Yes, but unfortunately today it has become a generic motto rather than an enlivening expression. I most often hear it used among those who are simply quoting what someone else said. Or they use it to mean something like, “The world always needs Reformed doctrine.”
Really good stuff here, Ben. I wonder if there is an inherent, almost genetic tension in the reformed tradition between a reforming impulse and a conserving impulse. Don’t we see both in Calvin himself and Geneva? Theologians like Biéler and Kuyper and Bavinck et al rightly draw from Calvin’s “magnificent example” to develop reformed theology in new contexts rather than merely conserve Calvin’s thought. But Calvin’s example, and early reformed theology, also includes incredibly strong conservatism, as seen in this 1552 decision of the Geneva Council against Trolliet criticizing the Institutes:
“[The Council] has pronounced and declared, and pronounces and declares the said book of the Institution of the said Calvin, to be well and holily done, and his holy doctrine to be God’s doctrine, and that he be held as good and true minister of this city, and that henceforward no person dare to speak against the said book, nor the said doctrine. We command both parties [Trolliet and Calvin], and all concerned, to observe this.”
If I can make a constructive suggestion, perhaps we need to both vivify *and* mortify the reformed tradition, and the latter includes recognizing, imho, the conservatism endemic to Calvinism from the beginning.
Hey Aaron! Do you think the pronouncement of the GC should be attributed to Calvin tho? I’m hesitant to do so. I’m unconvinced of how much influence he had over the GC, particularly until later in life.
Either way, I don’t know if this would be a good example of the kind of “conservatism” later critiqued by the likes of those I cite here. I think at least a generation needs to go by for a “conservatism” to emerge that merely preserves what came before. For that matter, Calvin was still modifying and adding to the Institutes himself in 1552.
So whatever we make of this pronouncement be the GC, not sure I’d call it conservatism. I’d probably consider it “understandable overreach” of the council during a very tumultuous period. You’ll probably think that’s too generous.
Maybe there are better examples of Calvin’s conservatism? But as I understand the term, I don’t think it really begins to emerge until after the Westminster Divines with the rise of Puritanism.
Obviously it would take more time and space to explore the nuances of that GC pronouncement, but at minimum I think we should assign Calvin his fair share of responsibility because the case came from his complaint against Trolliet. The GC statement is also consistent with statements from Calvin (cf especially Balserak’s Calvin as Sixteenth Century Prophet). Either way, I’m not familiar with the technical sense of “conservatism” being used (nor those later periods of the reformed tradition). I used the phrases “conserving impulse” and “reforming impulse” in a more general sense. Do you not see both in Calvin? I know I’m not alone in seeing that tension, but it would take more time than I have to cite that position 🤓.
This was really well put, I enjoyed the parallel to the idea of preservation versus usefulness!
Wasn't one of the original "semper" slogans of the Reformation "semper reformanda," always reforming? It's an ongoing process.
Yes, but unfortunately today it has become a generic motto rather than an enlivening expression. I most often hear it used among those who are simply quoting what someone else said. Or they use it to mean something like, “The world always needs Reformed doctrine.”
Really good stuff here, Ben. I wonder if there is an inherent, almost genetic tension in the reformed tradition between a reforming impulse and a conserving impulse. Don’t we see both in Calvin himself and Geneva? Theologians like Biéler and Kuyper and Bavinck et al rightly draw from Calvin’s “magnificent example” to develop reformed theology in new contexts rather than merely conserve Calvin’s thought. But Calvin’s example, and early reformed theology, also includes incredibly strong conservatism, as seen in this 1552 decision of the Geneva Council against Trolliet criticizing the Institutes:
“[The Council] has pronounced and declared, and pronounces and declares the said book of the Institution of the said Calvin, to be well and holily done, and his holy doctrine to be God’s doctrine, and that he be held as good and true minister of this city, and that henceforward no person dare to speak against the said book, nor the said doctrine. We command both parties [Trolliet and Calvin], and all concerned, to observe this.”
If I can make a constructive suggestion, perhaps we need to both vivify *and* mortify the reformed tradition, and the latter includes recognizing, imho, the conservatism endemic to Calvinism from the beginning.
Hey Aaron! Do you think the pronouncement of the GC should be attributed to Calvin tho? I’m hesitant to do so. I’m unconvinced of how much influence he had over the GC, particularly until later in life.
Either way, I don’t know if this would be a good example of the kind of “conservatism” later critiqued by the likes of those I cite here. I think at least a generation needs to go by for a “conservatism” to emerge that merely preserves what came before. For that matter, Calvin was still modifying and adding to the Institutes himself in 1552.
So whatever we make of this pronouncement be the GC, not sure I’d call it conservatism. I’d probably consider it “understandable overreach” of the council during a very tumultuous period. You’ll probably think that’s too generous.
Maybe there are better examples of Calvin’s conservatism? But as I understand the term, I don’t think it really begins to emerge until after the Westminster Divines with the rise of Puritanism.
Obviously it would take more time and space to explore the nuances of that GC pronouncement, but at minimum I think we should assign Calvin his fair share of responsibility because the case came from his complaint against Trolliet. The GC statement is also consistent with statements from Calvin (cf especially Balserak’s Calvin as Sixteenth Century Prophet). Either way, I’m not familiar with the technical sense of “conservatism” being used (nor those later periods of the reformed tradition). I used the phrases “conserving impulse” and “reforming impulse” in a more general sense. Do you not see both in Calvin? I know I’m not alone in seeing that tension, but it would take more time than I have to cite that position 🤓.