Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of
Protestantism
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
that follows the
theological tradition and forms of
Christian practice set down by
John Calvin and other
Reformation-era theologians
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the s ...
. It emphasizes the
sovereignty of God and the
authority of the
Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus ...
.
Calvinists broke from the
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
in the 16th century. Calvinists differ from
Lutherans (another major branch of the Reformation) on the
spiritual real presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper,
theories of worship, the purpose and meaning of baptism, and the
use of God's law for believers, among other points.
The label ''Calvinism'' can be misleading, because the religious tradition it denotes has always been diverse, with a wide range of influences rather than a single founder; however, almost all of them drew heavily from the writings of
Augustine of Hippo twelve hundred years prior to the Reformation.
The namesake and founder of the movement, French reformer John Calvin, embraced Protestant beliefs in the late 1520s or early 1530s, as the earliest notions of later Reformed tradition were already espoused by
Huldrych Zwingli. The movement was first called ''Calvinism'' in the early 1550s by Lutherans who opposed it. Many in the tradition find it either a nondescript or inappropriate term and prefer the term ''Reformed''. The most important Reformed theologians include Calvin, Zwingli,
Martin Bucer,
William Farel,
Heinrich Bullinger,
Peter Martyr Vermigli,
Theodore Beza, and
John Knox. In the twentieth century,
Abraham Kuyper,
Herman Bavinck,
B. B. Warfield,
J. Gresham Machen
John Gresham Machen (; 1881–1937) was an American Presbyterian New Testament scholar and educator in the early 20th century. He was the Professor of New Testament at Princeton Seminary between 1906 and 1929, and led a revolt against modernist ...
,
Louis Berkhof,
Karl Barth,
Martyn Lloyd-Jones,
Cornelius Van Til
Cornelius Van Til (May 3, 1895 – April 17, 1987) was a Dutch-American reformed philosopher and theologian, who is credited as being the originator of modern presuppositional apologetics.
A graduate of Calvin College, Van Til later received ...
,
R. C. Sproul, and
J. I. Packer were influential. Contemporary Reformed theologians include
Albert Mohler
Richard Albert Mohler Jr. (born October 19, 1959) is an American evangelical theologian, the ninth president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, and host of the podcast ''The Briefing'', where he daily analyzes ...
,
John MacArthur John MacArthur or Macarthur may refer to:
*J. Roderick MacArthur (1920–1984), American businessman
* John MacArthur (American pastor) (born 1939), American evangelical minister, televangelist, and author
* John Macarthur (priest), 20th-century pr ...
,
Tim Keller,
John Piper,
Joel Beeke, and
Michael Horton.
The Reformed tradition is largely represented by the
Continental Reformed,
Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their n ...
,
Evangelical Anglican,
Congregationalist, and
Reformed Baptist
Reformed Baptists (sometimes known as Particular Baptists or Calvinistic Baptists) are Baptists that hold to a Calvinist soteriology (salvation). The first Calvinist Baptist church was formed in the 1630s. The 1689 Baptist Confession of Fait ...
denominations. Several forms of
ecclesiastical polity are exercised by a group of Reformed churches, including
presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their n ...
,
congregationalist, and some
episcopal. The biggest Reformed association is the
World Communion of Reformed Churches, with more than 100 million members in 211 member denominations around the world. More conservative Reformed federations include the
World Reformed Fellowship and the
International Conference of Reformed Churches.
Etymology
Calvinism is named after
John Calvin and was first used by a Lutheran theologian in 1552. Even though a common practice of the Roman Catholic Church was to name what it viewed as heresy after its founder, the term originated in Lutheran circles. Calvin denounced the designation himself:
Despite its negative connotation, this designation became increasingly popular in order to distinguish Calvinists from Lutherans and newer Protestant branches that emerged later. The vast majority of churches that trace their history back to Calvin (including Presbyterians, Congregationalists, and other Calvinist churches) do not use it themselves because the designation "Reformed" is more generally accepted and preferred, especially in the
English-speaking world
Speakers of English are also known as Anglophones, and the countries where English is natively spoken by the majority of the population are termed the '' Anglosphere''. Over two billion people speak English , making English the largest languag ...
. These churches claim to be—in accordance with John Calvin's own words—"renewed accordingly with the true order of gospel".
Since the
Arminian controversy
Arminianism is a branch of Protestantism based on the theological ideas of the Dutch Reformed theologian Jacobus Arminius (1560–1609) and his historic supporters known as Remonstrants. Dutch Arminianism was originally articulated in the ''Rem ...
, the Reformed tradition—as a branch of
Protestantism
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
distinguished from Lutheranism—divided into two groups:
Arminians and Calvinists. However, it is now rare to call Arminians a part of the Reformed tradition, with the majority of Arminians today being members of the
Methodist Churches,
General Baptist Churches or Pentecostal churches. While the Reformed theological tradition addresses all of the traditional topics of Christian theology, the word ''Calvinism'' is sometimes used to refer to particular Calvinist views on
soteriology and
predestination
Predestination, in theology, is the doctrine that all events have been willed by God, usually with reference to the eventual fate of the individual soul. Explanations of predestination often seek to address the paradox of free will, whereby ...
, which are summarized in part by the
Five Points of Calvinism. Some have also argued that Calvinism as a whole stresses the
sovereignty or rule of God in all things including salvation.
History
The first wave of reformist theologians include
Huldrych Zwingli (1484–1531),
Martin Bucer (1491–1551),
Wolfgang Capito (1478–1541),
John Oecolampadius
Johannes Oecolampadius (also ''Œcolampadius'', in German also Oekolampadius, Oekolampad; 1482 – 24 November 1531) was a German Protestant reformer in the Calvinist tradition from the Electoral Palatinate. He was the leader of the Protestant ...
(1482–1531), and
Guillaume Farel (1489 – 1565). While from diverse academic backgrounds, their work already contained key themes within Reformed theology, especially the priority of
scripture as a source of authority. Scripture was also viewed as a unified whole, which led to a
covenantal theology
Covenant theology (also known as covenantalism, federal theology, or federalism) is a conceptual overview and interpretive framework for understanding the overall structure of the Bible. It uses the theological concept of a covenant as an org ...
of the
sacraments of
baptism
Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost ...
and the
Lord's Supper
The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was institut ...
as visible signs of the
covenant of grace. Another shared perspective was their denial of the
Real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Each understood
salvation to be by grace alone and affirmed a doctrine of
unconditional election, the teaching that some people are chosen by God to be saved.
Martin Luther and his successor,
Philipp Melanchthon were significant influences on these theologians, and to a larger extent, those who followed. The doctrine of
justification by faith alone
''Justificatio sola fide'' (or simply ''sola fide''), meaning justification by faith alone, is a soteriological doctrine in Christian theology commonly held to distinguish the Lutheran and Reformed traditions of Protestantism, among others, f ...
, also known as ''
sola fide'', was a direct inheritance from Luther.
The second generation featured
John Calvin (1509–1564),
Heinrich Bullinger (1504–1575),
Wolfgang Musculus (1497–1563),
Peter Martyr Vermigli (1500–1562), and
Andreas Hyperius (1511–1564). Written between 1536 and 1539, Calvin's ''
Institutes of the Christian Religion'' was one of the most influential works of the era. Toward the middle of the 16th century, these beliefs were formed into one consistent
creed, which would shape the future definition of the Reformed faith. The 1549 ''
Consensus Tigurinus'' unified Zwingli and Bullinger's
memorialist
Memorialism is the belief held by some Christian denominations that the elements of bread and wine (or juice) in the Eucharist (more often referred to as "the Lord's Supper" by memorialists) are purely symbolic representations of the body and ...
theology of the Eucharist, which taught that it was simply a reminder of Christ's death, with Calvin's view of it as a
means of grace
The means of grace in Christian theology are those things (the ''means'') through which God gives grace. Just what this grace entails is interpreted in various ways: generally speaking, some see it as God blessing humankind so as to sustain and em ...
with Christ actually present, though spiritually rather than bodily as in Catholic doctrine. The document demonstrates the diversity as well as unity in early Reformed theology, giving it a stability that enabled it to spread rapidly throughout Europe. This stands in marked contrast to the bitter controversy experienced by Lutherans prior to the 1579
Formula of Concord.
