Calvin's war on the Catholic Church

Today, no denomination defends the fundamentals of Calvin’s theology of salvation more energetically than the Catholics.

Calvin was profoundly committed to scholarship. He believed faith was sustained by diligent Bible study, using the best research tools available. He studied Hebrew, Latin and Greek at an early age and wrote commentaries on most books of the Bible. The Catholic Church encourages scholarship today.

Calvin established schools for children throughout Geneva, where he lived for most of his adult life. He made Bible study a central subject and attendance compulsory. Some claim Calvin’s catechism for children is his greatest work. He would admire the Catholic education network worldwide.

Calvin was among the first theologians to admit that while Scripture is reliable on matters of faith, it may not be so on science. “He who would learn astronomy, and other recondite arts, let him go elsewhere,” he wrote.

Perhaps his greatest reform was to separate church and state. The Protestant revolution was certainly about theology. But it was also about democracy. The invitation to Calvin to teach at Geneva in 1536 was motivated largely by the fledgling Protestant community's desire to replace the Catholic prince-bishop with an elected council, as had happened elsewhere in Europe.

Most Catholics today accept Calvin’s view that the civil and church authorities should be separate, but that civil power should be exercised according to godly values.

If it can be argued that Calvin won these battles, it is clear he has lost some as well.

He disapproved of drinking, dancing and musical instruments and sought to abolish taverns, theatres, holidays and celebrations. Only a tiny religious fringe practices such puritanism today.

Calvin’s doctrine of predestination has been highly contentious for 500 years. “Some men are born devoted from the womb to certain death, that His name may be glorified in their destruction,” he proclaimed in his famous Institutes of the Christian Religion. Few today, even in Calvinist churches, accept this dogma in its entirety.

In other areas, the tussle over Calvin’s ideas continues.

Calvin was critical of ceremonies and sacraments which he believed hindered rather than encouraged reverence. He claimed Scripture allows just two sacraments - baptism and communion.

The roles of ministers of the church he drew from the New Testament. Here he found pastors, teachers, elders and deacons. But not priests, bishops or popes. Celibacy, he believed, had basis in neither Scripture nor reason.

All ministers were to be popularly appointed - elders by the lay city council and deacons by the congregation. He rejected papal primacy and infallibility. To him, the Church was the body of believers who placed Christ at its head. So, by definition, the Catholic Church could not be the universal Christian Church.

The Bible was the only source of God’s truth. (He argued passionately for this using the authority of the early church fathers.)

These remain under discussion within the Catholic community and beyond. Will Calvin eventually win these arguments too? Perhaps in another 500 years.