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Calvinism: John Calvin
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In a nutshell, Calvinism is the teaching of John Calvin, who borrowed much of his theology from the Roman Catholicism and their theologian Augustine. It is the fatalistic notion that God arbitrarily chose for some of the people He created to go to Hell. Contrary to the clear teaching of Scripture, it teaches that Jesus did not die for those people. It teaches that there is no possible way they could be saved because God chose not to save them, as if He wanted them to go to Hell. It teaches that He created them for the express purpose of sending them to Hell. This is a false perversion of Scripture.
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Politically, Calvinism has been the chief source of modern republican government. Calvinism and republicanism are related to each other as cause and effect; and where a people are possessed of the former, the latter will soon be developed. Calvin himself held that the Church, under God, was a spiritual republic; and certainly he was a republican in theory. James I was well aware of the effects of Calvinism when he said: 'Presbytery agreeth as well with the monarchy as God with the Devil.' Bancroft speaks of 'the political character of Calvinism, which with one consent and with instinctive judgment the monarchs of that day feared as republicanism.' Another American historian, John Fiske, has written, 'It would be hard to overrate the debt which mankind owes to Calvin. The spiritual father of Coligny, of William the Silent, and of Cromwell, must occupy a foremost rank among the champions of modern democracy .... The promulgation of this theology was one of the longest steps that mankind has ever taken toward personal freedom.'1 Emilio Castelar, the leader of the Spanish Liberals, says that 'Anglo-Saxon democracy is the product of a severe theology, learned in the cities of Holland and Switzerland.' Buckle, in his History of Civilization says, 'Calvinism is essentially democratic,' (I, 669).
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Calvinism teaches that humanity is totally depraved. Due to the Fall, the original relationship that Adam and Eve enjoyed with God was severed by sin. This affected the entire human race, corrupting the heart, mind, and will of every person born. Thus, people's natural actions and affections, whether viewed by man as bad or good, are never pleasing to God. The Calvinist understanding of total depravity does not mean that people are as evil as they possibly could be. People still make good choices (from a human perspective), but no matter how good they may be, they never gain favor with God. While total depravity is commonly associated with John Calvin, this theological viewpoint is based on the theology of Augustine (b.
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Calvinism originated in John Calvin, a French theologian who moved to Geneva, Switzerland, in 1536, where he published his Institutes of Christian Religion. Calvin's theology was similar to Luther's, yet highly influenced by Augustinianism, especially in terms of God's sovereignty and predestination. Calvin held strongly to the belief that God had already determined who was and who was not going to be saved, that all things are under the direct control of God; man does not have free will since he "fell" into sin. Only God's grace can lead to salvation for man. His belief system caught on, and Geneva soon became a Calvinistic theocracy. His belief system spread throughout Europe and has greatly influenced Protestant theology for almost 500 years.
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Calvinism is named after the French man John Calvin (1509-1564), and Arminianism is named after the Dutch man James (or Jacob) Arminius (1560-1609). There may be varying forms of Calvinism and Arminianism, and the differences between these two camps can become quite involved, depending on the advocates, but there are basically five points in which these systems of thought do not agree. Following the common Calvinistic acrostic "TULIP," the first point of contention is:
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In the British Isles, the rapid success of Calvinism in Scotland, destined to become one of its major strongholds, was unexpected. But despite the popularity of both Calvin's works and the Geneva Bible in England, it never dominated the doctrines of the established Protestant church there. In a way, both results connect to a notorious 1558 pamphlet against the "monstrous" rule of women by John Knox, the most famous English-speaking sixteenth-century Calvinist. Knox wrote a history of the Reformation in Scotland, recounting how he outmaneuvered and bullied Queen Mary Stuart until she lost her throne in 1567; ... Elizabeth I, who became England's Protestant ruler in 1558, never trusted Knox or his followers afterward.
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