Due to Calvin's missionary work in France, his programme of reform eventually reached the French-speaking provinces of the Netherlands. Calvinism was adopted in the
Electorate of the Palatinate
The Electoral Palatinate (german: Kurpfalz) or the Palatinate (), officially the Electorate of the Palatinate (), was a state that was part of the Holy Roman Empire. The electorate had its origins under the rulership of the Counts Palatine o ...
under
Frederick III, which led to the formulation of the
Heidelberg Catechism in 1563. This and the
Belgic Confession were adopted as confessional standards in the
first synod of the
Dutch Reformed Church in 1571. In 1573,
William the Silent joined the Calvinist Church. Calvinism was declared the official religion of the
Kingdom of Navarre by the queen regnant
Jeanne d'Albret after her conversion in 1560. Leading divines, either Calvinist or those sympathetic to Calvinism, settled in England, including Martin Bucer,
Peter Martyr, and
Jan Łaski, as did
John Knox in
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...
. During the
First English Civil War, English and Scots
Presbyterians produced the
Westminster Confession, which became the confessional standard for Presbyterians in the English-speaking world. Having established itself in Europe, the movement continued to spread to areas including
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...
,
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...
and
Korea.
While Calvin did not live to see the foundation of his work grow into an international movement, his death allowed his ideas to spread far beyond their city of origin and their borders and to establish their own distinct character.
Spread
Although much of Calvin's work was in
Geneva
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situa ...
, his publications spread his ideas of a ''correctly'' Reformed church to many parts of Europe. In Switzerland, some cantons are still Reformed, and some are Catholic. Calvinism became the dominant doctrine within the
Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland.
The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Reformation of 1560, when it split from the Catholic Church ...
, the
Dutch Republic
The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands ( Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiograph ...
, some communities in
Flanders
Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to cultu ...
, and parts of Germany, especially those adjacent to the Netherlands in the
Palatinate,
Kassel and
Lippe
Lippe () is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Herford, Minden-Lübbecke, Höxter, Paderborn, Gütersloh, and district-free Bielefeld, which forms the region Ostwestfalen-Lippe.
...
, spread by
Olevianus and
Zacharias Ursinus among others. Protected by the local nobility, Calvinism became a significant religion in Eastern Hungary and Hungarian-speaking areas of
Transylvania
Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the A ...
. Today there are about 3.5 million Hungarian Reformed people worldwide.
It was influential in France, Lithuania and Poland before being mostly erased during the
Counter Reformation. In Poland, a faction called the
Polish Brethren broke away from Calvinism on January 22, 1556, when
Piotr of Goniądz
Piotr of Goniądz ( pl, Piotr z Goniądza, ; Latin: Gonesius; c. 1525–1573) was a Polish political and religious writer, thinker and one of the spiritual leaders of the Polish Brethren.
Life
Little is known of his early life. He was born to a p ...
, a Polish student, spoke out against the
doctrine of the Trinity
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the ...
during the general synod of the Reformed churches of Poland held in the village of
Secemin. Calvinism gained some popularity in
Scandinavia
Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and S ...
, especially Sweden, but was rejected in favor of
Lutheranism
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...
after the
Synod of Uppsala
The Uppsala Synod in 1593 was the most important synod of the Lutheran Church of Sweden. Sweden had gone through its Protestant Reformation and broken with Roman Catholicism in the 1520s, but an official confession of faith had never been declared. ...
in 1593.
Many 17th century European settlers in the
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...
were Calvinist in doctrine, who emigrated because of arguments over church structure, like the
Pilgrim Fathers, or were forced into exile, such as the French
Huguenots. Dutch and French Calvinist settlers were also among the first European colonizers of South Africa, beginning in the 17th century, who became known as
Boers or
Afrikaners
Afrikaners () are a South African ethnic group descended from predominantly Dutch settlers first arriving at the Cape of Good Hope in the 17th and 18th centuries.Entry: Cape Colony. ''Encyclopædia Britannica Volume 4 Part 2: Brain to Cas ...
.
Sierra Leone was largely colonized by Calvinist settlers from
Nova Scotia, many of whom were
Black Loyalists who fought for the
British Empire
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...
during the
American War of Independence.
John Marrant had organized a congregation there under the auspices of the
Huntingdon Connection. Some of the largest Calvinist communions were started by 19th- and 20th-century
missionaries. Especially large are those in
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gui ...
,
Korea and
Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
. In
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
there are 20,000
Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their n ...
congregations with about 9–10 million church members, scattered in more than 100 Presbyterian denominations. In South Korea,
Presbyterianism is the largest Christian denomination.
A 2011 report of the
Pew Forum on Religious and Public Life estimated that members of Presbyterian or Reformed churches make up 7% of the estimated 801 million Protestants globally, or approximately 56 million people.
Though the broadly defined Reformed faith is much larger, as it constitutes Congregationalist (0.5%), most of the United and uniting churches (unions of different denominations) (7.2%) and most likely some of the other Protestant denominations (38.2%). All three are distinct categories from Presbyterian or Reformed (7%) in this report.
The Reformed family of churches is one of the largest Christian denominations. According to adherents.com the Reformed/Presbyterian/Congregational/United churches represent 75 million believers worldwide.
The
World Communion of Reformed Churches, which includes some
United Churches
A united church, also called a uniting church, is a church formed from the merger or other form of church union of two or more different Protestant Christian denominations.
Historically, unions of Protestant churches were enforced by the state ...
(most of these are primarily Reformed; see ''
Uniting and united churches
A united church, also called a uniting church, is a church formed from the merger or other form of church union of two or more different Protestant Christian denominations.
Historically, unions of Protestant churches were enforced by the state ...
'' for details), has 80 million believers.
WCRC is the third largest Christian communion in the world, after the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Churches.
Many conservative Reformed churches which are strongly Calvinistic formed the
World Reformed Fellowship which has about 70 member denominations. Most are not part of the World Communion of Reformed Churches because of its ecumenical attire. The International Conference of Reformed Churches is another conservative association.
Church of Tuvalu
The Congregational Christian Church of Tuvalu ( Tuvaluan: ''Te Ekalesia Kelisiano Tuvalu'', EKT), commonly the Church of Tuvalu, is a Christian Church which is the state church of Tuvalu, although this status merely entitles it to "the privilege ...
is an
officially established state church in the Calvinist tradition.
Theology
Revelation and scripture
Reformed theologians believe that God communicates knowledge of himself to people through the Word of God. People are not able to know anything about God except through this self-revelation. (With the exception of general revelation of God; "His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse" (Romans 1:20).) Speculation about anything which God has not revealed through his Word is not warranted. The knowledge people have of God is different from that which they have of anything else because God is
infinite, and finite people are incapable of comprehending an infinite being. While the knowledge revealed by God to people is never incorrect, it is also never comprehensive.
According to Reformed theologians, God's self-revelation is always through his son
Jesus Christ
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and relig ...
