Calvin: What's the big idea

I've been working my way through Calvin's institutes since January and so leaped at the chance to hear Professor Paul Helm lecture on Calvinism this week. Tonight he did the annual Highland Theological College, John Murray lecture. His topic was Calvinism, what is the big idea? He started off saying that for a lot of people Calvinism is associated with Predestination, this idea is found in Calvin but it didn't originate with him and it is not the central doctrine that Calvin's institutes are concerned with. He argued that the central idea for Calvin was the 'knowledge of God and of ourselves.' Which is found in the opening chapter of the institutes. Calvin argues that to know ourselves we do not contemplate ourselves in isolation like philosophers are prone to, to do that leads to a misunderstanding of ourselves, to see ourselves as morally upright. To see ourselves correctly we need to see God, as he reveals Himself. We cannot see God as He truly is, but only in God's accommodating Himself to us, especially in the incarnation, where God reveals himself to us like a nurse to a child, or as one who lisps, so we can understand Him. This knowledge of God and of ourselves, Helm suggests is the Big idea in Calvin's theology. Although theology is a term Calvin disliked preferring the term religion which means to bind ourselves to God. This is because Calvin disliked mere speculation, religion, true religion means being converted. For Calvin (unlike Luther) conversion, or converio was a gradual thing, this is because he understood it in terms of justification and of sanctification. So he could speak of himself as suddenly converted but could also speak about a process. justification and sanctification are distinct but not separate things. Helm suggested that Calvin's theology was not Christological in the Barthian sense instead Calvin places an emphasis on the Spirit, the Spirits work in creation as well as in converiso which effects both the kingdom of Christ and the secular kingdom which are both effected by God's providential care.

You can check out Professor Helm's blog here: Helm's deep

God Bless

Stephen