The Displaced Calvin: 'Refugee Reality' as a Lens to Re-examine Calvin's Life, Theology and Legacy

Theologybrill.n l/rtReligion & Theology 16(2009) 35—52B R I L

The Displaced (3؛dvim ‘Refugee Reality’ as a Leus to Re-examine Calvin’s Li£e,

G eo lo g y and Legacy

R obert R. V oslooDepartment of Systematic Theology and Tcclesiology

Faculty of Geology, University of Stellenbosch 171 Dorp Street, Stellenbosch 7600, Republic of South Africa

[email protected]

AbstractDrawing on scholarship that highlights the fact that Calvin was a refugee who ministered to other refugees, this essay argues for a re-evaluation o f‘the displaced Calvin’ as source and motiva- tion for Reformed witness today.ذ first part of the essay attends to some biographical details that amplify the centrality of the ‘refugee reality’ in Calvin’s life. The second part of the paper traces the impact of this experiential reality on Calvin’s theology, focusing mainly on how it may serve as a lens to aid our understanding of Calvin’s reading of Scripture, as well as his doctrine of predestination. The brief conclusion suggests that, given increasing migration, displacement and xenophobia, the celebration of the legacy of the displaced Calvin requires a graceful theology of hospitality.

KeywordsJohn Calvin, Reformation, refugee reality, displacement. Reformed theology

1. Introduction

In his ^ a r d - w in n in g book The Reformation: Λ History the Oxford historian Diarmaid MacCulloch comments: ‘If one would have been justified in antici- pating a good night out in foe company of M artin Luther, foe same cannot be said for foe buttoned-up French exile who wanted to stop foe citizens of Geneva dancing.^ ه ‘buttoned-up French exile’ refers, o f course, to John Calvin, whose name is indeed often associated wifo moral austerity. However, one also needs to note that foe personality and foeology of Calvin are much more complex than many o f foe caricatures and one-sided characterizations of

D. ^cC ل ulfoch, The Reformation: A History (London: Fenguin Books, 2003), 241.

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36 R.R. Vosloo I Religion & Theology 16 (2009) 35—52

the sixteenth-century Reformer suggest, ^ i s fact partly explains the reason for the conflicting depictions of Calvin. As Carter Lindberg observes:

R e has been portrayed as both a narrow dogmatist and an ecnmenical chmchperson; a rnthless inqnisitor and a sensitive, caring pastor; an ascetic, cold anthoritarian and a compassionate hnmanist; a rigorons individnalist and a social thinker; a plodding systematizer and the theologians’ theologian who finally completed the doctrine o f the trinity; a man dom inated by logic and a man o ^ n t r a d ic to ry traits and inconsistencies; a theoretician o f capi- talism and socialism; the tyrant o f Geneva and a defender o f freedom; a die- tator and a revolntionary.^

It is nut surprising, then, that the histurian William Bouwsma identifies twu Calvins who coexist uncumfortably within the same histurical persunage.^ The one is Calvin the philosupher and ratiunalist, a man o f fixed principles who viewed Christianity as tending toward static orthodoxy, ^ i s philosuphi- cal Calvin craved anxiuusly for intelligibility, urder and certainty. The uther one Bouwsma identifies is Calvin foe rbeturician and bumanist. ^ i s Calvin was not su much seeking order and intelligibility, but was more inclined to celebrate foe paraduxes and mystery at foe heart o f human ex istence .H ow - ever one judges Bouwsmas purtrait o f foe twu Calvins, it rightly affirms foe need to respect more complex portrayals uf Calvin and to resist easy depictions tbat eitber overly romanticize or demunize foe Reformer o f Geneva.

^ i s paper does not want to evaluate foe different and uften conflicting purtrayals o f Calvin by theulugians and histurians, but it does want to call attentiun to an im portant aspect uf foe lifo uf foe ‘buttoned-up French exile’, namely that he was an exile, a refugee whu experienced displacement and a longing for his native land. In additiun, he ministered as refugee to uther refugees in cities like Strasbuurg and Geneva. But even Geneva was not bis home. In Hillerbrand’s wurds, ،he was a stranger there, and his heart lay in foe mis- siun to propagate foe guspel in his native land.’5 Calvin’s experiences as a refugee and wifo refugees are not ignured in foe bruader schularly conversatiun on Calvin’s hfo and work. However, his ‘refugee reality,’ as this experience wifi be

2 c . Lindberg, The European Reformations (Oxford: Blackwell, 1996), 250.3 See w. Bnuwsma, John Calvin: A Sixteenth Century Portrait (Oxford: Oxford University

Press, 1988), especially 230-234.4 Bouwsma, John Calvin, 231. Throughout his biography, Bouwsma uses the spatial meta-

phors of the abyss’ and the ‘labyrinth’ as heuristic devices to understand Calvin. According to Bouwsma, the philosophical Calvin ‘was chiefly driven by a terror that took shape for him in the form of foe abyss’ (230), while the humanistic Calvin ‘dreaded what he often described as entrapment in a labyrinth’ (231).