, because Christ is the only mediator between God and people. Revelation of God through Christ comes through two basic channels. The first is
creation
Creation may refer to:
Religion
*''Creatio ex nihilo'', the concept that matter was created by God out of nothing
*Creation myth, a religious story of the origin of the world and how people first came to inhabit it
*Creationism, the belief that ...
and
providence
Providence often refers to:
* Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion
* Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity
* Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...
, which is God's creating and continuing to work in the world. This action of God gives everyone knowledge about God, but this knowledge is only sufficient to make people culpable for their sin; it does not include knowledge of the gospel. The second channel through which God reveals himself is
redemption, which is the gospel of
salvation from condemnation which is punishment for sin.
In Reformed theology, the Word of God takes several forms. Jesus Christ himself is the Word Incarnate. The prophecies about him said to be found in the
Old Testament and the ministry of the
apostles
An apostle (), in its literal sense, is an emissary, from Ancient Greek ἀπόστολος (''apóstolos''), literally "one who is sent off", from the verb ἀποστέλλειν (''apostéllein''), "to send off". The purpose of such sending ...
who saw him and communicated his message are also the Word of God. Further, the
preaching of ministers about God is the very Word of God because God is considered to be speaking through them. God also speaks through human writers in the
Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus ...
, which is composed of texts set apart by God for self-revelation. Reformed theologians emphasize the Bible as a uniquely important means by which God communicates with people. People gain knowledge of God from the Bible which cannot be gained in any other way.
Reformed theologians affirm that the Bible is true, but differences emerge among them over the meaning and extent of its truthfulness. Conservative followers of the
Princeton theologians take the view that the Bible is true and
inerrant, or incapable of error or falsehood, in every place. This view is very similar to that of
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
orthodoxy as well as modern
Evangelicalism. Another view, influenced by the teaching of
Karl Barth and
neo-orthodoxy
In Christianity, Neo-orthodoxy or Neoorthodoxy, also known as theology of crisis and dialectical theology, was a theological movement developed in the aftermath of the First World War. The movement was largely a reaction against doctrines o ...
, is found in the
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s
Confession of 1967
The Confession of 1967 is a confession of faith of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), abbreviated PC(USA). It was written as a modern statement of the faith for the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (UPCUSA), the "northern ...
. Those who take this view believe the Bible to be the primary source of our knowledge of God, but also that some parts of the Bible may be false, not witnesses to Christ, and not normative for today's church. In this view, Christ is the revelation of God, and the scriptures witness to this revelation rather than being the revelation itself.
Covenant theology
Reformed theologians use the concept of covenant to describe the way God enters fellowship with people in history. The concept of covenant is so prominent in Reformed theology that Reformed theology as a whole is sometimes called "covenant theology". However, sixteenth and seventeenth-century theologians developed a particular theological system called "
covenant theology" or "federal theology" which many conservative Reformed churches continue to affirm today. This framework orders God's life with people primarily in two covenants: the covenant of works and the covenant of grace.
The covenant of works is made with
Adam and Eve in the
Garden of Eden. The terms of the covenant are that God provides a blessed life in the garden on condition that Adam and Eve obey God's law perfectly. Because Adam and Eve broke the covenant by eating the
forbidden fruit, they became subject to death and were banished from the garden. This sin was passed down to all mankind because all people are said to be in Adam as a covenantal or "federal" head. Federal theologians usually infer that Adam and Eve would have gained immortality had they obeyed perfectly.
A second covenant, called the covenant of grace, is said to have been made immediately following Adam and Eve's sin. In it, God graciously offers salvation from death on condition of faith in God. This covenant is administered in different ways throughout the Old and New Testaments, but retains the substance of being free of a requirement of perfect obedience.
Through the influence of Karl Barth, many contemporary Reformed theologians have discarded the covenant of works, along with other concepts of federal theology. Barth saw the covenant of works as disconnected from Christ and the gospel, and rejected the idea that God works with people in this way. Instead, Barth argued that God always interacts with people under the covenant of grace, and that the covenant of grace is free of all conditions whatsoever. Barth's theology and that which follows him has been called "monocovenantal" as opposed to the "bi-covenantal" scheme of classical federal theology. Conservative contemporary Reformed theologians, such as
John Murray, have also rejected the idea of covenants based on law rather than grace.
Michael Horton, however, has defended the covenant of works as combining principles of law and love.
God
For the most part, the Reformed tradition did not modify the medieval consensus on the
doctrine of God
God in Christianity is believed to be the eternal, supreme being who created and preserves all things. Christians believe in a monotheistic conception of God, which is both transcendent (wholly independent of, and removed from, the material ...
. God's character is described primarily using three adjectives: eternal, infinite, and unchangeable. Reformed theologians such as
Shirley Guthrie Shirley C. Guthrie Jr. (9 October 1927 – 23 October 2004) was a minister of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and J.B. Green Professor of Systematic Theology at Columbia Theological Seminary for nearly 40 years. He was well known for his book, ''Chris ...
have proposed that rather than conceiving of God in terms of his attributes and freedom to do as he pleases, the doctrine of God is to be based on God's work in history and his freedom to live with and empower people.
Traditionally, Reformed theologians have also followed the medieval tradition going back to before the early church councils of
Nicaea
Nicaea, also known as Nicea or Nikaia (; ; grc-gre, Νίκαια, ) was an ancient Greek city in Bithynia, where located in northwestern Anatolia and is primarily known as the site of the First and Second Councils of Nicaea (the first and s ...
and
Chalcedon on the doctrine of the
Trinity. God is affirmed to be one God in three persons:
Father,
Son
A son is a male offspring; a boy or a man in relation to his parents. The female counterpart is a daughter. From a biological perspective, a son constitutes a first degree relative.
Social issues
In pre-industrial societies and some curren ...
, and
Holy Spirit. The Son (Christ) is held to be eternally begotten by the Father and the
Holy Spirit eternally proceeding from the Father and Son. However, contemporary theologians have been critical of aspects of Western views here as well. Drawing on the
Eastern tradition, these Reformed theologians have proposed a "
social trinitarianism" where the persons of the Trinity only exist in their life together as persons-in-relationship. Contemporary Reformed confessions such as the
Barmen Confession
__NOTOC__
The Barmen Declaration or the Theological Declaration of Barmen 1934 (German: ''Die Barmer Theologische Erklärung'') was a document adopted by Christians in Nazi Germany who opposed the German Christian movement. In the view of the d ...
and Brief Statement of Faith of the Presbyterian Church (USA) have avoided language about the attributes of God and have emphasized his work of reconciliation and empowerment of people. Feminist theologian
Letty Russell
Letty Mandeville Russell (September 20, 1929 – July 12, 2007) was a feminist theologian, professor, and prolific author. She was a member of the first class of women admitted to Harvard Divinity School, and one of the first women ordained in th ...
used the image of partnership for the persons of the Trinity. According to Russell, thinking this way encourages Christians to interact in terms of fellowship rather than reciprocity. Conservative Reformed theologian Michael Horton, however, has argued that social trinitarianism is untenable because it abandons the essential unity of God in favor of a community of separate beings.
Christ and atonement
Reformed theologians affirm the historic Christian belief that
Christ
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and relig ...
is eternally
one person with a divine and a human nature. Reformed Christians have especially emphasized that Christ truly
became human so that people could be saved. Christ's human nature has been a point of contention between Reformed and Lutheran
Christology
In Christianity, Christology (from the Greek grc, Χριστός, Khristós, label=none and grc, -λογία, -logia, label=none), translated literally from Greek as "the study of Christ", is a branch of theology that concerns Jesus. Diff ...
