, this volume analyzes the ways in which it related to the multi-confessional cultural environment that prevailed in Europe after the Reformation.

The author contends that the traditional views of puritan social thought have done a great injustice to the intellectual history of the 16th-century. Margo Todd reveals the puritans to be the heirs to a complex intellectual legacy.