Sovereign Grace: The Place and Significance of Christian Freedom in John Calvin's Political Thought

215 Pages·1999·12.98 MB·English

by  William R. Stevenson Jr.

SOVEREIGN GRACE
This page intentionally left blank
SOVEREIGN GRACE
The
Place and Significance
of Christian Freedom
in John Calvin's
Political Thought
William R. Stevenson, Jr.
New York Oxford
Oxford University Press
1999
Oxford University Press
Oxford New York
Athens Auckland Bangkok Bogota Buenos Aires Calcutta
Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Florence Hong Kong Istanbul
Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai
Nairobi Paris Sao Paulo Singapore Taipei Tokyo Toronto Warsaw
and associated companies in
Berlin Ibadan
Copyright © 1999 by William R. Stevenson, Jr.
Published by Oxford University Press, Inc.
198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016
Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of Oxford University Press.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Stevenson, William R.
Sovereign grace : the place and significance of Christian freedom
in John Calvin's political thought / William R. Stevenson, Jr.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-19-512 506-1
1. Freedom (Theology)—History of doctrines—1i6th century.
2. Calvin, Jean, 1509-1564—Political and social views. I. Tide.
BT809.S74 1999
233'. 7'092 -dc21 98-24152
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
[U]nless this freedom be comprehended,
neither Christ nor gospel truth,
nor inner peace of soul,
can be rightly known.
Institutes 3.19.1
This page intentionally left blank
PREFACE
M y interest in John Calvin's political ideas began to develop in earnest only
after I came to teach courses in the history of political thought at Calvin
College in fall 1989. Before that time I had not been drawn to study Calvin's
writings and as a result knew little about them. That ignorance quickly began to
dissipate as I sought to learn more about the Reformed tradition reflected in the
educational mission of the college. I began to study John Calvin, that is, to learn
more about Calvin College. This book is the best evidence that for me, Calvin's
writings have been difficult to put down.
Just before the spring semester, 1990, I decided to include in my course in the
history of modern political thought the compact John McNeill collection of Cal-
vin's political writings, On God and Political Duty (New York: Macmillan, 1950).
As I was reading through that collection, preparing to compose a syllabus, the
thought occurred to me that Calvin's essay "On Christian Freedom" might serve
as a kind of organizing framework for the course. Thinking about his three "parts"
of freedom caused me to consider a categorization of the key modern thinkers
according to their views on the sources, content, and goals of human freedom.
Somewhat tentatively, I decided to try out this framework on my Calvin under-
graduates. They were supportive enough that I determined to solicit from the
college some release time to put together for presentation at the 1991 American
Political Science Association (APSA) meeting a paper detailing the ways which
Calvin's idea of Christian freedom both anticipates and serves as an "antidote"
for the primary modern ideas of freedom. At every stage I was encouraged and
supported by colleagues, both near and far, and the college administration. Seven
years later, that paper has now become a book.
viii PREFACE
Several items regarding my presentation of this argument need early mention.
First, I have tried to document my understanding and interpretation of Calvin's
political thought with some care. While I have held fast to Calvin's "Christian
Freedom," I have concentrated my overall efforts on a close reading of Calvin's
entire Institutes, a number of his relevant Commentaries, Letters, and Sermons, and
several of his more significant tracts. I have as well tried to read carefully through
the relevant secondary literature on Calvin, including the primary biographies and
studies of both his political thought and his theology. To gain some historical
perspective, I have tried to read broadly in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century
European history. My goal has thus been to picture Calvin's view of Christian
freedom both in its own light and in the light of its wider philosophical and
historical context.
I do not expect that my goal has been fully accomplished, however. Readers
attuned to the scholarly community about which I write are therefore encouraged
to examine my findings with a wary eye and to respond as seems appropriate with
their own evocations of Calvin's "Christian Freedom." The great reward of my
experience so far in struggling with Calvin's ideas has been the hospitality and
good graces extended to me by other Calvin scholars. I expect that I will continue
to grow in my knowledge of Calvin and Calvinism as such colleagues confront me
with the many things I should have taken into account!
To invite such scholarly comment will not, I hope, unduly distance my argu-
ment from more general readers. Such readers should know that the scholarly
apparatus included in the endnotes and bibliography may be safely ignored if they
wish only a broad introduction to Calvin's political thinking. Indeed, I have tried