. In accord with the belief that finite humans cannot comprehend infinite divinity, Reformed theologians hold that Christ's human body cannot be in multiple locations at the same time. Because
Lutheran
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...
s believe that Christ is bodily
present in the Eucharist, they hold that Christ is bodily present in many locations simultaneously. For Reformed Christians, such a belief denies that Christ actually became human. Some contemporary Reformed theologians have moved away from the traditional language of one person in two natures, viewing it as unintelligible to contemporary people. Instead, theologians tend to emphasize Jesus' context and particularity as a first-century Jew.
John Calvin and many Reformed theologians who followed him describe Christ's work of redemption in terms of
three offices Three Offices, or ''Samsa'' (삼사·三司), is a collective name for three government offices in Joseon Dynasty that functioned as major organ of press and provided checks and balance on the king and the officials. These were Office of Inspector ...
:
prophet
In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the ...
,
priest, and
king
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen regnant, queen, which title is also given to the queen consort, consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contempora ...
. Christ is said to be a prophet in that he teaches perfect doctrine, a priest in that
he intercedes to the Father on believers' behalf and offered himself as a sacrifice for sin, and a king in that he rules the church and fights on believers' behalf. The threefold office links the work of Christ to God's work in
ancient Israel. Many, but not all, Reformed theologians continue to make use of the threefold office as a framework because of its emphasis on the connection of Christ's work to Israel. They have, however, often reinterpreted the meaning of each of the offices. For example, Karl Barth interpreted Christ's prophetic office in terms of political engagement on behalf of the poor.
Christians believe
Jesus' death
The crucifixion and death of Jesus occurred in 1st-century Judea, most likely in AD 30 or AD 33. It is described in the four canonical gospels, referred to in the New Testament epistles, attested to by other ancient sources, and consider ...
and
resurrection makes it possible for believers to attain forgiveness for sin and reconciliation with God through the
atonement. Reformed Protestants generally subscribe to a particular view of the atonement called
penal substitutionary atonement
Penal substitution (sometimes, esp. in older writings, called forensic theory)D. Smith, The atonement in the light of history and the modern spirit' (London: Hodder and Stoughton), p. 96-7: 'THE FORENSIC THEORY...each successive period of history ...
, which explains Christ's death as a sacrificial payment for sin. Christ is believed to have died in place of the believer, who is accounted righteous as a result of this sacrificial payment.
Sin
In Christian theology, people are created good and in the
image of God but have become corrupted by
sin, which causes them to be imperfect and overly self-interested. Reformed Christians, following the tradition of
Augustine of Hippo, believe that this corruption of human nature was brought on by Adam and Eve's first sin, a doctrine called
original sin. Although earlier Christian authors taught the elements of physical death, moral weakness, and a sin propensity within original sin, Augustine was the first Christian to add the concept of inherited guilt (''reatus'') from Adam whereby every infant is born eternally damned and humans lack any residual ability to respond to God. Reformed theologians emphasize that this sinfulness affects all of a person's nature, including their will. This view, that sin so dominates people that they are unable to avoid sin, has been called
total depravity. As a consequence, every one of their descendants inherited a stain of corruption and depravity. This condition, innate to all humans, is known in Christian theology as ''original sin''. Calvin thought original sin was “a hereditary corruption and depravity of our nature, extending to all the parts of the soul.” Calvin asserted people were so warped by original sin that “everything which our mind conceives, meditates, plans, and resolves, is always evil.” The depraved condition of every human being is not the result of sins people commit during their lives. Instead, before we are born, while we are in our mother's womb, “we are in God's sight defiled and polluted.” Calvin thought people were justly condemned to hell because their corrupted state is “naturally hateful to God.”
In colloquial English, the term "total depravity" can be easily misunderstood to mean that people are absent of any goodness or unable to do any good. However the Reformed teaching is actually that while people continue to bear God's image and may do things that appear outwardly good, their sinful intentions affect all of their nature and actions so that they are not pleasing to God. From a Calvinist viewpoint, a person who has sinned was predestined to sin, and no matter what a person does, they will go to Heaven or Hell based on that determination. There is no repenting from sin since the most evil thing is the sinner's own actions, thoughts, and words.
Some contemporary theologians in the Reformed tradition, such as those associated with the PC (USA)'s Confession of 1967, have emphasized the social character of human sinfulness. These theologians have sought to bring attention to issues of environmental, economic, and political justice as areas of human life that have been affected by sin.
Salvation
Reformed theologians, along with other Protestants, believe salvation from punishment for sin is to be given to all those who have
faith in Christ. Faith is not purely intellectual, but involves trust in God's promise to save. Protestants do not hold there to be any other requirement for salvation, but that
faith alone
''Justificatio sola fide'' (or simply ''sola fide''), meaning justification by faith alone, is a soteriological doctrine in Christian theology commonly held to distinguish the Lutheran and Reformed traditions of Protestantism, among others, f ...
is sufficient.
Justification is the part of salvation where God pardons the sin of those who believe in Christ. It is historically held by Protestants to be the most important article of Christian faith, though more recently it is sometimes given less importance out of
ecumenical concerns. People are not on their own able even to fully
repent of their sin or prepare themselves to repent because of their sinfulness. Therefore, justification is held to arise solely from God's free and gracious act.
Sanctification is the part of salvation in which God makes the believer holy, by enabling them to exercise greater love for God and for other people. The
good works accomplished by believers as they are sanctified are considered to be the necessary outworking of the believer's salvation, though they do not cause the believer to be saved. Sanctification, like justification, is by faith, because doing good works is simply living as the son of God one has become.
Predestination
Reformed theologians teach that sin so affects human nature that they are unable even to exercise faith in Christ by their own will. While people are said to retain will, in that they willfully sin, they are unable not to sin because of the corruption of their nature due to original sin. Reformed Christians believe that God
predestined some people to be saved and others were predestined to eternal damnation. This
choice by God to save some is held to be unconditional and not based on any characteristic or action on the part of the person chosen. This view is opposed to the
Arminian view that God's
choice of whom to save is conditional or based on his foreknowledge of who would respond positively to God.
Karl Barth reinterpreted the Reformed doctrine of predestination to apply only to Christ. Individual people are only said to be elected through their being in Christ. Reformed theologians who followed Barth, including
Jürgen Moltmann, David Migliore, and
Shirley Guthrie Shirley C. Guthrie Jr. (9 October 1927 – 23 October 2004) was a minister of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and J.B. Green Professor of Systematic Theology at Columbia Theological Seminary for nearly 40 years. He was well known for his book, ''Chris ...
, have argued that the traditional Reformed concept of predestination is speculative and have proposed alternative models. These theologians claim that a properly trinitarian doctrine emphasizes God's freedom to love all people, rather than choosing some for salvation and others for damnation. God's justice towards and condemnation of sinful people is spoken of by these theologians as out of his love for them and a desire to reconcile them to himself.
Five Points of Calvinism
Much attention surrounding Calvinism focuses on the "Five Points of Calvinism" (also called the ''doctrines of grace''). The five points have been summarized under the
acrostic TULIP. The five points are popularly said to summarize the
Canons of Dort; however, there is no historical relationship between them, and some scholars argue that their language distorts the meaning of the Canons, Calvin's theology, and the theology of 17th-century Calvinistic orthodoxy, particularly in the language of total depravity and limited atonement. The five points were more recently popularized in the 1963 booklet ''The Five Points of Calvinism Defined, Defended, Documented'' by David N. Steele and Curtis C. Thomas. The origins of the five points and the acrostic are uncertain, but they appear to be outlined in the
Counter Remonstrance of 1611 The Counter-Remonstrance of 1611 was the Dutch Reformed Churches' response to the controversial Remonstrants' Five Articles of Remonstrance, which challenged the Calvinist theology and the Reformed Confessions that the Remonstrants had sworn to uph ...
