"You don't know Calvinism!"

 "You don't know Calvinism!"

As a guy with a degree from a calvinistic college who is no longer a calvinist I am already disqualified.

So here is the question: Does the 1969 Encyclopedia Britannica know Calvinism??


Calvinism means, first, the careful balance of complimentary doctrines which form the theology of John Calvinism(q.v.). Seconds, it means the developments on speculative or pietistic lines of a selection of those doctrines by Calvin's followers or those who claimed, not always defensibly, to be his followers,  Third, it means the historical developments in various countries of theological ideas, of patterns of worship, church organization, and moral discipline derived from the writings of Calvin and of his followers and from the practices of the Calvinistic church of Geneva in the 16th century. these doctrines and practices became the Hallmark of the reformed churches(q.v.) of the continent and of those generally known in English speaking churches as presbyterian churches.
  Calvin sought o hold together in balance  the full range of biblical teaching, disposed in a coherent pattern, but not with absolute logical precision- he often refused to make conclusions that his followers were willing to make in so doing they distorted the balance of his theology, partly in response to the success of the theological definitions of the council of Trent and the energetic attacks of the Counter-Reformation.  Calvinism in it's second form began to develop after Calvin's death (1564). His successor at Geneva Theodore Beza, changed certain emphases  over Calvin's theology. For example in his Tractations theologicae (1570) he reverted to the Medieval Scholastic practice of discussing predestination under the headings of God and Providence (whereas Calvin had eventually related it to the person and work of Christ), thus introducing a powerful element of speculative determinism into the doctrine.  Beza also emphasized literalism in the inspiration of the Bible which brought an attitude to biblical interpretation differing from that of Calvin,  One consequence of this was that Beza like many of the English Puritans, noting that the words Bishop and Presbyter were interchangeable in the New Testament, was convinced that the only true ministry of the church must be presbyterian (i,e,, non-episcopal).  Beza also regarded church discipline exercised by presbyterian organization as fundamental to the church's existence, and he was followed in this view by Scottish reformer John Knox, who made church discipline a third "note." of the true church together with the Word" and sacraments.  These developments never postulated by Calvin, tended to produce a more legalistic pattern in doctrines and discipline.  The five articles of the Synod of Dort (QV 1618-1619) represent a powerful definition of this post Calvin "Calvinism" and include the proposition that Christ died only for the elect, a statement Calvin himself did not formerly propose.  (See also Presbyterian)
A modification of the deterministic element in Bezan Calvinism provided by the introduction of the theology of the covenants, which sought to draw attention away from speculation on absolute predestination to the successive covenants made by God with man.(from Adam through Moses to Christ) in which man is to respond in obedience to daily life to God's covenants in the moral law, through the covenant of grace through Christ.  Here the process of sanctification tended to be allied with the obedience shown through the works demanded of Adam in paradise. and after the fall renewed by the covenant of grace. This was clearly expanded in the Summa Doctrine de foedere et testamento Dei (1648) of Johanned Coccius(qv)  The Westminster Confession (qv 1648) still a standard of many English speaking Presbyterian churches, is influenced by this theology,  Another modification of the original doctrine of Calvin was the pietistic and pragmatic concern for personal sanctification,
separated from Calvin's insistence on the objective reality of church and sacraments, which developed among the English Puritans, e.g. William Perkins.  Eighteenth century English speaking evangelicals such as Jonathon Edwards and George Whitfield, emphasized the doctrine of irresistible grace.as propounded in the five articles, together with the personal experience of conversion. (see Calvinistic methodism) until recently the term Calvinism has needed to imply this association of ideas.
The third meaning of Calvinism refers to the theological emphases and forms of church organization, worship, and discipline that became widespread in the 16th century France, Holland and Palatinate in Germany, Scotland and elsewhere, and produced the reformed and presbyterian churches.  Documents reflecting these emphases are the Palatinate's Heidelberg Catechism (1563)  the church of Scotland's The Book of Common Order (1564) and the First book of Discipline (1560) and the Directory of Worship and the Presbyterian form of Church government of the  Westminster Assembly of the divines.(1643-49)
Bibliography-A,A van, chelvin. hel Calvinisme Gederende sijn bloetjd, 2 vol (1951): J.T. McNeil The History and Character of Calvinism (1954); J. Dali, "Presbyterianism." in "Encyclopedia of religion and ethics", vol. 10 (1918).
1969 Encyclopedia Britannica Vol. 4 "Botha to Carthage" "Calvinism"