Columbia Theological Seminary Bulletin, 55, number 3, July 1962

Columbia Theological Seminary

Volume LV No. 3
July, 1962

Contents

Page

1 The Opening of School

2 Lecturers

3 Annual Meeting of Alumni Association

4 Two New Professors Inaugurated

4 New Buildings Dedicated

5 Graduation Exercises

5 Dedicatory Address

Laurence H. Favrot

10 "Why Calvin?"

Paul T. Fuhrmann

23 A New Book by Professor William Childs Robinson

COLUMBIA THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

701 Columbia Drive
DECATUR, GEORGIA

Volume LV JULY, 1962 No. 3

Published quarterly by the Directors and Faculty of Columbia Theological
Seminary of the Presbyterian Church, U. S.

Entered as second-class matter, May 9, 1928, at the Post Office at Decatur,
Ga. y under the Act of Congress of August 24, 1912.

Dr. J. McDowell Richards, Mayor Ivan Allen, Jr.,
Mr. Laurence H. Favrot, Dr. P. D. Miller

The dedication of the Student Center and of Florida
Hall, the new dormitory for married couples, was one of the
highlights in a very eventful school year at Columbia Semi-
nary.

The Opening of School
September 17-20, 1962

Columbia Theological Seminary will open its new session
at exercises to be held in the Columbia Presbyterian Church
on Thursday, September 20, at 8:00 P.M. The speaker will be
Dr. Kenneth J. Foreman, Professor-Emeritus of the Louis-
ville Presbyterian Seminary, who will also speak at 10:05
A.M. and 8:00 P.M. on Friday, September 21, and at 10:05
A.M. on Saturday, September 22.

Alumni and friends of Columbia Seminary will be pleased
to know that the entering class of 1962-63 will be somewhat
larger than we had anticipated a few months ago. Even more
gratifying than the size of the class is the fact that its mem-
bers will be men of generally high academic caliber. Colum-
bia Seminary shares the concern of theological institutions
throughout the country about the matter of decreased enroll-
ment in theological schools at a time when the need for min-
isters and other Christian workers is at an unparalleled peak.
Possibly no other group can be as instrumental in remedying
this problem as pastors. Hence, Columbia Seminary would
encourage all ministers to place upon the minds and hearts of
young men the need and opportunities confronting us in
this area of our life.

Lecturers

Ministers' Week for 1962 should be of interest to all
graduates and other friends of Columbia Seminary. Begin-
ning on Monday, November 5, the activities of the week will
continue through Friday, November 9.

The Smyth Lectures will be delivered by Dr. Floyd V.
Filson, Dean of McCormick Seminary since 1954. Dr. Filson
who is well known throughout America both as minister and
educator, served for many years as Professor of New Testa-
ment Literature, Exegesis and History at McCormick Theo-
logical Seminary. He was Acting President of McCormick
in 1956, is a member of various learned societies, author of
many books and articles including: One Lord, One Faith;
Origins of the Gospels and St. Paul's Conception of Recom-
pense. In addition to this he has contributed to the West-
minster Study Bible and the Westminster Bible Atlas. His
subject for the Smyth Lectures will be Three Crucial Decades:
Studies in the Book of Acts. Dr. Filson is scheduled to speak
each evening at 7 : 30.

The Alumni Lecturer for 1962 will be the Rev. Dr. An-
drew K. Rule, recently retired Professor of Church History and
Christian Apologetics at Louisville Seminary. Although Dr.
Rule is best known as a distinguished teacher and preacher, it

has been said of him by one of his students that in addition to
his scholarly stature "He had a true pastor's heart. By his ex-
ample Dr. Rule helped to teach me what a minister really
should be." Dr. Rule is scheduled to speak each morning, Tues-
day through Friday, at 9:30. His subject will be "The Re-
formed Tradition and Its Critics."

The preacher for the week is the Rev. Dr. Edmund A.
Steimle, noted Lutheran pastor, nationally known radio
minister and Professor of Homiletics in Union Theological
Seminary, New York. Dr. Steimle is scheduled to preach
each morning at 1 1 : 00 o'clock Tuesday through Friday.

All of these addresses are to be delivered in the Columbia
Presbyterian Church.

Annual Meeting
of the Alumni Association

The Annual Meeting of the Alumni Association will be
held at 12:45 P.M. in the Tull Dining Room on Tuesday, No-
vember 6. In many ways this is to be the most significant
meeting of Alumni which has yet been held.

Several classes have been invited to this luncheon for
reunions. Classes with their representatives are as follows:

1915 Dr. C . Darby Fulton, Columbia Theological

Seminary
1920 Dr. Wm. Childs Robinson, Columbia Theological

Seminary
1 925 Rev. S. Wilkes Dendy, Dalton, Georgia
1 930 Rev. Ralph E. McCaskill, Quincy, Florida
1935 Rev. E. Bert Wilkinson, Sharon, S. C.
1940 Rev. Herman Dillard, Abbeville, S. C.
1945 Rev. LeRoy C. Obert, 928 Woodland Avenue, S. E.

Atlanta 16, Georgia
1950 Rev. James Eade Anderson, Greenwood,

Mississippi

1 955 Rev. H. Sidney Maxwell, Tryon, N. C.

1 960 Rev. George Daniel McCall, Highlands, N. C.

Tables are to be set aside for these classes to have lunch
together. Class representatives listed above are encouraged
to contact the members of their classes and urge them to
make plans to attend this meeting.

