Saturday, August 4, 2012

7 Things To Adore About John Calvin

John Calvin, 1554

1. He was a step-dad                    

2. Bitchin’ hat

3. Predestination*

4. He was French

5. Genevan Bible and its treatment of the tyrannical nature of kingship (Calvin didn’t author the Genevan Bible, but its production took place in ‘his’ Geneva)

6. His own recognition that he was a man of his time, a recognition that allowed for the possibility of women in leadership within the church in future because of his view that the biblical admonition that women keep silent in church was a thing ‘indifferent’ (meaning not an essential tenet of the faith)

7. Emphasis on education:  Calvin was a small ‘d’ democrat, insisting that all must have access to education - and that included girls


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*Paving the way for Karl Barth's exposition on predestination and election as God's expression 'for' humanity in the person of Jesus the Christ and the idea that thereby, God can claim all of humanity (and not merely those 'chosen', as it is Jesus himself who is the object as well as the subject of God's choosing).

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