, a lesser-known Reformed reply to the Arminians, which was written prior to the Canons of Dort. The acrostic was used by
Cleland Boyd McAfee as early as circa 1905. An early printed appearance of the acrostic can be found in Loraine Boettner's 1932 book, ''The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination''.
The central assertion of TULIP is that God saves every person upon whom he has mercy, and that his efforts are not frustrated by the unrighteousness or inability of humans.
*
Total depravity (also called ''radical corruption'' or ''pervasive depravity'') asserts that as a consequence of the
fall of man into sin, every person is enslaved to sin. People are not by nature inclined to love God, but rather to serve their own interests and to reject the rule of God. Thus, all people by their own faculties are morally unable to choose to trust God for their salvation and be saved (the term "total" in this context refers to sin affecting every part of a person, not that every person is as evil as they could be). This doctrine is derived from Calvin's interpretation of
Augustine
Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Afr ...
's explanation about
Original Sin. While the phrases "totally depraved" and "utterly perverse" were used by Calvin, what was meant was the inability to save oneself from sin rather than being absent of goodness. Phrases like "total depravity" cannot be found in the Canons of Dort, and the Canons as well as later Reformed orthodox theologians arguably offer a more moderate view of the nature of fallen humanity than Calvin.
*
Unconditional election (also called ''sovereign election'' or ''unconditional grace'') asserts that God has chosen from eternity those whom he will bring to himself not based on foreseen virtue, merit, or faith in those people; rather, his choice is unconditionally grounded in his mercy alone. God has chosen from eternity to extend mercy to those he has chosen and to withhold mercy from those not chosen. Those chosen receive salvation through Christ alone. Those not chosen receive the just wrath that is warranted for their sins against God.
*
Limited atonement (also called ''definite atonement'' or ''particular redemption'') asserts that Jesus's
substitutionary atonement was definite and certain in its purpose and in what it accomplished. This implies that only the sins of the elect were
atoned for by Jesus's death. Calvinists do not believe, however, that the atonement is limited in its value or power, but rather that the atonement is limited in the sense that it is intended for some and not all. Some Calvinists have summarized this as "The atonement is sufficient for all and efficient for the elect."
*
Irresistible grace
Irresistible grace (also called effectual grace, effectual calling, or efficacious grace) is a doctrine in Christian theology particularly associated with Calvinism, which teaches that the saving grace of God is effectually applied to those ...
(also called ''effectual grace'', ''effectual calling'', or ''efficacious grace'') asserts that the saving grace of God is effectually applied to those whom he has determined to save (that is, the elect) and overcomes their resistance to obeying the call of the gospel, bringing them to a saving faith. This means that when God sovereignly purposes to save someone, that individual certainly will be saved. The doctrine holds that this purposeful influence of God's
Holy Spirit cannot be resisted, but that the Holy Spirit, "graciously causes the elect sinner to cooperate, to believe, to repent, to come freely and willingly to Christ." This is not to deny the fact that the Spirit's outward call (through the proclamation of the Gospel) can be, and often is, rejected by sinners; rather, it is that inward call which cannot be rejected.
*
Perseverance of the saints
Perseverance of the saints (also called preservation of the saints) is a Christian teaching that asserts that once a person is truly "born of God" or "regenerated" by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, they will continue doing good works and bel ...
(also called ''preservation of the saints''; the "saints" being those whom God has predestined to salvation) asserts that since God is sovereign and his will cannot be frustrated by humans or anything else, those whom God has called into communion with himself will continue in faith until the end. Those who apparently fall away either never had true faith to begin with (1 John 2:19), or, if they are saved but not presently walking in the Spirit, they will be divinely chastened (Hebrews 12:5–11) and will repent (1 John 3:6–9).
Church
Reformed Christians see the
Christian Church as the community with which God has made the covenant of grace, a promise of eternal life and relationship with God. This covenant extends to those under the "old covenant" whom God chose, beginning with
Abraham and
Sarah. The church is conceived of as both
invisible and
visible. The invisible church is the body of all believers, known only to God. The visible church is the institutional body which contains both members of the invisible church as well as those who appear to have faith in Christ, but are not truly part of God's elect.
In order to identify the visible church, Reformed theologians have spoken of certain
marks of the Church. For some, the only mark is the pure preaching of the gospel of Christ. Others, including John Calvin, also include the right administration of the
sacraments. Others, such as those following the
Scots Confession, include a third mark of rightly administered
church discipline, or exercise of censure against unrepentant sinners. These marks allowed the Reformed to identify the church based on its conformity to the Bible rather than the
Magisterium or church tradition.
Worship
Regulative principle of worship
The regulative principle of worship is a teaching shared by some Calvinists and
Anabaptists on how the Bible orders public worship. The substance of the doctrine regarding worship is that God institutes in the Scriptures everything he requires for worship in the Church and that everything else is prohibited. As the regulative principle is reflected in Calvin's own thought, it is driven by his evident antipathy toward the Roman Catholic Church and its worship practices, and it associates musical instruments with
icon
An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholic churches. They are not simply artworks; "an icon is a sacred image used in religious devotion". The mos ...
s, which he considered violations of the
Ten Commandments' prohibition of graven images.
On this basis, many early Calvinists also eschewed musical instruments and advocated
a cappella exclusive psalmody in worship, though Calvin himself allowed other scriptural songs as well as psalms,
and this practice typified
presbyterian worship and the worship of other Reformed churches for some time. The original Lord's Day service designed by John Calvin was a highly liturgical service with the Creed, Alms, Confession and Absolution, the Lord's supper, Doxologies, prayers, Psalms being sung, the Lords prayer being sung, Benedictions.
Since the 19th century, however, some of the Reformed churches have modified their understanding of the regulative principle and make use of musical instruments, believing that Calvin and his early followers went beyond the biblical requirements
and that such things are circumstances of worship requiring biblically rooted wisdom, rather than an explicit command. Despite the protestations of those who hold to a strict view of the regulative principle, today
hymn
A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn ...
s and musical instruments are in common use, as are
contemporary worship music styles with elements such as
worship bands.
Sacraments
The
Westminster Confession of Faith limits the sacraments to baptism and the Lord's Supper. Sacraments are denoted "signs and seals of the covenant of grace." Westminster speaks of "a sacramental relation, or a sacramental union, between the sign and the thing signified; whence it comes to pass that the names and effects of the one are attributed to the other." Baptism is for infant children of believers as well as believers, as it is for all the Reformed except
Baptists and some
Congregationalists. Baptism admits the baptized into the
visible church, and in it all the benefits of Christ are offered to the baptized. On the Lord's supper, Westminster takes a position between Lutheran sacramental union and Zwinglian memorialism: "the Lord's supper really and indeed, yet not carnally and corporally, but spiritually, receive and feed upon Christ crucified, and all benefits of his death: the body and blood of Christ being then not corporally or carnally in, with, or under the bread and wine; yet, as really, but spiritually, present to the faith of believers in that ordinance as the elements themselves are to their outward senses."
The
1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith
The Confession of Faith, also called the Second London Baptist Confession, was written by Particular Baptists, who held to a Calvinistic soteriology in England to give a formal expression of their Christian faith from a Baptist perspective. Bec ...
does not use the term sacrament, but describes baptism and the Lord's supper as ordinances, as do most Baptists Calvinist or otherwise. Baptism is only for those who "actually profess repentance towards God", and not for the children of believers. Baptists also insist on immersion or dipping, in contradistinction to other Reformed Christians. The Baptist Confession describes the Lord's supper as "the body and blood of Christ being then not corporally or carnally, but spiritually present to the faith of believers in that ordinance", similarly to the Westminster Confession. There is significant latitude in Baptist congregations regarding the Lord's supper, and many hold the Zwinglian view.
