John Calvin leads off our masthead above because of his seminal contribution to the American system in general, and the proper understanding of church-state theory in particular. Scholars who don’t embrace the theology of Calvin nevertheless recognize his contributions to the American system of government. For example, Jean Jacques Rousseau, wrote the following about Calvin: “Those who consider Calvin only as a theologian fail to recognize the breadth of his genius. The editing of our wise laws, in which he had a large share, does him as much credit as his Institutes…[S]o long as the love of country and liberty is not extinct amongst us, the memory of this great man will be held in reverence[1].”
German historian Leopold van Ranke famously said, “John Calvin was the virtual founder of America[2].”
Abraham Kuyper in discussing John Calvin said “[e]very competent historian will without exception confirm the words of [American historian George] Bancroft: ‘The fanatic for Calvinism was a fanatic for liberty; and, in the moral warfare of freedom, his creed was his most faithful counselor and his never ailing support[3].’”
Someone has said that the American Government and Constitution are based on the theology of Calvin and the philosophy of Hobbes. This at least is true, that there is a hearty Puritanism in the view of human nature which pervades the instrument of 1787. It is the work of men who believed in original sin, and were resolved to leave open for transgressors no door which they could possibly shut. Compare this spirit with the enthusiastic optimism of the Frenchman of 1789. It is not merely a difference of race temperaments; it is a difference of fundamental ideas.[4]
Even more significantly, John Adams (himself an Arminian) wrote:
After Martin Luther had introduced into Germany the liberty of thinking in matters of religion, and erected the standard of reformation, John Calvin, a native of Noyon, in Picardie, of a vast genius, singular eloquence, various erudition, and polished taste, embraced the cause of reformation. In the books which he published, and in the discourses which he held in the several cities of France, he proposed one hundred and twenty-eight articles in opposition to the creed of the Roman Catholic church. These opinions were soon embraced with ardor, and maintained with obstinacy, by a great number of persons of all conditions. The asylum and the centre of this new sect was Geneva, a city situated on the lake anciently called Lemanus, on the frontiers of Savoy, which had shaken off the yoke of its bishop and the Duke of Savoy, and erected itself into a republic, under the title of a free city, for the sake of liberty of conscience. Let not Geneva be forgotten or despised. Religious liberty owes it much respect, Servetus notwithstanding. From this city proceeded printed books and men distinguished for their wit and eloquence, who spreading themselves in the neighboring provinces, there sowed in secret seeds of their doctrine. Almost all the cities and provinces of France began to be enlightened by it.[5]
Specifically on the topic we are covering - church autonomy - the contribution of Calvin was essential. In his understanding of jurisdictions, he recognized that church and state are separate and independent. This is the key theoretical underpinning for the American jurisdictional separation of church and state, and sadly, it is all too often forgotten. So as we continue to write on Church Autonomy doctrine and as we approach the 500th anniversary of Calvin’s birth, we are grateful for this gentle scholar’s contribution to a proper understanding of Church/State theory. That’s why our banner honors the legacy of Calvin, just as John Adams enjoined us to do.
Addendum: Many people have a hard time taking Calvin seriously as a father of American church-state theory, because they still think of Calvin primarily as the prosecutor of Servetus for heresy. Yet two points should be kept in mind here. First, we have to deal with the intellectual legacy of Calvin whether or not he perfectly adhered to it. And second, the criticism of Calvin is not always applied fairly. His role in the prosecution is often overstated, and other historical figures do not get the same attention. Otto Scott aptly stated the problem:
No Christian leader has been so often condemned by so many. And the usual grounds for condemnation are the execution of Servetus and the doctrine of predestination. Yet Servetus was only one of tens of thousands who went to their deaths in Calvin’s time, and none of their judges ever received the denunciations heaped upon Calvin—who had no civil authority and was not a judge in Geneva. Men of the twentieth century, who have witnessed without moving a finger the arbitrary murders of tens of millions have no ground upon which to stand and judge John Calvin.[6]
The bottom line is that to write off Calvin for his role in Servetus’s death is to miss the (overwhelmingly positive) intellectual legacy of Calvin, from his own writings of the roles of church and state. And to miss out on his intellectual legacy is to impoverish our own understanding of church and state.
[1] The Social Contract and the Discourse on the Origin of Inquality, ed. Lester G. Crocker (New York, 1967), 44n.
[2] Egbert Watson Smith, The Creed of Presbyterians
[3] , Lectures on Calvinsim [1898] repr. edn. (Grand Rapids, MI, 1981), 78 quoting George Bancroft, History of the United States of America, 15th edn., 2 vols. (Boston, 1853), 1:319
[4] James Bryce, The American Commonwealth, 2 vols. (Boston: Little, Brown, a 1889), 1:299
[5] 6 John Adams, Essay XIX, in The Works of John Adams 313–14 (Charles Francis Adams ed., 1851).
[6] Otto Scott, Change at the Top, in The Great Christian Revolution: How Christianity Transformed the World 99–100 (Otto Scott ed., 1994).