5 H. Hillerbrand, The Division o f Christendom: Christianity in the Sixteenth Century (Louisville: w ^ i n s t e r John Knox Press, 2007), 290.

R.R. Vosloo I Religion & Theology 16 (2009) 35-52 37

referred to in this essay, has not yet received, in comparison to other themes, the thorough treatment that it deserves, ^ i s paper draws on scholarship that highlights this aspect o f Calvin’s social location and its impact on his theology, thus arguing for a re-evaluation o f ،the displaced Calvin as source and motiva- tion for Reformed witness today.

The reality o f socio-political and economic migration, immigration and displacement, and foe concomitant xenophobia, have become im portant markers of life at foe beginning of foe 21st century, also in South Africa. Since one’s depiction o f historical figures also says something about one’s own self-understanding and social landscape, it is im portant to acknowledge that our own experiences play a significant role in colouring our perceptions o f foe past. Although one must acknowledge foe continuity between us and foe sixteenth-century Calvin, it is also im portant to respect foe strangeness of foe past, thus also affirming foe discontinuity between Calvin and us, between Calvin’s world and ours. In foe light ofthis methodological comment, foe first part ofthis essay will offer a fow brief biographical details that will amplify foe centrality of foe ‘refugee reality’ in Calvin’s life. The second part o f foe essay, which affirms foe close link b e ^ e e n biography and foeology, will trace foe impact ofth is experiential reality on Calvin’s foeology. Civen foe broad scope of such an undertaking, foe focus in fois section will be mainly on how this refugee reality may serve as a lens to aid our understanding o f Calvin’s reading of Scripture, as well as his doctrine o f predestination. ه first part o f foe essay gives a description of Calvin as refugee and his ministry to refugee com- munities, and foe second part highlights - in conversation wifo scholars such as Selderhuis and Oberman - some implications ofthis fact for his theological project. ظ brief conclusion then suggests that, given foe increasing migration, displacement and xenophobia, foe celebration of foe legacy of Calvin requires a graceful foeology ofhospitality.

2. Calvin, foe Exile؛ Snme Biographical Remarks

2.1. The Pastor as Exile

In November 2004 a diverse group of scholars gathered for a consultationof foe World Alliance o f Reformed Churches, foe }ohn Knox International Reformed Centre and foe Faculty of G eology o f the University o f Ceneva, with the aim of rediscovering Calvin’s legacy amidst the economic and social realities o f our time. The statement that resulted from fois consultation starts wifo a striking introduction:

R.R. Vosloo/ Religion & Theology 16(2009) 35—52

The pastor, an exile and resident alien, reached out to offer the strong hand oh fellowship to a doch o f refugees. This group spoke a language he knew, offers later would speak different ones, but all shared the condition o f having been uprooted from home and everything familiar. The young man remembered that from his own experience. Thankful to have been received into this community, these new exiles asked for prayers for the friends they have left far away, and help for themselves, in the name o f the one Lord Jesus Christ and d h gospel. Sometimes refugees m ight be able to bring with them the means to set up a new life, but not this group. Some of them were able and willing to work but needed jobs. Others brought little more than their faith and their shattered lives: a widow still stunned by the murder o f her husband and anxious about providing for their three small children, a man who had been crippled by torture w ondering if he could bear to be dependent even on these generous unknown neighbours.،؛

The pastor depicted in ffis scene is, o f course, John Calvin . ه members of the consultation in 2004 believed that ffe picture they drew of Calvin and his ministry in ffe introduction to their statement was not a misrepresentation, and that ffe rediscovery of this Calvin can contribute something valuable to ffe witness o f Reformed people and churches today.

Although ffe picture of Calvin as exile who ministered to refugees is probably not ffe dom inant image of Calvin today, this paper argues that this is indeed an aspect o f Calvins lifo and work that needs to be rediscovered, albeit w iff ffe necessary hermeneutical sensitivity. The refugee experience was a cen- tral part o f Calvins lifo. His ministry to a congregation o f refugees in Stras- bourg had a major impact on his understanding of ffe church and ministry. Moreover, one cannot evaluate Calvin’s ministry in Geneva without taking into account ffe crucial role played by ffe influx of refugees into that city. The cities associated w iff ffe lifo of Calvin - Basel, Strasbourg and Geneva - were all im portant centres for ?rotestant refugees and this social landscape left an im portant im print on Calvin’s ffeology and, in fact, on ?rotestantism as a whole.