Logical order of God's decree
There are two schools of thought regarding the logical order of God's decree to ordain the fall of man:
supralapsarianism In Calvinist theology, lapsarianism is the study of the logical order of God's decree to ordain the fall of man in relation to his decree to save some sinners through election and condemn others through reprobation. Several opposing positions have ...
(from the
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
: ''supra'', "above", here meaning "before" + ''lapsus'', "fall") and
infralapsarianism In Calvinist theology, lapsarianism is the study of the logical order of God's decree to ordain the fall of man in relation to his decree to save some sinners through election and condemn others through reprobation. Several opposing positions have ...
(from the Latin: ''infra'', "beneath", here meaning "after" + ''lapsus'', "fall"). The former view, sometimes called "high Calvinism", argues that the Fall occurred partly to facilitate God's purpose to choose some individuals for salvation and some for damnation. Infralapsarianism, sometimes called "low Calvinism", is the position that, while the Fall was indeed planned, it was not planned with reference to who would be saved.
Supralapsarians believe that God chose which individuals to save logically prior to the decision to allow the race to fall and that the Fall serves as the means of realization of that prior decision to send some individuals to hell and others to heaven (that is, it provides the grounds of condemnation in the reprobate and the need for salvation in the elect). In contrast, infralapsarians hold that God planned the race to fall logically prior to the decision to save or damn any individuals because, it is argued, in order to be "saved", one must first need to be saved from something and therefore the decree of the Fall must precede predestination to salvation or damnation.
These two views vied with each other at the Synod of Dort, an international body representing Calvinist Christian churches from around Europe, and the judgments that came out of that council sided with infralapsarianism (Canons of Dort, First Point of Doctrine, Article 7). The Westminster Confession of Faith also teaches (in Hodge's words "clearly impl
es) the infralapsarian view, but is sensitive to those holding to supralapsarianism. The Lapsarian controversy has a few vocal proponents on each side today, but overall it does not receive much attention among modern Calvinists.
Reformed churches
The Reformed tradition is largely represented by the
Continental Reformed,
Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their n ...
,
Evangelical Anglican,
Congregationalist, and
Reformed Baptist
Reformed Baptists (sometimes known as Particular Baptists or Calvinistic Baptists) are Baptists that hold to a Calvinist soteriology (salvation). The first Calvinist Baptist church was formed in the 1630s. The 1689 Baptist Confession of Fait ...
denominational families.
Continental Reformed churches
Considered to be the oldest and most orthodox bearers of the Reformed faith, the
continental Reformed Churches uphold the
Helvetic Confessions
The Helvetic Confessions are two documents expressing the common belief of the Calvinist churches of Switzerland.
History
The First Helvetic Confession ( la, Confessio Helvetica prior), known also as the Second Confession of Basel, was drawn up in ...
and
Heidelberg Catechism, which were adopted in Zurich and Heidelberg, respectively.
In the United States, immigrants belonging to the continental Reformed Churches joined the
Dutch Reformed Church there, as well as the Anglican Church.
Congregational churches
The Congregational churches are a part of the
Reformed tradition founded under the influence of
New England Puritanism.
The
Savoy Declaration is the
confession of faith
A creed, also known as a confession of faith, a symbol, or a statement of faith, is a statement of the shared beliefs of a community (often a religious community) in a form which is structured by subjects which summarize its core tenets.
The ea ...
held by the Congregationalist churches. An example of a Christian denomination belonging to the Congregationalist tradition is the
Conservative Congregational Christian Conference.
Presbyterian churches
The
Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their n ...
churches are part of the Reformed tradition and were influenced by
John Knox's teachings in the
Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland.
The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Reformation of 1560, when it split from the Catholic Church ...
. Presbyterianism upholds the
Westminster Confession of Faith.
Evangelical Anglicanism
Historic Anglicanism is a part of the wider Reformed tradition, as "the founding documents of the Anglican church—the Book of Homilies, the Book of Common Prayer, and the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion—expresses a theology in keeping with the Reformed theology of the Swiss and South German Reformation."
The Most Rev. Peter Robinson,
presiding bishop of the
United Episcopal Church of North America, writes:
Reformed Baptist churches
Reformed Baptist churches are
Baptist
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul c ...
s (a Christian denominational family that teaches
credobaptism rather than
infant baptism) who adhere to Reformed theology as explicated in the
1689 Baptist Confession of Faith.
Variants in Reformed theology
Amyraldism
Amyraldism (or sometimes Amyraldianism, also known as the School of Saumur, hypothetical universalism, post redemptionism, moderate Calvinism, or four-point Calvinism) is the belief that
God, prior to his decree of election, decreed
Christ's atonement for all alike if they believe, but seeing that none would believe on their own, he then
elected those whom he will bring to
faith in Christ, thereby preserving the Calvinist doctrine of
unconditional election. The efficacy of the atonement remains limited to those who believe.
Named after its formulator
Moses Amyraut, this doctrine is still viewed as a variety of Calvinism in that it maintains the particularity of sovereign grace in the application of the atonement. However, detractors like
B. B. Warfield have termed it "an inconsistent and therefore unstable form of Calvinism."
Hyper-Calvinism
Hyper-Calvinism first referred to a view that appeared among the early English
Particular Baptists in the 18th century. Their system denied that the call of the gospel to "
repent and believe" is directed to every single person and that it is the duty of every person to trust in Christ for salvation. The term also occasionally appears in both
theological and secular controversial contexts, where it usually connotes a negative opinion about some variety of
theological determinism
Theological determinism is a form of predeterminism which states that all events that happen are pre-ordained, and/or predestined to happen, by one or more divine beings, or that they are destined to occur given the divine beings' omniscience. Th ...
,
predestination
Predestination, in theology, is the doctrine that all events have been willed by God, usually with reference to the eventual fate of the individual soul. Explanations of predestination often seek to address the paradox of free will, whereby ...
, or a version of Evangelical Christianity or Calvinism that is deemed by the critic to be unenlightened, harsh, or extreme.
The Westminster Confession of Faith says that the gospel is to be freely offered to sinners, and the Larger Catechism makes clear that the gospel is offered to the non-elect.
Neo-Calvinism
Neo-Calvinism, a form of Dutch Calvinism, is the movement initiated by the theologian and former Dutch prime minister
Abraham Kuyper.
James Bratt has identified a number of different types of Dutch Calvinism: The Seceders—split into the Reformed Church "West" and the Confessionalists; and the Neo-Calvinists—the Positives and the Antithetical Calvinists. The Seceders were largely
infralapsarian In Calvinist theology, lapsarianism is the study of the logical order of God's decree to ordain the fall of man in relation to his decree to save some sinners through election and condemn others through reprobation. Several opposing positions have ...
and the Neo-Calvinists usually
supralapsarian In Calvinist theology, lapsarianism is the study of the logical order of God's decree to ordain the fall of man in relation to his decree to save some sinners through election and condemn others through reprobation. Several opposing positions have b ...
.
Kuyper wanted to awaken the church from what he viewed as its pietistic slumber. He declared:
No single piece of our mental world is to be sealed off from the rest and there is not a square inch in the whole domain of human existence over which Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not cry: 'Mine!'
This refrain has become something of a rallying call for Neo-Calvinists.
Christian Reconstructionism
Christian Reconstructionism is a
fundamentalist Calvinist
theonomic movement that has remained rather obscure. Founded by
R. J. Rushdoony
Rousas John Rushdoony (April 25, 1916 – February 8, 2001) was an American Calvinist philosopher, historian, and theologian. He is credited as being the father of Christian Reconstructionism and an inspiration for the modern Christian hom ...
