Burns notes that Calvin is a champion of "presuppositional" apologetics, a type of apologetics that says one must accept the scripture as the divine word of God before one can understand anything at all. Choosing belief in the Scripture as a starting point rather than a conclusion wouldn't seem a particularly effective way in persuading those not already Christians to turn to the Christian faith, but the Calvinist approach turns out, in some instances, to be very effective. What do you see in the selections for the Institutes that would explain the appeal of Calvinist-style argument?
One thing I see is that the way this taught by John Calvin, is when you believe in the scipture first you will believe everything. Think of it as a way of teaching faith. look at a Physics textbook you are lead to believe that everything in this book is based on fact, but you can never know this unless you have done ever experiment for yourself. Therfor your acting on the faith that all this is a fact. This is one of the advantages of accepting the scripture first. Not only is it an important part of Christianity, but it is also a great study in what faith is. Trent Dean
ReplyDeleteOne of the keys to Calvin's philosophy is that you need to assume that the Scriptures are true and the Word of God. For most Christians, this should not be an unreasonable assumption. Because of this, when you read the Bible your eyes should be opened up and be able to believe by faith. It is a great view of Christianity that all can adopt, whether Calvinist or not.
ReplyDeleteKent Johnsen
I would agree that presuppositional apologetics would have it's problems in creating converts to the faith. At least for me (and apparently others), belief that the scripture is absolutely true is a bad place to start a defense. I would have my defenses up already. Not being an anthropologist though, I pondered on Calvin's idea that knowledge of the creator is a natural occurrence in all human minds. I spent maybe a half hour trying to think of a culture that doesn't worship some form of God. Atheism isn't that uncommon today, but all cultures that I could think of worship some or multiple deities. The best exception that I could come up is maybe some of the Far East religions that practice Ancestor Worship (ie. Japan)? For a guy who didn't think he'd get much out of Calvin...I'm still thinking about the natural state of God in the mind!?
ReplyDeleteJudaism says the doing come first then the understanding.
ReplyDeleteJerry Taylor
I agree with Scott in his claim that presuppositional apologetic works like Calvin's do not help very much in creating converts. However, I think it is an excellent tool for discussing these topics with other Christians (especially if they are of another denomination) because it uses the common ground of believing the Bible is the inspired word of God. It all depends on who you're talking to.
ReplyDeleteClaire DeMilia
Book I, Chapter III of Institutes says, “That there exists in the human mind … any sense of Deity, we hold to be beyond dispute, since God himself … has endued all men with some idea of his Godhead … that all to a man, being aware that there is a God, and that he is their Maker, may be condemned by their own conscience when they neither worship him nor consecrate their lives to his service.”
ReplyDeleteI think this might’ve been more appealing “back in the day.” Calvin was writing in the sixteenth century, when probably just about all societies had some type of belief in the divine realm, even though those beliefs could be wildly different. The acceptance of the existence of God would likely have been more readily accepted, even if the specifics of Christianity took some convincing to believe in.
Nowadays, it seems as though more and more people are turned off to the concept of a God, gods, or anything not proven by science. I’m not sure many people, at least Americans, would accept that they have an innate sense within themselves of the existence of God. Although, Calvin writes that we are to be condemned by our consciences if we don’t worship and serve God. People today are, by and large, pretty unhappy. Perhaps without realizing it, our consciences are telling us our disbelief is wrong. How does one convince non-believers of that, though?
The fact that he believed that one must accept the scripture as the divine word of God before one can understand anything at all is not all different from some religions today. Some of them won't baptize their members until they are old enough to speak and accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior, whereas other denominations of Christianity believe that if you grow up in the church hearing the word of God, you fully accept God and Jesus as your savior. I think if all denominations of Christianity adopted the Calvinist view, there would be a lot more thinking about which church will work for you.
ReplyDeleteJohn Calvin's approach to 'religio' in ''Institutes of the Christian Religion'' isn't something I really loved. Others, like Aquinas Aristotelian approach or even Anselm's Platonic methods I find much more satisfying to read and examine. Regardless, Calvin's presuppositional apologetics could definitely appeal to individuals who are in search of God.
ReplyDeleteChapter 1 starts off strong by saying, "Our wisdom, in so far as it ought to be deemed true and solid wisdom, consists almost entirely of two parts, the knowledge of God and of ourselves." Since this theology is rooted in absolute certainty he uses phrasing like "in so far" and "ought to be" to help support his ideas. This approach makes him sound more convincing throughout his writings and that is what I found interesting about Calvin.
Luke Reierson
One reason Calvinist-style apologetics can be appealing is because Calvin focuses on something many people already feel deep inside a natural sense that God exists. In the Institutes of the Christian Religion, Calvin says that all people are born with an inner awareness of God, which he calls the Sensus divinitatis. He believes that we don’t need to be convinced of God’s existence through arguments because we already know God is real in our hearts. For people who feel this way but haven’t been able to explain it, Calvin’s ideas can feel true and comforting.
ReplyDeleteCalvin also teaches that the Bible proves itself to be true. Instead of trying to prove the Bible using outside evidence or science, he says the Bible is the starting point for all knowledge. Once someone accepts the Bible as God’s word, everything else starts to make sense. This approach can be powerful because it gives people a strong and clear foundation for their beliefs, especially if they are looking for certainty in a confusing world.
Jacob Geppert
When it comes to humans, we are always seeking 'truth'. We have an innate desire to know and understand every little thing, to the point that we become burdened by the desire for evidence. It is a burden on our lives, mostly in the sense that we fail to see life as it is because we are so busy trying to see beyond it.
ReplyDeleteWhy does the ocean wave?
Why does the sun rise and fall?
How did the flowers grow?
The same thing occurs with the Bible - even moreso given the unrealistic events that occur within. People are resistant to believing in it because they want evidence.
Calvinism requires that they put full faith and trust within the scripture, a difficult task for those who put their faith and trust on tangible evidence. In a way, Calvin is asking - no, demanding - that the person view the scripture itself as tangible evidence.
While difficult at first, this can be ultimately freeing. When one is not always nitpicking at something, they tend to enjoy something all the more - they are able to savor the experience of it.
As an example, if you watched a show for the first time, you would enjoy it a lot more if you watched it and experienced it before nitpicking it. If you loved it so much, nitpicking may not even come to mind.
However, you would enjoy the show a lot less if you were to nitpick every detail or demand studies showing how this or that is possible. The same goes for the scripture.
That might be why it is such an effective method.