Women Freedom And Calvin

Analyzes John Calvin's doctrine of Christian freedom, describes his teachings about women's public role, and examines its pertinence to women's ordination

Calvin encouragea l'éducation féminine et, avec les autres réformateurs, réévalua positivement le mariage. Cette étude s'attache à la place de la femme dans son exégèse tant vétéro- que néo-testamentaire, en la comparant à celle de ses prédécesseurs, Augustin, Chrysostome et l'Ambrosiaster surtout, et de ses contemporains, Luther, Bullinger, Musculus et Pierre Martyr Vermigli.

John Calvin’s perspectives on the nature, calling, and destiny of the human being is scattered all over his extensive corpus of writings. This book attempts to provide an accurate account of the main theological motifs that governed Calvin’s doctrine on the human being, while keeping in mind variable factors such as the historical development of Calvin’s thought, the pastoral and often unsystematic orientation of his theology, and the formative impact doctrinal controversies had on his thoughts. The contribution focuses specifically on Calvin’s understanding of the created structure of the human being, her sinful nature, the human being’s union with Christ, the limits of human reason, the anthropological roots of human society and gender. The primary aim is to make the original Calvin speak. But the contribution also addresses some of the most recent debates on Calvin’s theology and identifies those impulses in his theological anthropology that bear potential for modern reflections on human existence. Like most of us, Calvin was a child of his time. However, his intellectual legacy endures and readers may well find his thoughts on the human being surprisingly refreshing and stimulating for modern anthropological and social discourses.

This book is the result of intensive, multiyear international and interdisciplinary cooperation. From many perspectives, the book's contributors address themes of freedom and slavery; self-determination and concepts of freedom; God-given and imprinted freedom; freedom as an ethos of belonging and solidarity; and relations between freedom, human rights, and theological orientation.

The chapters in this volume were originally presented as papers at the 2009 colloquium of the Calvin Studies Society, held to mark the five-hundredth anniversary of John Calvin's birth. They offer a fresh evaluation of Calvin's ideas and achievements, and describe how others--from his contemporaries to the present--have responded to or built upon the Calvinist heritage. This book dispels popular misperceptions about Calvin and Calvinism, allowing readers to make a more accurate assessment of Calvin's importance as a theologian and historical figure. Contributions address areas in which Calvin's legacy has been most controversial or misunderstood, such as his attitude toward women, his advocacy of church discipline, and his understanding of predestination. These essays also give a nuanced picture of the impact of Calvinism by taking account of both the positive and negative reactions to it from the early modern period to the present. Part 1: Calvin: The Man and His Work Part 2: Appeal of and Responses to Calvinism Part 3: The Impact of Calvin's Ideas

The dawn of humanism in the Renaissance presented privileged women with great opportunities for personal and intellectual growth. Sexual and social roles still determined the extent to which a woman could pursue education and intellectual accomplishment, but it was possible through the composition of poetry or prose to temporarily offset hierarchies of gender, to become equal to men in the act of creation. Edited by Katharina M. Wilson, this anthology introduces the works of twenty-five women writers of the Renaissance and Reformation, among them Marie Dentière, a Swiss evangelical reformer whose writings were so successful they were banned during her lifetime; Gaspara Stampa, a cultivated courtesan of Venetian aristocratic circles who wrote lyric poetry that has earned her comparisons to Michelangelo and Tasso; Hélisenne de Crenne, a French aristocrat who embodied the true spirit of the Renaissance feminist, writing both as novelist and as champion of her sex; Helene Kottanner, Austrian chambermaid to Queen Elizabeth of Hungary whose memoirs recall her daring theft of the Holy Crown of Saint Stephen for her esteemed mistress; and Lady Mary Sidney Wroth, the first Englishwoman known to write a full-length work of fiction and compose a significant body of secular poetry. Offering a seldom seen counterpoint to literature written by men, Women Writers of the Renaissance and Reformation presents prose and poetry that have never before appeared in English, as well as writings that have rarely been available to the nonspecialist. The women whose writings are included here are united by a keen awareness of the social limitations placed upon their creative potential, of the strained relationship between their gender and their work. This concern invests their writings with a distinctive voice--one that carries the echoes of a male aesthetic while boldly declaring battle against it.

What does it mean to be Reformed Christians in the world today ? and in Africa and South Africa? What does it mean to commemorate the legacy of John Calvin (1509-1564) after 500 years ? in a modern world characterised by democracy, by popular notions of human dignity and human rights, by worldwide struggles for individual freedoms and for social justice, by a global economy in crisis ? when social historians argue about the lasting contribution of Calvin and his followers precisely with respect to all these modern phenomena? The 28 essays by Dirkie Smit selected for this volume deal with such questions.

John Calvin's first catechism--originally written in French in 1537 and then in Latin in 1538--provides a valuable, clear, and concise introduction to his thought. Now for the first time, readers have available Ford Lewis Battles' English translation of the 1538 Latin edition and a current discussion of it in the same volume. This commentary on the first catechism also utilizes other sources such as Calvin's Commentaries and Institutes, as well as the latest Calvin research. This volume is an excellent introduction to Calvin's theology and will be useful as a text for college and seminary courses as well as church discussion groups. The Columbia Series in Reformed Theology represents a joint commitment by Columbia Theological Seminary and Westminster John Knox Press to provide theological resources from the Reformed tradition for the church today. This series examines theological and ethical issues that confront church and society in our own particular time and place.