Calvin and Calvinism

A few weeks ago, we started a new study moving through John Calvin’s Institutes. It meets the first and third Tuesday nights of the month at my house, 6:30 pm. If you weren’t able to make the first one, please feel free to join us at any time. Even if you can’t commit to read through the work, come anyway for the discussion and fellowship. We eat together and discuss what some have called ‘Calvinistic theology.’

If alive today, Calvin himself would have hated the idea that his name is associated with a set of doctrines. He would have loathed people saying, “I’m a Calvinist,” or “I believe in Calvinism.” He simply saw himself as biblical or what we might call, ‘Reformed Orthodox.’ However, we understand that to be labeled a ‘Calvinist’ is to identify oneself as an adherent of what Calvin believed regarding certain Scriptural truths. Over the years, there has been some debate regarding the extent to which Calvin would have agreed with the theology Calvinists, past and present, link to him. Lots of ink has been spilled discussing the Calvin and Calvinist question—‘Did Calvin teach what the Calvinists say?’ And yet, throughout this discussion, another question has arisen. What is Calvinism? Here’s a helpful article from Ligonier that gives a brief answer. If you want a more detailed reply, see Daryl Hart, Calvinism: A History, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2013. 

—Pastor Clif