Two New Professors Inaugurated

The inaugural addresses of Dr. Dean Greer McKee and
Dr. Paul Traugott Fuhrmann were delivered on May 7, 1962,
in the Columbia Presbyterian Church. Dr. Fuhrmann's in-
augural address is presented in this issue of the Bulletin and
Dr. McKee's address will be published at a later date.

Dr. McKee, formerly President of the Biblical Seminary,
New York, is Professor of Biblical Exposition at the Semi-
nary and Dr. Fuhrmann, who holds degrees from various
European and American universities, is Professor of Church
History.

New Buildings Dedicated
on the Campus in 1962

On May 8 students and friends assembled on the Semi-
nary Campus for the dedication of the new Student Center
and Florida Hall, the dormitory for married couples. Speakers
for the occasion were Mayor Ivan Allen of Atlanta and Mr.
Laurence H. Favrot of Houston, Texas. Mayor Allen is a well
known Atlanta Presbyterian and was one of the leading in-
fluences in the Atlanta Campaign for Columbia Seminary.
Mr. Favrot is a Director of the Advanced Religious Study
Foundation of Houston, Texas. Dr. P. D. Miller, Chairman of
the Board of Directors, presided and led the audience in the
Dedicatory Service.

'on Exercises

Fifty-seven students received degrees at Graduation
Exercises on June 4. The Commencement addresses were
made by Dr. Ronald Stewart Wallace, Pastor of the Lothian
Road Parish Church, Edinburgh, Scotland.

This year's graduating class had the unique experience
of receiving instruction from the most widely representative
group of professors ever assembled on the campus of the Semi-
nary during any one year. Scholars from almost every conti-
nent in the world were on the campus at one time or another
during the three years these men were students at the Semi-
nary.

DEDICA TOR Y ADDRESS

delivered by Mr. Laurence H. Favrot

May 8, 1962

President Richards, Members of the Board of Directors,
Faculty and Student Body, and Friends all, we are gathered
together to participate in a service of dedication of these two
recently completed and beautiful buildings, the Student Center
and Refectory and Florida Hall. The setting and weather add
immeasurably to the pleasure of all present for this occasion.
These new and badly needed buildings have been made pos-
sible by the generous response of so many in the Synods served
by and supporting Columbia Seminary. The number of
churches and church membership in these Synods comprise
about 30% of the total in the Presbyterian Church, U. S.

It is significant that among the first fruits of the first
phase of your Development Program are the more adequate
means by which Seminary Students can learn and live to-
gether in Christian community. We are reminded that Chris-
tianity began with a group, the Apostles chosen by Christ. In
Barclay's comments on the third chapter of "The Gospel of
Mark," he says:

"The Christian faith is something which from the
beginning had to be discovered and lived out in a fel-
lowship. The whole essence of Christianity was that
it bound men to their fellow men, and presented
them with the task of living with each other and for
each other."

This conception was in startling contrast to the way of
the Pharisees, of Christ's day, who lived separated from their
fellow men.

The Directors, Administration and Faculty responsible
for the program and long range planning at Columbia Semi-
nary are to be commended for their foresight and knowledge
that in every enterprise it is essential to anticipate and plan
for the needs of the future. At Columbia, as in the three other
Seminaries directly serving the Presbyterian Church, U. S.,
there has been a willingness to undergo self-examination and
to seek outside surveys of all functions pertaining to a theo-
logical seminary. This open-mindedness and drawing from
the experience and ideas of others means much for the pres-
ent and will mean more for the future of these four Seminaries
and our Church.

Important as are these new buildings to this community,
they are but a means to a greater end. So let us pause and
reflect briefly upon the situation faced by the Church and in
the World today.

In this time of vast change, perplexity, and turmoil our
own country has been productive and prosperous beyond the
dreams of men a few generations ago. No longer are there
problems in the growing and distribution of food for human
needs; the problem is and has been in recent years overpro-
duction. And this has been in spite of population growth in
the United States of something over 1-34 million people each
year. Compare this population growth with that on a world-
wide basis.

It is reliably estimated there are an average of 187 births
each minute in the world or 3,366 during this 18-minute talk,
to which for your sake I am determined to limit it. The
world's population is increasing at the rate of approximately
50 million people each year. You are fully and painfully aware

that in most parts of the world food and material needs of
people are not met as easily, nor completely as in the United
States.

The rapid shift of population in the United States from
rural to urban, and the mobility of our population, are cre-
ating many problems which challenge not alone our govern-
ment, on the federal, state and local levels, but all thoughtful
and concerned citizens.

There is a growing tendency on the part of a majority of
our citizens to permit, nay even to demand, that government
assume the financial burdens of the unemployed, the unfor-
tunate, and the indigent. This statement is not meant to imply
that those of our fellow citizens who need aid should not re-
ceive it but only to point out the shift of responsibility for
rendering aid from individuals, families, and communities to
impersonal and sometimes distant government agencies.

Are we not relying too much upon mass effort and bigger
government to solve many problems and perform many func-
tions which might be best left to individual and private effort
and local communities?

Today's means of transportation and communication
have drawn the nations and people of this world closer to-
gether. We can communicate in a matter of minutes and be
transported halfway around the world in a matter of hours.
These, and other related facts, are having a profound in-
fluence on man and his relations with his fellow man in what
we used to consider distant places. We now freely acknowledge
that this country has no inaccessible places and within this
generation all parts of the world have become accessible to
almost any man, except where political barriers bar the way.