, the movement has had an important influence on the
Christian Right in the United States. The movement peaked in the 1990s. However, it lives on in small denominations such as the
Reformed Presbyterian Church in the United States
The Reformed Presbyterian Church in the United States was a small Presbyterian denomination based in the United States that merged into the Vanguard Presbytery. The RPCUS was established in 1983, subscribes to the unrevised Westminster Confession ...
and as a minority position in other denominations. Christian Reconstructionists are usually
postmillennialists and followers of the
presuppositional apologetics
Presuppositionalism is an epistemological school of Christian apologetics that examines the presuppositions on which worldviews are based, and invites comparison and contrast between the results of those presuppositions.
It claims that apart from ...
of
Cornelius Van Til
Cornelius Van Til (May 3, 1895 – April 17, 1987) was a Dutch-American reformed philosopher and theologian, who is credited as being the originator of modern presuppositional apologetics.
A graduate of Calvin College, Van Til later received ...
. They tend to support a decentralized political order resulting in
laissez-faire capitalism.
New Calvinism
New Calvinism is a growing perspective within conservative Evangelicalism that embraces the fundamentals of 16th century Calvinism while also trying to be relevant in the present day world.
In March 2009, ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...
'' magazine described the New Calvinism as one of the "10 ideas changing the world".
Some of the major figures who have been associated with the New Calvinism are
John Piper,
Mark Driscoll
Mark A. Driscoll (born 1970) is an American evangelical pastor and author who founded the now defunct Mars Hill Church. He is the senior and founding pastor of the Trinity Church in Scottsdale, Arizona, which was founded in 2016.
In 1996, ...
,
Al Mohler
Richard Albert Mohler Jr. (born October 19, 1959) is an American evangelical theologian, the ninth president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, and host of the podcast ''The Briefing'', where he daily analyzes ...
,
Mark Dever
Mark E. Dever (born August 28, 1960) is a theologian and the senior pastor of the Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., and the president of 9Marks (formerly known as the Center for Church Reform), a Christian ministry he co-founded "i ...
,
C. J. Mahaney
Charles Joseph Mahaney, commonly known as C.J., is an American Christian minister. He is the senior pastor at Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville, and was formerly president of Sovereign Grace Ministries, now known as Sovereign Grace Churches ( ...
, and
Tim Keller.
New Calvinists have been criticized for blending Calvinist soteriology with popular Evangelical positions on the
sacraments and
continuationism
Cessationism versus continuationism involves a Christian theological dispute as to whether spiritual gifts remain available to the church, or whether their operation ceased with the Apostolic Age of the church (or soon thereafter). The cessation ...
and for rejecting tenants seen as crucial to the Reformed faith such as
confessionalism and
covenant theology.
Social and economic influences
Calvin expressed himself on usury in a 1545 letter to a friend, Claude de Sachin, in which he criticized the use of certain passages of scripture invoked by people opposed to the charging of interest. He reinterpreted some of these passages, and suggested that others of them had been rendered irrelevant by changed conditions. He also dismissed the argument (based upon the writings of
Aristotle
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ...
) that it is wrong to charge interest for money because money itself is barren. He said that the walls and the roof of a house are barren, too, but it is permissible to charge someone for allowing him to use them. In the same way, money can be made fruitful.
He qualified his view, however, by saying that money should be lent to people in dire need without hope of interest, while a modest interest rate of 5% should be permitted in relation to other borrowers.
In ''
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism'',
Max Weber wrote that capitalism in
Northern Europe evolved when the
Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
(particularly Calvinist) ethic influenced large numbers of people to engage in work in the secular world, developing their own
enterprise
Enterprise (or the archaic spelling Enterprize) may refer to:
Business and economics
Brands and enterprises
* Enterprise GP Holdings, an energy holding company
* Enterprise plc, a UK civil engineering and maintenance company
* Enterprise ...
s and engaging in trade and the accumulation of wealth for investment. In other words, the
Protestant work ethic was an important force behind the unplanned and uncoordinated emergence of modern
capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, private ...
.
Politics and society
Calvin's concepts of God and man led to ideas which were gradually put into practice after his death, in particular in the fields of politics and society. After their fight for independence from Spain (1579), the Netherlands, under Calvinist leadership, granted asylum to religious minorities, e.g. French
Huguenots, English
Independents (
Congregationalists), and
Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
from Spain and Portugal. The ancestors of the philosopher
Baruch Spinoza were Portuguese Jews. Aware of the trial against
Galileo,
René Descartes
René Descartes ( or ; ; Latinized: Renatus Cartesius; 31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650) was a French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician, widely considered a seminal figure in the emergence of modern philosophy and science. Ma ...
lived in the Netherlands, out of reach of the
Inquisition, from 1628 to 1649.
Pierre Bayle, a Reformed Frenchman, also felt safer in the Netherlands than in his home country. He was the first prominent philosopher who demanded tolerance for atheists.
Hugo Grotius (1583–1645) was able to publish a rather liberal interpretation of the Bible and his ideas about
natural law
Natural law ( la, ius naturale, ''lex naturalis'') is a system of law based on a close observation of human nature, and based on values intrinsic to human nature that can be deduced and applied independently of positive law (the express enacte ...
in the Netherlands. Moreover, the Calvinist Dutch authorities allowed the printing of books that could not be published elsewhere, such as Galileo's
''Discorsi'' (1638).
Alongside the liberal development of the Netherlands came the rise of modern
democracy
Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose g ...
in England and North America. In the Middle Ages, state and church had been closely connected.
Martin Luther's
doctrine of the two kingdoms
The two kingdoms doctrine is a Protestant Christian doctrine that teaches that God is the ruler of the whole world and that he . The doctrine is held by Lutherans and represents the view of some Calvinists. John Calvin significantly modified Mart ...
separated state and church in principle. His doctrine of the
priesthood of all believers raised the laity to the same level as the clergy. Going one step further, Calvin included elected laymen (
church elders,
presbyters) in his concept of
church government
Ecclesiastical polity is the operational and governance structure of a church or of a Christian denomination. It also denotes the ministerial structure of a church and the authority relationships between churches. Polity relates closely to e ...
. The Huguenots added
synod
A synod () is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word '' synod'' comes from the meaning "assembly" or "meeting" and is analogous with the Latin word mean ...
s whose members were also elected by the congregations. The other Reformed churches took over this system of church self-government, which was essentially a representative democracy.
Baptists,
Quakers, and
Methodists are organized in a similar way. These denominations and the
Anglican Church were influenced by Calvin's theology in varying degrees.
In another factor in the rise of democracy in the Anglo-American world, Calvin favored a mixture of democracy and aristocracy as the best form of government (
mixed government). He appreciated the advantages of democracy. His political thought aimed to safeguard the rights and freedoms of ordinary men and women. In order to minimize the misuse of political power he suggested dividing it among several institutions in a system of checks and balances (
separation of powers). Finally, Calvin taught that if worldly rulers rise up against God they should be put down. In this way, he and his followers stood in the vanguard of resistance to political
absolutism
Absolutism may refer to:
Government
* Absolute monarchy, in which a monarch rules free of laws or legally organized opposition
* Absolutism (European history), period c. 1610 – c. 1789 in Europe
** Enlightened absolutism, influenced by the En ...
and furthered the cause of democracy. The
Congregationalists who founded
Plymouth Colony
Plymouth Colony (sometimes Plimouth) was, from 1620 to 1691, the first permanent English colony in New England and the second permanent English colony in North America, after the Jamestown Colony. It was first settled by the passengers on the ...
