Calvin and the Independence of the Church (Reformed Historical Theology) (German Edition)

franÅais 22, f. 372a -443a. The sermons were held from Monday 1 to Friday 5 January, on Wednesday 10 and Tuesday 15 January 1554. Calvin's sermons on Ezek. 1 -15 and 23 -35 have been transcribed from the manuscripts, but of the critical edition only the volume on Ezek. 36 -48 has been published (Supplementa Calviniana, vol. X/3: Sermons sur le Livre des Revelations du prophete Ezechiel. Chapitres 36 -48, ed. Erik A. de Boer -Barnμbas Nagy † (Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 2006). 2 Cf. also on f. 380a: 'Or cependant il nous doibt souvenir de ce qui a estØ traictØ, c'est asÅavoir, quand il nomme les pasteurs, qu'il comprend tant les magistratz que les juges, comme ceulx qui ont le regime spirituel de l'Eglise de Dieu, et ce nom se doipt approprier à tous les deux, comme il sera veu plus à plain cy apres'. Herman Speelman deals with a central question in the intellectual history of the sixteenth century: to what extent can Calvin be regarded as responsible for the tendency in Calvinism or, broader, in Reformed Protestantism, to form a church which has its own ecclesiastical organization and office bearers? So far, claiming a great deal of independence for the church has been considered an important aspect of Calvin’s legacy. In this line of reasoning, it is assumed that Calvin was a strong opponent of the church as a state organization that did not have its own governing body and power of excommunication. To better understand this issue, we first examine the position of the church within the city-state of Bern. Secondly, we direct our attention to the manner in which Calvin gave form to ecclesiastical life in Geneva. Next we deal with the church in France, and finally, we examine the influence of Calvin and French Calvinism on the organization of the Reformed church in The Netherlands in the 1570s. - Publisher.

Herman Speelman deals with a central question in the intellectual history of the sixteenth century: to what extent can Calvin be regarded as responsible for the tendency in Calvinism or, broader, in Reformed Protestantism, to form a church which has its own ecclesiastical organization and office bearers? So far, claiming a great deal of independence for the church has been considered an important aspect of Calvin's legacy. In this line of reasoning, it is assumed that Calvin was a strong opponent of the church as a state organization that did not have its own governing body and power of excommunication.To better understand this issue, we first examine the position of the church within the city-state of Bern. Secondly, we direct our attention to the manner in which Calvin gave form to ecclesiastical life in Geneva. Next we deal with the church in France, and finally, we examine the influence of Calvin and French Calvinism on the organization of the Reformed church in The Netherlands in the 1570s.

Herman Speelman's work remains the only monograph-length study that offers a new, comprehensive perspective on Calvin's ecclesiological ideal in terms of the church's relationship to the government. Different from what many have argued, this ideal did not lie in a vision of the church as completely independent of the government or that had its own power of excommunication. Instead, Calvin advocated a very modest form of ecclesiastical independence, from which later Calvinists would diverge. Calvin's ideas and those of his followers differ in some respects, so that by the second half of the sixteenth century two Calvinist views of the church had emerged. (Publisher) Foreword / Erik de Boer Translator's note General introduction The church in Bern after 1528 Calvin and the independence of the Genevan Church (1536-1538 and 1561) Calvin and the independence of the French Calvinist Church from 1559 to early 1562 "We were right to follow the Genevans" : Calvin and church in the Netherlands, 1572-1578 Conclusion Afterword Literature Sixteenth-century names Other names Geographical terms