The emergence since World War II in Asia and Africa
of so many new nations, most with strong nationalistic or
race feelings, poses problems in our concept of World Mis-
sions and creates tensions which affect all nations and peo-
ples of this earth.

The undiminished struggle continues between those na-
tions committed to the freedom of the individual opposed by
those nations seized and controlled by the secular religion of
communism. In the hands of the most powerful leaders of

these opposing groups are nuclear, and other weapons too
deadly and devastating to contemplate and fully understand.

Man's flight into outer space and the location in the South,
spread from Texas to Florida, of a number of the research,
assembly and launching centers and facilities for further
space exploration, including Project Apollo (the manned lu-
nar landing program), provides thrilling evidence of man's
scientific achievements and determination to continue this
adventure into the unknown. All of this, growing out of man's
great advances in the physical sciences, is loaded with impli-
cations for those of us who are concerned that the material
aspect of man does not outdistance his eternal quality, name-
ly his spirit. But whether we understand it, or not, whether
we like it, or not, a new age has been launched at our very
doorstep.

Church membership is at record levels in our country
and within the Presbyterian Church. The reasons advanced
for increased membership, aside from population increase,
are many and varied; from a religious revival to the fear and
uncertainty engendered by these times. Whatever the reasons,
church giving for budget and capital needs has, in some in-
stances, been generous, but in spite of big membership and
adequate financial support to meet minimum needs of the
Presbyterian Church, and most Protestant churches, we are:

1. Short of ministers to fill the pulpits of the churches.
In the Presbyterian Church, U. S., there are more
churches than there are ministers, but it is true that
many of these churches are small in membership.

2. The number of trained workers in other fields of
Christian service are in short supply.

3. Candidates for the ministry are too few, and in our
country at large, have been decreasing the past few
years.

4. Church attendance, and participation, are often piti-
fully small in proportion to church membership.

5. The participation of the laity in the work of our
church is, in some individual cases, whole-hearted
and complete, but in too large a proportion of our
members it is inadequate.

S

6. Large segments of our population are not being
reached by the Church. And, mind you, this situation
exists in our own country which we think of as pre-
dominantly Christian.

This cursory treatment of a partial list of factors and
conditions affecting each of us and the Church today is an
indication of the type and magnitude of problems and oppor-
tunities which need our devoted prayer, study and effort.

In what ways then can Columbia Seminary continue to
serve effectively the Church? There are the obvious areas of
service familiar to all, which undergo periodic study and ex-
amination by the Administration and Faculty.

Columbia's practice of inviting Visiting Professors is
most helpful to Faculty and Students in receiving new per-
spective from the Visitor.

The additions to the Faculty of Columbia Seminary are
making it possible to reduce the work and teaching load of
some overloaded Faculty Members.

The general purpose of Columbia Seminary to educate
persons for the ministry and for other fields of Christian
service w T ithin the Church seems simple enough. But with
the cultural changes now taking place, training persons for
the pastoral ministry, and some for a specialized ministry,
is far from simple. There is not general agreement about the
nature and purpose of the ministry. Is the minister being pre-
pared to serve as preacher, pastor, teacher, administrator and
for other areas of service? And once in the ministry, how
should the minister organize and divide his time? How much
time should be devoted to study and how much time given to
activities outside the pastorate? Discipline and selection in
the commitment of time and effort is possibly needed in the
ministry more than in any other vocation. These and other
basic questions are interrelated and need the study and at-
tention of the Seminary, the ministry and the laity.

Three years of preparation in a Theological Seminary
provide a minister with only a basic knowledge of the Chris-
tian Faith and Church and point to the source of further
knowledge to develop his own resources and skills and thereby
enrich his ministry.

Columbia, and other Presbyterian Seminaries in the
South, have recognized the importance of the continuing ed-
ucation of the minister. This is being accomplished through
the enlargement of the Seminary's library, loan of books by
mail, recommended course of reading and study by subjects
or areas of interest, and the periodic return to the Seminary
of ministers in small groups for one or two weeks of study
and discussion with Faculty members. There is much prom-
ise in this effort to assist and encourage the minister to con-
tinue his study and education beyond Seminary in a system-
atic way.

Historically, the Seminaries have been the center for
theological thought within the Protestant Church. It is hoped
the Seminary environment will continue to foster intellectual
freedom, nurture the scholar, and help interpret and present
the Christian Faith to each generation.

By the complete surrender of our lives to the Living God
and an abiding faith in our Redeemer and Saviour, Jesus
Christ, we can look beyond the present with Hope and Con-
fidence.

Why Calvin?

by Professor Paul T. Fuhrmann

To see a fine assembly makes us think of Calvin and the
1,000 persons who usually listened to him explaining the
Bible. Why did all these men go all the way to Calvin in
Geneva? Our present ways of thinking, our current mores,
our pietism and evangelism are later products which can not
possibly be the cause of events which happened more than
four hundred years ago.

