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Top: Society: Religion_and_Spirituality: Christianity: Theology: Reformed: Calvinism
Calvinism may indicate the teachings expressed by John Calvin himself; it may be extended to include all that developed from his doctrine and practice in Protestant countries in social, political, and ethical, as well as theological, aspects of life and thought; or it may be employed as the name of that system of doctrine accepted by the Reformed churches.Calvinism, stressing the absolute sovereignty of God’s will, held that only those whom God specifically elects are saved, that this election is irresistible, and that individuals can do nothing to effect this salvation.
Calvinism challenged Lutheranism throughout Europe, spread to Scotland, influenced the Puritans of England, was further developed during the scholasticism of the 16th and 17th centuries and received its expression in the United States in the theology of the elder Jonathan Edwards. The doctrinal aspects of Calvinism were continued in the Princeton School and the influence of Calvinism on the culture was emphasized by Abraham Kuyper and the neo-Calvinists. In more recent times, in the Reformed theology of Karl Barth, the Calvinist stress on the sovereignty of God found new and vital expression.
The period from 1565-1640 was a period of Reformed scholasticism and the early orthodox codification of theological systems.Several factors account for the growth of orthodoxy or scholasticism. In response to the defining of the faith in the Catholic Church at the Council of Trent(1545-1563), there arose a similar need to more carefully define the Reformed faith. This need resulted in such documents as the Heidelberg Catechism(1563). The Reformed Church also had the need to respond to controversies, as in the Synod of Dort as a response to Arminianism in 1618-19.
The period from 1640-1700 is sometimes called the high orthodox or high scholastic period of Reformed theology. It was an age of considerable intellectual activity and development in the fields of theology, linguistic study and exegesis.Francis Turretin wrote in "Institutio Theologiae Elenticae" in 1688. The church responded to covenant questions raised by Cocceius.
Neo-calvinists recognise the lordship of Christ over all of life. The articulator of neo-calvinism, Abraham Kuyper, famously and emphatically proclaimed that "There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: 'Mine!'"For neo-calvinists this confession has been the spur towards an intense cultural engagement. Neo-calvinists believe that the lordship of Christ means that we must be redemptively involved in every sphere of society, seeking to bring about cultural renewal. This has meant that neo-calvinists have been deeply involved particularly in setting up Christian schools and trade unions, and in doing scholarship and politics.
Neo-calvinist cultural engagement shares with other Calvinists a social piety described by Nicholas Wolterstorff (Until Justice and Peace Embrace, page 21): "Restless disciplined reformism, or guilt for not being restlessly reformist: these are the characteristic components of the Calvinist social piety."
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