Calvinism and Catholicity

Last updated on: May 27, 2011 at 1:04 am by Michael F. Bird

Calvinism and Catholicity 2011-05-27T01:04:20-04:00 Michael F. Bird

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Todd Billings has a cool piece on The Promise of Catholic Calvinism. I can relate to this. I remember one time saying something in class about the Trinity and afterwards a student came up to me rather concerned and asked: “I didn’t think we believed all that Catholic stuff like the Trinity?” I was aghast and retorted, “Oh yes we do!”. I also remember a couple of people in a former church I attended being rather agitated by the fact that I put up a picture of Jesus from the Hagia Sophia in a power point presentation for my sermon, and they objected on the grounds that the picture was too “catholic”! The assumptions here is that old stuff is catholic and everything catholic is heterodox. The problem is that I’m pretty sure that a renunciation of all Christians who lived before 1517 was not the goal of the Reformation.

So I agree with Todd Billings when he writes:

In our day, the Reformed tradition is in dire need of recovering the Catholic dimension of our heritage. Calvin and other Reformers did not, in fact, seek radical revision of a Nicene doctrine of the Trinity and a Chalcedonian Christology; moreover, the sacramental theology of Luther, Calvin, and even Zwingli was much closer to the patristic theology of Augustine, for example, than the highly cognitive memorialism that takes place in many of today’s Reformed churches.

In conclusion, why speak of a “Catholic Calvinism”? I choose to speak this way because it highlights what is missing in many understandings of Reformed Christianity: the Trinitarian, Christological and sacramental theology about which classical Reformed theology owes great debts to patristic reflection. The term “Catholic” captures some of what has been lost by Reformed churches on the “left” and “right” that have fallen into a “mere Christianity” that is a reduced Christianity. If Reformed Christianity in America is to recover from the paralyzing reductionisms of the Enlightenment, it must retrieve riches from the premodern Reformed tradition– from the patristic theological tradition that Calvin and many later Reformed theologians so admired.

Infusing some catholicity of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan kind can only strengthen the Reformed churches and remind us that the Reformation was not the attempt to renounce the past but to recapture it!

Calvinism

Uncategorized

Previous Post

May 26, 2011

Resurrection and the Second Century

Next Post

May 28, 2011 Christology Smack Down

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Bible Lands Blogosphere Book Review Calvinism Colleges & Universities Ecclesiology Emerging Adulthood Evangelicalism Foreign Affairs Gospel of John Greco-Roman World Humor Just War N. T. Wright Old Testament Resurrection Terrorism Theological Education Travel Uncategorized Writing

Select a Month September 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 January 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was King Zedekiah, and what did he do to anger God and ensure Jerusalem's fall?

Select your answer to see how you score.

He rebelled against Babylon He built an idol He killed Jeremiah He burned the scroll

Books by This Author Books by Mike Bird

See All Titles »