To find an answer to the question why men went to Cal-
vin we must transplant ourselves into the world in which they
lived. The duty of an historian is to lead to truth 1 and this
means to show other circumstances and other factors. The
task of the historian is to show the difference differences
between times, between lands and between men. To do this is
not always easy. In order to hold itself together, society is

10

intolerant. It wants sameness everywhere. It does not permit
differences. It does not even want to see differences in the
past! The historian (to be an historian) must persist in
showing differences. Why should he persist? There is the ex-
hortation of Jesus "A sower went out to sow his seed . . ."
(Luke 8:5-8a). The lesson of Jesus is that the greatest part
of the seed is lost and yet the sower must persist knowing
that, through an agency other than himself, some seed will
bring fruit. And so the disciple, the pastor, the historian
must persist.

In answering our question "Why students went to Cal-
vin?," we have the help of an ancient historian Florimond
de Raemond. 2 He was very adverse to Calvin and wrote a
History of the Heresy published in 1605. Here Florimond re-
lates an eyewitness' story that "as some (Catholic) students
in Toulouse (France) were taking a walk under the porches
of their school, the Holy Spirit descended upon them. This
time the Holy Spirit was not in the form of a dove or fiery
tongue. It was a new and invisible Spirit," says Florimond,
"who continually chanted in their ears the names of Calvin
and Geneva, so that one day some six students packed their
things and left. Their desire to see this holy man (Calvin)
was such that it put wings to their feet." Florimond closes
this story saying that "not even the joy of the first Crusaders
at seeing the coveted walls of Jerusalem was equal to the
happiness of these students at seeing the sacrosanct walls
of Geneva." 3

Beside the attraction exercised by the power of Calvin's
character and ideas, an historian gives as second reason the
fact that the student who came to Geneva was ipso facto
promoted to manhood. When a student arrived he (like any
refugee) had to register within three days at the City Hall
and take an oath of faithfulness before one of the four syndics
of Geneva. The newcomer had hardly done so when he was
given a pike (a spear used by infantry before the introduc-
tion of bayonets) or a harquebus (a hook-gun, portable gun
put on a forked rest when in use) and sent to the boulevards
of the city. In those days the boulevards were not broad tree-
lined streets on which to promenade oneself. The boulevards
were the bulwarks, the ramparts (defensive mounds of

11

earth) beside the walls of the city where constant watch had
to be kept, 24 hours a day.

In Geneva a student had to become a man and a soldier
because Geneva was in constant danger. With the Reforma-
tion, Geneva had declared herself independent of her Cath-
olic bishop and of the Duke of Savoy. But the Duke and his
clergy always coveted the city and plotted a comeback. The
Genevan republic had to be an armed camp always on the
alert. The flag of the Duke (a large white cross on a red
background) always floated in defiance at the doors of Geneva
and it was only in 1602 (when a final Savoyard assault failed)
that Protestant Geneva counted herself safe. The city's final
deliverance from this menace is still commemorated every
year in Geneva. It is called the escalade because in the night
of December 11-12, 1602, 300 Savoyard soldiers (having
blackened their breast-plates and faces like the British com-
mandos we see at the movies) succeeded in scaling the city
walls with ladders and entering the city. The general alarm
was sounded and the 300 men caught just in time before they
could open the city from the inside to foreign occupation.

Under Calvin, in the City of Geneva there was an odor
of battle but not of hatred. For Calvin exhorted his people to
expect "in silence" deliverance from God alone: "In front of
the rage of wolves, show yourself benign and peaceful like
sheep." 4 Calvin's attitude was purely defensive. His feeling
about war was well shown during the Conspiracy of Amboise
(March 1560). This famous conspiracy was the first politi-
cal and military move of Protestants in France. The king of
France was a minor and was in the charge of the Catholic
family of Guises. At this time all sorts of cruelties were prac-
tised on French Protestants. These expected hourly a hor-
rible massacre. The Calvinist conspirators were not plotting
to change laws or kings but aimed at having the Protestant
Prince of Conde (brother of the Protestant King of Nav-
arre) take the place of the Catholic Guises as tutor of the
young King of France. Calvin did not approve of this plan
and wrote to the plotters that if a single drop of blood were
spilled, floods of blood would soon deluge Europe: thus it
would be a hundred times better that all the children of God
in France should perish rather than dishonoring the Gospel
by bloodshed. 5 Calvin had an intense dislike for war. The

12

words of Jesus commending Peace-Lovers (reported in Matt.

5:9)

"Fortunate are those who love and establish peace
Because (in the Kingdom) they shall be recognized
as children of God !"

had registered in Calvin's mind. The diffusion of Peace is to
be regarded as a characteristic of God Himself. And to this
day the Beatitudes of Jesus still recommend Compassion.
Purity of heart (as transparence of character) and Love of
Peace as the three great characteristics of a Disciple of Jesus.

Yet Geneva intended to defend herself and foreign stu-
dents were a part of her army. And they had to undergo a
discipline unknown elsewhere. The peril was constant. A
third attraction therefore may have been not security but
constant insecurity! This is the point; and it is here that we
meet Calvin's maxim "in this world we are like birds upon
the branch" a saying that is reproduced in several antholo-
gies of Calvin. This saying is not to be understood romantical-
ly as a lesson to sing perpetually like birds. Nor is it to be
explained sentimentally as an exhortation to be ever joyful
like our little feathered friends. The maxim has to be read in
the light of hard historical circumstances. And these are
found in a letter of Calvin written in 1546. A lady in France
and "in very great anxiety" had written to Calvin expressing
the desire to come to Geneva so as to find security there. Cal-
vin answered her "I confess that you will not (find security
here) ; for while we are in this world, it is fitting that we
should be like birds upon the branch. So it has pleased God,
and is good for us. Geneva shall not cease to be subject to
many troubles and annoyances." The risk was hers but if she
would come she would be welcome. 6

