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John Calvin: A Sixteenth Century Portrait

By William J. Bouwsma
New York, Oxford University Press, 1988. 3 10 Pp. $22.95.

Students of the Renaissance and Reformation have been following for some time the fascination with Calvin of William J. Bouwsma, professor of history at the University of California, Berkeley, and looking forward to the publication of this book. Its prompt and positive reviews in the general press suggest that its appeal will not be limited to specialists in the field. Bouwsma, writing as a secular historian of the sixteenth century and especially of humanism of that period, has determined to draw Calvin out of what he regards as the confining domain of specialists in theology and Calvin studies and to present him as a fully human sixteenth-century man.

Bouwsma emphasizes that he has not offered a biography but a portrait. A sketch of Calvin's life is provided in the first chapter. But Bouwsma then goes on to draw materials for his portrait "indiscriminately from every period in his life for which data are available, and the portrait itself is relatively static." Believing that the issues with which Calvin struggles and his coping methods do not significantly change over time, the author has combed Calvin's works for passages that reveal Calvin as a person. In this process, he focuses heavily on the biblical commentaries.

Considering how seldom Calvin explicitly spoke about himself, the richness of the assembled material proves remarkable. It is notably the portrait of a life-long humanist; parallels are regularly drawn to other humanists. Even such a familiar tale as that of Farel's persuading Calvin to stay in Geneva is freshly illuminated by the perspective of humanism. It is also a portrait of an anxious man, caught between two forms of "extreme spiritual discomfort": "the anxiety of the void"-the abyssand "the anxiety of constriction"-the labyrinth. Bouwsma believes that Calvin's thought reveals a persistent struggle to find a way to live with integrity between these two opposing forms of anxiety. To some extent, the elements in this portrait are purely personal; to some extent, they are culturally defined, allowing us entry into the broader sixteenth century world.

The concluding chapter admits that two Calvins, "co-existing uncomfortably within the same historical personage," have been identified. One, particularly terrified by the boundless abyss which suggested the unintelligibility of things and even non-being, was the philosopher, the conservative, intent upon establishing order and certainty. The other,

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dreading entrapment in the labyrinth, was the rhetorician and humanist, flexible, even revolutionary, celebrating paradox and mystery. This Calvin was not so much concerned with timeless systems of thought as with practical transformation of society. Bouwsma regards this Calvin as the more creative, adapting Christianity to the social conditions of his own day, though the other Calvin probably dominated.

Bouwsma's provocative portrait has the very great virtue of providing an interpretive framework drawn out of Calvin's own writing. It takes seriously complexities, tensions, and even frankly contradictory aspects of Calvin's thought and work. Bouwsma's insistence that it is, indeed, a sixteenth century portrait is also crucial. Those who know the period will not be startled by his focus on anxiety or on the holding in tension of unresolved conflicts of thought. Though, as he suggests, not all readers will be comfortable with his portrayal, surely they will acknowledge a fundamental fairness and appreciation for Calvin in the presentation and admire the learning and skill apparent in the creation of this revealing portrait.

The approach to Calvin's life that Bouwsma takes also raises some questions:

(1) Why a static portrait? Should not some argument be presented for the fundamental assertion that no significant change took place over his lifetime? Occasionally, comments are made about the historical moment reflected in particular statements of Calvin, but for the most part his writings are cited without reference to chronology or circumstances. Is it not possible that more of the contradictory attitudes might be illuminated by knowing the different circumstances in which he was writing?

(2) Does it not seem that the case for the order-seeking Calvin has been made more persuasively than the case for the freedom-seeking Calvin? The statement that Calvin "had little to say about the freedom ... of a Christian" needs considerable qualification. Even so, Bouwsma is surely right that the conservative Calvin dominated.

(3) Bouwsma's view that Calvin was more focused on bringing the world to order than creating timeless systematic theology is important and a useful corrective to less historically-oriented views. But, as Bouwsma makes quite clear, teaching the proper understanding of Scripture was fundamental to Calvin's method of reordering church and society. Should not the role of the Institutes in this process be more clearly visible? Calvin never intended the commentaries to stand alone, but assumed the teaching of the Institutes as he wrote them. For example, in Chapter 5, would not consideration of Calvin's distinctions in the Institutes between human moral capacities with and without grace and his "third use of the law" (also used by other humanist Protestants) be helpful in sorting out at least some of what seem to be contradictions between "pagan" carryovers and Christian views of' moral capacity?

We are indebted to Prof. Bouwsma for an instructive, stimulating,

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and clearly written book, which will have a deep influence on Calvin studies for years to come.

JANE DEMPSEY DOUGLASS

Princeton Theological Seminary
Princeton, New Jersey