to present my argument as much as possible in nontechnical language and without
unnecessary scholarly sidetrips. At a number of places it has seemed important to
give readers a sense of the particular scholarly controversy at hand, but I have
attempted to do this without trying their patience. As a result, readers not drawn
to particular scholarly disagreements should feel free to overlook the notes and
citations that I have included to support my reading of Calvin.
Experienced Calvin scholars will find immediately that my presentation of Cal-
vin's thinking assumes continuity in his various intellectual positions over the
period of his mature writing. Although a number would disagree, I believe that
such continuity is largely present. No doubt Calvin found himself on many oc-
casions hedging here and elaborating there, but I have found no convincing evi-
dence that—after his conversion to evangelicalism and his first statement of the
Reformed perspective in the 1536 Institutes of the Christian Religion—the substance
of his theological or political stances changed significantly. This is an arguable
point, of course, but I have chosen not to argue it fully here.
One last point: After thinking through the matter of gendered pronouns, I have
chosen to adopt a posture I believe to be in keeping with Calvin's own under-
standing. Clearly Calvin does not intend to exclude women from significant places
in the community of believers. (One might look specifically at either Institutes
2.13.3 or his commentary on 1 Corinthians 11:7, not to mention Jane Dempsey
Douglass's fine work, for evidence of such inclinations.) Yet at the same time, so
far as women's places in the political, institutional structures of his day were con-
PREFACE ix
cerned, Calvin patently resembled what Glenn Tinder has labeled a "patriarchal
conservative." (Calvin's commentary on Genesis 2:18 and a number of his letters
seem to support this conclusion.) My procedure on this matter has therefore been
to use gender-neutral language where Calvin clearly intends it, unless I am quoting
directly from his work or unless gender-neutral expression competes unfavorably
with stylistic flow. In these exceptional cases, I believe the context will make plain
Calvin's intent.
My debts to others during the time I have worked on this project are huge.
Calvin College and its administrative officers have been mainstays of support and
encouragement throughout the process. Presidents Anthony Diekema and now
Galen Byker; Provosts Gordon Van Harn and now Joel Carpenter; Dean Frank
Roberts; and Department Chairs Corwin Smidt and James Penning have trusted
my instincts, spoken up on my behalf, and supported at every turn my applications
for research aid. I am deeply grateful to them all. The college supported this
research with two Summer Research Fellowships (1991 and 1995) and a sabbatical
leave (fall 1995). The H. H. Meeter Center for Calvin Studies and the Calvin
College Library have made available to me such a wealth of resources that I could
find no need to travel abroad to conduct my research. The college is and has been
truly blessed by the foresight to assemble its magnificent Calvinism collection and
by the diligent efforts of a number of staff members to keep this collection current.
For adept and cheerful guidance through this collection, I am grateful to the Mee-
ter Center's former director, Richard C. Gamble; its former administrative aide,
Dianne Eves; its current administrative aide, Susan E. Schmurr; its current librar-
ian, Paul Fields; and its ever-present neighbor and well-wisher, Rev. Benjamin
Boerkoel. For a critical research leave and designation as a Meeter Center Fellow
during the spring semester, 1992, and for an invitation to deliver the spring 1997
Meeter Center lecture, I am grateful as well to the Meeter Center Governing
Board.
For all those who heard early versions of this argument and responded with
detailed and constructive criticisms, I am grateful, too. These include the primary
respondent to my paper at the 1991 APSA meeting, James W. Skillen; my former
departmental colleague, Luis Lugo; Reformation theologian and former Meeter
Center Fellow Ralph Keen; fellow Meeter Center researcher Danny G. Wells;
longtime friend Alberto R. Coll; fellow political theorist Paul Marshall; the stu-
dents in my history of political thought courses over the last several years, espe-
cially David Polet and Randall Smit, who helped me through my first attempt at
organizing Political Science 306; and the students and faculty in Politics at the
Catholic University of America who graciously heard my defense of Calvin's ideas
during spring 1992 and responded with helpful criticism and in great good humor.
Later versions of the argument also had help. Calvin student and friend Kelly
Van Andel carefully copyedited the second full draft of the book, saving me from
needless repetition and confusion in the argument's presentation. My colleague
John E. Hare of the Calvin Philosophy Department was kind enough to read the
penultimate draft, thereby steering my argument away from a number of pitfalls in
logic and in clarity. The outside readers consulted by Oxford University Press
evaluated the manuscript with care and grace, affording me hope in its value, but