"As birds upon the branch" is therefore an expression of
total uncertainty, insecurity and suspense. For Calvin every-
thing in the world is held in suspense. Neither human so-
ciety, nor political regimes, nor the Church is the final King-
dom of God. The State, the Church, all things are provisional.
Even our personal destiny after death is not revealed until
the Last Day. Until the final advent of Christ as Redeemer
for Calvin everything is held in suspense: Omnia teneri sus-
pensa donee Christus apparet Redemptor (Ins. III. XXV. 6) . 7

13

So we must count here, as the third attraction, risk, total in-
security. For years (until 1555) the Geneva City Council was
not favorable to Calvin. Old timers in Geneva wanted to get
rid of him. Tensions were many and they were continuous.
Some historians are puzzled by the fact that people in Geneva
could endure such tensions for years and years. This is ex-
plained partly . by the sustaining spirit of Calvin, by "his
great qualities of preacher and organizer," 8 and partly ex-
plained by the constant arrival of new blood in the form of
refugees who counterbalanced the defeatists and nourished
the zeal of those citizens who were about to give in. 9

When Calvin came to Geneva in 1536, the City had about
10,000 inhabitants but before long it harbored some 5,000
Evangelical newcomers. A thousand of these listened to Cal-
vin explaining the Bible. It is estimated that 600 of these
hearers were students. 400 were older men interested in the
Scripture. The hearers of Calvin usually returned to their na-
tive lands. The city however always had an average of 5,000
refugees whom Calvin considered to be his adopted children.
The majority of them had been forced out of France by
persecution. In 1545 alone 20,000 French were strangled or
burnt for having dared to detach themselves from the Roman
Church. Some escaped and came to Geneva. But there came
also Italians and Spaniards in sufficient number to constitute
local Italian (1551) and Spanish (1559) congregations. Un-
der the bloody reign of Mary, many Englishmen came to
Geneva. The old church of Notre-Dame-la-Neuve was as-
signed as their sanctuary (1554) and John Knox was for
three years pastor of this English-speaking community
( 1556-1559) . We find in Geneva also Germans, Dutch, Portu-
guese, Greeks and even converted Mohammedans from the
states of Venice. 10

Geneva however was not a mere refuge. It was the Cita-
del of Calvin's re-formation of the Church, its protecting and
dominating fortress on high ground a centre of active
Evangelical propaganda, a spiritual metropolis. In 1541 the
City's motto Post tenebras lux was changed to Post tenebras
lucem. The change from the Latin nominative lux to the ac-
cusative lucem meant that the light was no longer a hope but
a reality. 11 From Geneva went forth English, Scots, French,
Italians, Poles, Spaniards, Flemish. . . . These men had one

14

Fatherland: their re-formed Religion; one certainty: their
Divine Election; one reason for living: the Triumph of God's
Cause. These men from Geneva went from city to city, from
town to town; proscribed, dispersed, wandering through the
world. . . . But in the City of Geneva there was always an av-
erage of 5,000 refugees. You can easily imagine that the old
stock of Genevese gave a rather cold reception to this medley
of newcomers. There were so many of them ! One third of the
population ! They crowded the place out. Yet it was these men
who had sacrificed everything for the Gospel who gave to
Geneva her true independence.

How did all these people, and extra people, in Geneva
live? Times were hard. There was a general economic crisis
in Europe. The abundant gold coming from Latin America
had caused a great financial inflation. In other words, money
had become cheap, hence living costs went up. But wages were
not increased so that cities began to have a large proletariat,
and pauperism became rampant. At this time we have the
first rebellions of working men and the first strikes in Lyons
and Paris. As for Geneva, her fairs (periodical market
square sales) had once been famous and well attended. One
could have purchased there perfumes from far away Arabia
and colorful rugs from Persia. But now Geneva was afflicted
by the general economic condition of that time and continent.
And the Reformation had made her economic situation far
worse. Since Geneva had accepted the Reformation, the
Kings of France and the Dukes of Savoy had their people boy-
cott her fairs. As if that were not enough, the city was per-
petually beseiged. Geneva is situated on a lake but the land
behind and around her was the domain of the very Catholic
Duke of Savoy. Food for Geneva had to come from across the
lake, from the Protestant Swiss state of Bern which protected
and helped her. Living costs were high. Calvin's remuneration
consisted in grain, some liquids and 500 florins a year. The
florins would be about 333 dollars a fair salary but, consider-
ing prices, it was modest.

How did Geneva live? It is at this juncture that Calvin
reveals himself as a great sociologist and economist. Existing
industries could not absorb the unemployed and the newcom-
ers. So Calvin sponsored the introduction of more textile
mills and new industries in Geneva such as new pharmaceu-

15

tical plants, silk industry, silk-worm culture (and raising
mulberry-trees whose leaves alone feed silk- worms) and pub-
lishing houses. Geneva under Calvin came to have 38 printing
presses. The new industries brought in some relief. But Cal-
vin also struggled for a containment of prices and favored
labor contracts so as to assure constant and stable wages. Cal-
vin also developed a vast social assistance in favor of the poor,
the aged, the sick, the orphans and the unemployed. After
a neglect of centuries, Calvin resurrected the office of Deacons.
These Deacons hunted not heresy but both poverty and excess
wealth with a view to assist the needy. Recent studies of T. M.
Parker of Oxford 12 and Andre Bieler of Geneva 13 show that
Calvin's thought was far from being individualistic and
laissez faire. His thinking was profoundly social and so was
his ceaseless activity. Calvin justified his ideas and deeds not
by natural, contingent and empirical motives (such as 'eco-
nomics for the sake of economics, 5 'business is business') but
by God's will as manifested in the Scripture.

