The New Calvinists and why you should care

[Image of John Calvin found here.]

The Reformed Church in America is like the Presbyterian church, only more so. The Reformed Church, like the Presbyterian church, is a Calvinist church, following the teachings of John Calvin. You can learn more about the Reformed Church in America here.

For some folks, though, Calvinism as expressed in the theology and practice of the Reformed churches or the Presbyterian churches, is not good enough. These folks are known as the New Calvinists. Though small in numbers, they are having an impact. In fact Time magazine listed New Calvinism as No. 3 of 10 Ideas Changing the World Right Now.

New Calvinism has such an appeal it has crossed denominational lines. One New Calvinist leader is none other than Al Mohler of the Southern Baptist Convention.

According to one writer at Fallen and Flawed, "New Calvinists defy evangelical mainstream because they believe it's gone soft on sin and watered down the Gospel into a glorified self-help program..."

Yup. The nuts of the "evangelical mainstream" are not crazy enough.


Back in September, "Hundreds of Reformed believers passionate about preaching the Scriptures and making Christ known [...] convened in Minneapolis for three days of talks centered on the life and teachings of 16th century reformer John Calvin."

These folks think that "many churches today have lost confidence in the truthfulness and authority of the Bible.

But what they really want to do is return to the Middle Ages. They really like John Calvin. "We need to hear Calvin's voice once again calling us back to the Scriptures as our only source of truth and life."

Okay, that sounds like typical wingnuttery, but there's more. These folks also think that Calvin was a great man and his Institutes of the Christian Religion is the cat's meow. They like Calvin's theology: which maintains "the sovereignty of God, the sufficiency and authority of Scripture, the total depravity of humanity, and the doctrine of justification by faith alone."


Let's look at what else Calvin said and what these people are not saying. Jean (John) Calvin was born in north-west France in 1509. By age of 24, he had rejected Roman Catholicism "and within three years he had used the work of Bucer and Luther to construct not merely a new summa of Christian dogma but an entire system of state and ecclesiastical government."

His theology: "men were not only predestined to be saved, but to be damned. Satan and the devils acted on the command of God. ... God forwills all the tiniest events or actions from all eternity, whether good or evil, according to his plan."

One can know he is saved "by communion with Christ - that is, in practice by membership of a Calvinist congregation." Just don't get excommunicated, a threat which Calvin held over the heads of his followers like a bludgeon!

Calvin lived in Geneva, Switzerland. His theology required a theocracy. "To keep the elect pure, and to detect and excommunicate those predestined to be damned ... required a policing process.

"The elected councils of each city appointed elders, disciplinary officials who worked closely with the pastors; their duty was to enforce the moral code ... They met with pastors in consistories, and their excommunications were passed onto the magistrates for law-enforcement."

Woe betide those who found themselves on the wrong side of Calvin! They were not merely expelled from Geneva, but in some cases were tortured and in other cases executed! One man was executed for criticising the execution of citizens for their religious beliefs!

Calvin was bent on creating his view of the city of God on earth. [Luther wasn't much better, but that's another story.]

Calvin did not believe in freedom of conscience. Critics were excommunicated, expelled, tortured and/or murdered. " ... execution, Calvin found, was also useful to inspire terror and thus bring about compliance." (Sounds like the Bush administration!)

One of his most famous killings involved Michael Servetus, a writer, printer, geographer, astrologer, physician and surgeon. Servetus, in one of his books, proved Jesus was merely a man. For that heresy he was slated to be burned by the Inquisition, but he escaped and fled to Geneva where he was handed over to Calvin. He was burned to death (Calvin didn't want him burned, just executed!).

The New Calvinists like to talk about God's glory. So did the old Calvin. Four months after Servetus was burned to death, Calvin wrote, "One should forget all mankind when His glory is in question ... God does not even allow whole towns and populations to be spared, but will have the walls razed and the memory of the inhabitants destroyed and all things ruined as a sign of His utter detestation, lest the contagion spread."


Yes, say the New Calvinists, let's heed Calvin's voice! What does that mean? Do they wish to follow Calvin's example and make the United States the "city of God on earth," with all the death and destruction that entails?

You betcha! That's what all these goddamn dominionists, pentecostal freaks, and Reformed nogoodniks are all about! Just read their literature! They spell it all out. Make the United States a "godly nation," ruled by the laws of the Bible (as they interpret those rules).

And all this for the "glory" of God, dontcha know!

Thus, one New Calvinist leader dares say: "At the end of the day, what's most important is that God is glorified, not only in his creation but also in his plan of redemption."


Watch out! Most of us aren't going to fit in this "plan of redemption." And, what then will the New Calvinists and other religious nutcases do with us? Will they "heed John Calvin's voice"?

God forbid!


[Note: Some of this material comes from an article at Christian Post. Details relative to John Calvin are derived from Paul Johnson's A History of Christianity.]