(1620) and
Massachusetts Bay Colony (1628) were convinced that the democratic form of government was the will of God. Enjoying self-rule, they practiced separation of powers.
Rhode Island
Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...
,
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the ...
, and
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
, founded by
Roger Williams,
Thomas Hooker, and
William Penn
William Penn ( – ) was an English writer and religious thinker belonging to the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, a North American colony of England. He was an early advocate of democracy a ...
, respectively, combined democratic government with a limited
freedom of religion
Freedom of religion or religious liberty is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance. It also includes the freedo ...
that did not extend to Catholics (Congregationalism being the established, tax-supported religion in Connecticut. These colonies became safe havens for persecuted religious minorities, including
Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
.)
In England, Baptists
Thomas Helwys ( 1575 – 1616), and
John Smyth ( 1554–) influenced the liberal political thought of the Presbyterian poet and politician
John Milton (1608–1674) and of the philosopher
John Locke (1632–1704), who in turn had both a strong impact on the political development in their home country (
English Civil War
The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I (" Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of r ...
of 1642–1651,
Glorious Revolution of 1688) as well as in North America. The ideological basis of the
American Revolution
The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...
was largely provided by the radical
Whigs, who had been inspired by Milton, Locke,
James Harrington (1611–1677),
Algernon Sidney (1623–1683), and other thinkers. The Whigs' "perceptions of politics attracted widespread support in America because they revived the traditional concerns of a Protestantism that had always verged on
Puritanism". The
United States Declaration of Independence
The United States Declaration of Independence, formally The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen States of America, is the pronouncement and founding document adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting at Pennsylvania State House ( ...
, the
United States Constitution and (American)
Bill of Rights initiated a tradition of human and civil rights that continued in the French
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (french: Déclaration des droits de l'homme et du citoyen de 1789, links=no), set by France's National Constituent Assembly in 1789, is a human civil rights document from the French Revol ...
and the constitutions of numerous countries around the world, e. g. Latin America, Japan, India, Germany, and other European countries. It is also echoed in the
United Nations Charter and the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN committee chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt ...
.
In the 19th century, churches based on or influenced by Calvin's theology became deeply involved in social reforms, e.g. the
abolition of slavery (
William Wilberforce,
Harriet Beecher Stowe,
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation throu ...
, and others),
women suffrage
Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...
, and
prison reforms. Members of these churches formed
co-operatives to help the impoverished masses. The founders of the
Red Cross Movement
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, an ...
, including
Henry Dunant, were Reformed Christians. Their movement also initiated the
Geneva Conventions
upright=1.15, Original document in single pages, 1864
The Geneva Conventions are four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish international legal standards for humanitarian treatment in war. The singular term ''Geneva Conv ...
. Others view Calvinist influence as not always being solely positive. The
Boers
Boers ( ; af, Boere ()) are the descendants of the Dutch-speaking Free Burghers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. From 1652 to 1795, the Dutch East India Company controlled this a ...
and
Afrikaner Calvinists
Afrikaners () are a South African ethnic group descended from predominantly Dutch settlers first arriving at the Cape of Good Hope in the 17th and 18th centuries.Entry: Cape Colony. ''Encyclopædia Britannica Volume 4 Part 2: Brain to Cas ...
combined ideas from Calvinism and
Kuyperian
Abraham Kuyper (; ; 29 October 1837 – 8 November 1920) was the Prime Minister of the Netherlands between 1901 and 1905, an influential neo-Calvinist theologian and a journalist. He established the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands, which upo ...
theology to justify
apartheid in South Africa. As late as 1974 the majority of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa was convinced that their theological stances (including the story of the Tower of Babel) could justify apartheid. In 1990 the Dutch Reformed Church document ''Church and Society'' maintained that although they were changing their stance on apartheid, they believed that within apartheid and under God's sovereign guidance, "...everything was not without significance, but was of service to the Kingdom of God." These views were not universal and were condemned by many Calvinists outside South Africa. Pressure from both outside and inside the Dutch Reformed Calvinist church helped reverse apartheid in South Africa.
Throughout the world, the Reformed churches operate hospitals, homes for handicapped or elderly people, and educational institutions on all levels. For example, American Congregationalists founded
Harvard (1636),
Yale (1701), and about a dozen other colleges.
[Clifton E. Olmstead, ''History of Religion in the United States'', pp. 80, 89, 257.] A particular stream of influence of Calvinism concerns art. Visual art cemented society in the first modern nation state, the Netherlands, and also Neo-Calvinism put much weight on this aspect of life.
Hans Rookmaaker is the most prolific example. In literature one can think of
Marilynne Robinson. In her non-fiction she powerfully demonstrates the modernity of Calvin's thinking, calling him a humanist scholar (pg 174, The Death of Adam).
See also
*
List of Calvinist educational institutions in North America
This list describes educational institutions that explicitly associate themselves with Calvinism.
Seminaries
Tertiary institutions that study theology as their primary focus include:
* Andrewes Hall
*Calvin Theological Seminary
* Canadian Reforme ...
*
List of Reformed denominations
The Reformed churches are a group of Protestant denominations connected by a common Calvinist system of doctrine.
Europe
Netherlands
The Dutch Calvinist churches have suffered numerous splits, and there have been some subsequent partial re-union ...
*
Synod of Jerusalem (1672)
The Synod of Jerusalem is an Eastern Orthodox synod held in 1672. It is also called the Synod of Bethlehem.
The synod was convoked and presided over by Patriarch Dositheus of Jerusalem. The synod produced a confession referred to as the ''Con ...
: Eastern Orthodox council rejecting Calvinist beliefs
*
Criticism of Protestantism
Criticism of Protestantism covers critiques and questions raised about Protestantism, the Christian denominations which arose out of the Protestant Reformation. While critics may praise some aspects of Protestantism which are not unique to the ...
* ''
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism'' (1905) –
Max Weber's analysis of Calvinism's influence on society and economics
Doctrine
*
Common grace
Common grace is a theological concept in Protestant Christianity, developed primarily in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Reformed/Calvinistic thought, referring to the grace of God that is either common to all humankind, or common to everyone w ...
*
Reformed confessions of faith
Related
*
Boer Calvinists:
Boere-Afrikaner
Boers ( ; af, Boere ()) are the descendants of the Dutch-speaking Free Burghers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. From 1652 to 1795, the Dutch East India Company controlled this area ...
s that hold to Reformed theology
*
Huguenots: followers of Calvinism in France, originating in the 16th and 17th century
*
Pilgrims: English Separatists who left Europe for America in search of religious toleration, eventually settling in
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
*
Presbyterians: Calvinists in Scotland, Ireland and England
*
Puritans: English Protestants who wanted to purify the Church of England
*
Continental Reformed church: Calvinist churches originating in continental Europe
*
Waldensians: Italian Protestants, preceded Calvinism but today identify with Reformed theology
Opposing views
*
Amyraldism
*
Arminianism
*
Catholicism
**
Augustinianism
*
Christian universalism
*
Eastern Orthodoxy
Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism.
Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or " canonic ...
**
Palamism
*
Free Grace theology
*
Open theism
*
Lutheranism
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...
*
Molinism
*
Socinianism
Notes
References
Bibliography
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Further reading
*
*
*
* Bratt, James D. (1984) ''Dutch Calvinism in Modern America: A History of a Conservative Subculture'
excerpt and text search*
* Hart, D.G. (2013). ''Calvinism: A History''. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press
excerpt and text search*
*
*
*
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*
External links
*
"Five Points of Calvinism"by
Robert Lewis Dabney.
{{Authority control
Calvinist theology
Trinitarianism