Calvin's social and economic theory (or ideal) you may
find expressed in his exposition of 2 Cor. 8: 13-14: God wills
that there be proportion and equity among us, that is, each
man is to provide for the needy according to his means so
that no man has too much and no man has too little.

Calvinism is not easy to define. The men who read Calvin
most are the very ones who hesitate most in giving a defini-
tion of Calvinism. Some have called it simply a restoration of
the authority of the Old Testament in Christendom. Others
have defined Calvinism as the Scriptures understood by hu-
man reason. I would say that Calvinism is simply reading all
the Works of Calvin (in the light of his circumstances and
purpose) and remaining faithful to his thought as a whole.
If we would do that we w r ould be Calvinists and we could
derive an imposing and original social doctrine: imposing be-
cause Calvin faced innumerable social problems and sought
to solve them; original because Calvin, abandoning the
scholastic method, directly compared Bible texts and drew
entirely new moral and social standards.

If he had a social doctrine, what would Calvin think of
our international situation? Would he have a word of hope
for us in this hopelessly divided world? I love to think that
Calvin would say that the world has always been divided and

16

we cannot expect an exception in our case. As a matter of
fact, in Roman times already the world was split in two. The
Romans occupied a line through part of Germany, the Balkans
and beyond the Near East. Barbarians wanted to break the
line and enter the Roman Empire. The Romans tried to hold
the line. But the Barbarians were themselves pressed by peo-
ples from central Asia and had to go somewhere. The line the
Romans did their best to hold was ultimately against Asiatic
despotism and is the same line which American influence
holds today. Since Roman times the w r orld has not changed
essentially. The only change is that the Western centre of
financial and military power has shifted from Rome to Wash-
ington.

In Calvin's time the general situation was similar. The
Asiatic Turks were pressing upon Europe from the Balkans.
It was probably having the Turks (if not raiding Savo-
yard bands) in mind that Calvin expressed the idea that
Barbarians are the scourge of God, that is, Barbarians are
the instrument or manifestation of God's displeasure with our
ways. Barbarians are God's whip to lead us to repentance
(turning to God), amendment and better human relations.
And so Calvin translated Deut. 28:49 as follows: "God will
raise Barbarian peoples against those who will not be God's
subjects. 3 ' Calvin explained that God wishes to be our Father
rather than a terrifying king or prince. God's Word is clear
but it is we who made ourselves deaf to God. It is then that
God has to use another language. He raises Barbarians
against us, Barbarians who have no reverence, no reason, no
equity, Calvin said; Barbarians without pity or compassion
who are as deaf to us as we have been deaf to God. "When we
consider the evil which is in all mankind, let us apply all that
particularly to ourselves." Calvin would say that if today Mr.
Gromyko (the Russian Secretary of State whom we see on
television) is as hard as a rock it is simply because yesterday
the hearts of our fathers have been like stones. How can we
remedy the situation? Calvin asks and answers Let us
enter, enter in our consciences. Let us not be angry at Bar-
barians. Our struggle is not against them since it is God who
wants to correct us by their instrumentality. 14 We learn
through suffering (pathei mathos, Aeschylus) .

17

The final, supreme reason for turning to Calvin must be
not the man himself but his principle. According to some,
this principle is the Sovereignty of God. Well, Catholics too
hold this principle and some day might use this principle to
flatten down the Baptists. In any case, though of course Cal-
vin believes that God is King, I do not find Calvin saying any-
where that the Sovereignty of God is the Principle of our Re-
ligion. Others say that Calvin's Principle is Predestination.
There is no doubt that Calvin believed in Predestination. Pre-
destination was the basis and justification of his Church. Pre-
destination accounts for your and my being here today.
Wherever the Lord has placed us, that is our heavenly Jeru-
salem. God has somehow led us here and under His Providence
we must ever anew start from here as in a perpetual rebirth
and live up to our Election and be worthy children of our
Father in Heaven. But nowhere have I read Calvin saying
that Predestination is the Principle of our Religion. The only
place where Calvin speaks of "the Principle of our Religion
which distinguishes our Religion from all other religions" is
to be found in his French New Testament Commentary. Here
Calvin says: "This is the (French le) Principle which dis-
tinguishes our Religion from all others: We know that God
has spoken to us, and are certainly convinced that the Proph-
ets did not speak their own minds, but, being organs and in-
struments of the Holy Spirit, they proclaimed only what
they had received from above. . . . That same Spirit who
made Moses and the Prophets certain of their calling now
also witnesses to our hearts that God has used their min-
istry to instruct us.

"15

In this Principle of our Religion according to Calvin, we
have really two poles which create a spiritual dynamism two
forces which create a forward movement on our part. The
first pole or force is Prophetism. Calvin takes us and throws
us back into a far past which soon proves to be the eternal
present. Calvin puts us back into the company of Amos, Hosea,
Isaiah, Jeremiah. . . . The second pole or force in our Religion
is the Spirit's witnessing to our hearts that the Prophets
were God's representatives, that they were right. In other
words, in Calvin's Principle we have an objective factor: the
Prophets of history, and a subjective factor: the Spirit who
makes our hearts apprehend the present significance of the

18

Prophets of history. This could mean that the New Israel,
among which we ministers of God live, is not essentially dif-
ferent from the Old Israel.

Here again, if one should actually read all the Writings
of the Prophets and be faithful to their thought as a whole,
one could hardly concur with the vulgar opinion that the
Prophet's function was a mere foretelling the future. Thrown
into the fellowship of the Prophets, a man would come to see
that the Prophet was a man of the present, vitally interested
in what was going on both at home and abroad, deeply dis-
satisfied with current religion as mere solemn assemblies,
vain external forms of worship and fruitless lip-service to
the idol of their vain imagination. I have never found the
least indication that a Prophet of Israel was concerned about
his personal salvation. The Prophet dissolved his personal
anxiety into anxiety for other men. What the Prophet cared
for was the Salvation of his people. By the word "Salvation"
no Prophet meant "going up into heaven." To the Prophet,
"Salvation" meant deliverance from evil. The Prophets were
deeply concerned about man, and spoke of Justice against
injustices, or right against wrongs. The Prophet certainly
had a moral mission but our present "emotional build-up"
does not let us see it. As Calvin precisely said, we have made
ourselves deaf to the Voice of God.

Yet the Prophet and the historian have a common task.
The Greek noun istoria was once closely related to the verb
idein to see ( Latin videre ) . Aristotle's History of Animals
was a description of them. Historia and vista are kin words.
("Vista: series of events looked back or forward to." Oxford
Dictionary.) History is a vision of things and the Scripture
reminds us that

"Where there is no vision, the people perish,"
that is, when there is no prophet, man is stripped of every-
thing (Prov. 29: 18). Calvin was a man of vision. He was like
a Prophet of history, and has been compared to Ezekiel. The
Prophet of history could not reconcile a current mass reli-
gion of mediocrity (invented by men to suit men) with these
words of God

". . .my thoughts are not your thoughts,
Neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord,

19

For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

So are my ways higher than your ways.

And my thoughts than your thoughts" (Is. 55:8-9).

The Prophet, the historian, the minister ought to see the dif-
ference. Like the Prophets of Israel, Calvin was concerned
about the national and the international situation. Calvin was
not worldly yet he was a man of the world: he cared for
humanity 10 as well as for the City in which he lived as a
foreigner and a stranger. Calvin cared for man. 17 According
to Calvin, we serve God by improving the conditions of our
brethren. 18 It is not God but man who needs help, deliver-
ance from evil, inner restoration. Calvin had his own idea of
the meaning of the saying of Jesus

"No man puts a patch of new cloth on an old garment
For ... a worse rent would occur" (Matt. 9:16).

Calvin said that "the meaning of this statement of Jesus is
that all men must not be compelled indiscriminately to live
in the same manner, because there is in men a diversity of
make up (Latin conditio) and complexes (French complex-
ions) and all things are not suitable to all men." 19

In an age in which nothing seems sacred any longer, Cal-
vin (in the very midst of his Institutes) reminds us that
there is in every man the Image of God and this Image is
sacred: "The Lord commands us to do good to all men with-
out exception. Universally, a great number of them, estimated
according to their merits, are very undeserving. But Scrip-
ture comes first and it inculcates that we must not regard the
intrinsic merit of men, but consider the Image of God in
them. To that Image we owe all possible honor and love (Fr.
dilection) . . . Whoever, therefore, asks your kind help, you
must not refuse him your assistance. Say that he is a foreign-
er, contemptible, a good for nothing; yet the Lord has im-
pressed on him a character or mark which ought to be fa-
miliar to the eyes of Faith. . . . We must not pay attention to
the wickedness of men but contemplate the Image of God in
them. This Divine Image by its beauty, dignity and glory,
must eclipse the faults of men and move us to love them" (Ins.
III. VII. 6).

You can see here a subjective element in Calvin (the
heart, man, love) a subjective element which needs to be

20

recovered and restored in our clay. You may see again this
subjective element in the three famous lines in which Calvin
describes Conversion to Cardinal Sadoletus :

"Thou, O Lord, didst shine upon me with the
brightness of Thy Spirit;
Thou hast put before me Thy Word as a torch ;
Thou hast finally touched my heart." 20

Calvin says that "the assent we give to God is of the heart
rather than of the brains; it is affection rather than under-
standing" (Ins. III. II. 8). The Calvin of history is not as
cold, abstract and rational as some presuppose. In the begin-
nings of his Institutes (I. VII. 5) he claims to state "nothing
except what each believer experiences within himself." Cal-
vin knows inner experience, pays attention to the inner man.
According to one of his sayings, it is the new being in us that
matters most. Calvin does not want you to be against your-
self. He says "In this world things fade and fall off when
they have passed their season, but in the Kingdom of Christ
the new man in us flourishes and is vigorous; the new man
within alone counts and to the new man alone we must pay
attention." 21

"Although we are afflicted, although we have many
anxieties and disappointments, the substance of our Salva-
tion abides. . . . Let us be content with God being a father to
us." 22

"Certainly the truth is this: the Christian Faith must
not be founded on human testimonies, nor rested on doubt-
ful opinions, nor propped by human authorities. It must be
engraved in our hearts by the hand of the living God so that
no seductive error can erase it. . . . The truth is that there is
a God who enlightens our hearts to know the truth. God
writes this truth in our hearts. He seals it by His Spirit. He
confirms and assures our consciences with His sure testi-
mony. This is firm and full certainty." 23 Amen.

NOTES

1 "An historian, who wills to discharge his duty with fidelity, ought to divest him-
self of the spirit of flattery and of slander, and put himself as far as he is able in
the condition of a Stoic, who is not actuated by any passion. Insensible to all
other things, he ought to be attentive to nothing but the interests of truth, and

21

to this he ought to sacrifice the resentment of an injury, the remembrance of a
benefit received, and even the love of his country . . . An historian, as such, is
like Melchisedec, without father, mother or pedigree. Should he be asked, 'What
countryman are you?' he must answer ... 'I am an inhabitant of the world; I
am not in the service of the Emperor, nor of the King of France, but only in that
of the truth; she only is my Queen, and to her only I took an oath to be faith-
ful.' . . . One becomes a bad historian in proportion as one shows himself to be a
good citizen." Pierre Bayle (1617-1706), Historical Dictionary, article on Usson.
2 1 540- 1602. Councilor at Bordeaux Parlament (High Court).

s Florimond de Raemond in Jaques Courvoisier, Breve histoire du Protestantisme,
Neuchatel & Paris, 1952, pp. 40-41.

4 Daniel Buscarlet, Geneve, Citadelle de la Reforme, Geneva, 1959, p. 58.
5 Letters, Philadelphia, 1858, Vol. IV, p. 176.
G Lctters, Vol. II, pp. 90-92.

7 Luther had affirmed iustorum animas dormire ac usque ad iudicii diem nescire
. . . exceptis paucis omnes dormire insensibiles. Luthers Werke Briefwechsel 2
Band, Weimar, 1931, p. 422. The new English translation of Calvin's Institutes
edited by Dr. John T. McNeill is a masterpiece. It indicates the sources of Calvin
and ilustrates his thought. But through this paper the rendering of Calvin is
generally our own.

s Historia de la Iglesia Catolica, Vol. Ill, Edad Nueva by R. Garcia Villoslada
(Gregorian University) and B. Llorca (Salamanca U.), Madrid, 1960, p. 692.
D. Buscarlet, op. cit., p. 93.

10 ibidem, p. 60.

n ibidem, p. 48.

12 T. M. Parker, Christianity and the State in the Light of History, London, 1955,
pp. 150-151, 156-166.

13 Andre Bieler, La pensee economique et sociale de Calvin, Geneva, 1959, Uhuman-
isme social de Calvin, Geneva and Paris, 1961.

u 160th Sermon on Deuteronomy, Wednesday, March 25, 1556 in Calvin's Opera,
Vol. XXVIII, col. 444-446 (also in Calvin Selections by C. Gagnebin with
Preface of K. Barth, Paris, 1948, pp. 258-260).

15 Comment aires de J. Calvin sur le Nouveau Testament, Paris, 1855, Vol. IV, pp.
300-301.

1G "The word 'neighbor' extends indiscriminately to every man because the whole
human race is united by a sacred bond of fellowship . . . Love every man as thy-
self . . . Even the greatest stranger is our neighbor, because God has bound all
men together for the purpose of assisting each other . . . The compassion that a
Samaritan enemy showed for a Jew demonstrates that the guidance and teaching
of nature are sufficient to show that man was created for the sake of man . . .
The Lord purposely declares that all men are neighbors that the very relationship
may produce mutual love." Calvin on Luke 10:30.

17 "To charge man's power of understanding with perpetual blindness, so as to
leave it no intelligence with regard to anything, is contrary not only to the Divine
Word but also to the experience of common sense." Ins. II. II. 12.

18 Henri Hauser, La naissance du Protestantisme, Paris, 1940, p. 82.

19 Comment aires . . sur le N. T., Vol. I, p. 231 cf. Latin text. Hence ministers
ought to offer variety of instruction according to case and capacity. Calvin on
Matt. 13:52.

Z0 Trois Traites, Paris & Neuchatel, 1934, p. 82.

^Comment aires . . sur le N. T ., Vol. Ill, p. 575 (on 2 Cor. 5:17).

22 4th Sermon on Deuteronomy, Wednesday, May 10, 1555 in Calvin's Opera, Vol.
XXVI, col. 90.

23 J. Calvin to Sadoletus in Trois Traites, p. 75.

22

A New Book by
Professor William Childs Robinson

THE REFORMATION: A REDISCOVERY OF GRACE

William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company,
Grand Rapids, Michigan, pp. 240-250, $5.00

Those who heard Prof. Robinson's series of lectures on
the Reformation during Ministers' Week in 1962 will be hap-
py to know that these lectures are to be published. Those who
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Each lecture develops in depth one particular aspect of
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Introduction : The Witness of the Reformers
I. The Slogans of the Reformation

II. The Significance of the Reformation:
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III. The Gospel of the Reformation: Christ, not In-
sufficient, but Ail-Sufficient

IV. The Article of the Reformation : Justification

V. The Theologian of the Reformation: John Calvin,
Interpreter of God's Word

VI. The Instrument of the Reformation:
The Preached Word

VII. The Root and Fruit of the Reformation:
The Evangelical Church

You may order your copy in advance of publication by
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William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 255 Jefferson
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A RE-DISCOVERY OF GRACE, by Prof. William C.
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24