2.2. The Refugee Seeking Refuge

The somewhat prosaic introduction to ffe statement o f ffe 2004 Ceneva consultation quoted above also mentions that ffe young pastor could identify w iff ffe uprooted refugees because he remembered similar experiences, ^ i s brings to m ind the fact that Calvin himself earlier had to flee from Paris after

6 For the text ofthe statement, see ‘ظ Economic and Social Witness o f C alv in for Christian Life Today: Statement of an International Consultation, Geneva, 3-6 November 2004,’ Reformed World55, no. 1 (March 2005): 3-7.

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the so-called ،Cop affair.’ O n 1 November 1533 (All Saints’ Day) Nicolas Cop, the new rector of the Sorbonne and friend of Calvin, gave the customary address at the beginning o f the academic year. In this address, which focused on the text of the Beatitude ،Blessed are the poor in spirit,’ the young medical doctor commented on Erasmus’ Paraclesis and Luther’s Kirchenpostilles.7 Cop also identified the ،poor in spirit’ with the persecuted evangelicals. The address was not favourably received by the Eaculty, which wanted to uphold Catholic orthodoxy and saw the speech as Lutheran propaganda. Although there is doubt about whether Calvin was actually involved in writing the speech, as used to be held, he was nevertheless implicated in some way in the controversy that erupted after Cop’s speech. Cop fled to Basel and a price was put on his head. Since Calvin’s room was also searched and his papers confiscated, he followed Cop’s example and left Paris. As one biographer of Calvin notes: ،Eor the following year he was on the move, in danger, whether actual or, no less disturbing, imaginary. He was a known ،،Lutheran”, able and vocal.’؟

At the beginning o f 1534 Calvin found refuge in the home o f his friend Louis du Tillet, the canon o f Angoulême cathedral in the south of Erance.؟ Although Calvin could probably not have spent more than four o f five momffi there, some scholars have argued that through D u Tillet’s splendid library he acquired greater knowledge of the church fathers. ه precise whereabouts of Calvin during 1534 are difficult to ascertain precisely, but Calvin’s need to hide at different places in Erance was ended by the events that followed ،the affair o f the Placards.’ ^ e s e placards were posted all over Paris and other major towns in France, and they proclaimed a vehement attack on ffie Mass. The government acted immediately and arrests were made. Some people were even executed, including a friend o f Calvin, Étienne de la Forge, ^ e s e events explain why Calvin, accompanied by D u Tillet, fled to Basel in Switzerland, ffie city won for ffie Reformation by O e^lam padius.^ Basel was at that stage already known as a safe haven for people wiffi evangelical sympathies. ١ ١ Here Calvin, who adopted ffie pseudonym M artinus Lucianus, seemed to adapt well to circumstances during his enforced exile, ft is during ffiis period that Calvin wrote prefaces in Latin and Erench for Pierre Robert’s Erench

7 For a thorough description ofthese events, see A. Ganoczy, The Young Calvin (Fhiladelphia: ه Westminster Fress, 1987), 80-83.

8 T. H. L. Parker, John Calvin: A Biography (London: J.M. Dent & Sons, 1975), 30.9 In later years Calvin would experience much pain hecause of Du Tillet’s decision to return

to the Roman church.10 See Parker,/،?/?^ Calvin, 32. At that time Frasmus, Wolfgang Capito, Sebastian Münster,

Heinrich Bullinger, Cuillaume Farel and Pierre Rohert also lived in Basel.11 See A. McGrath, A Life ofjohn Calvin: A Study in the Shaping ofWestern Culture (Oxford:

Blackwell, 1990), 75.

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translation o f the Bible, and he completed the first edition of his Christianae Religionis Institutio, published in March 1536, but probably completed in August 1535. Calvin would later rework this major work several times, finally resulting in the definitive enlarged 1559 edition . ه famous accompanying letter to The Institutes that Calvin addressed as apologia to King Francis must be read against the socio-political and religious context that caused, among other things, Protestant exiles like Calvin to seek refuge outside of France.

After a year or so in Basel, Calvin and D u Tillet left for Italy, visiting the court of Renée o f France, the duchess of Ferrara. ،To her flocked Reformists and Reformers, the fugitives after the affair o f the Placards,’ writes Parker. ٧ Calvin also sought refuge, and probably employment as scholar, in Ferrara.1 However, after a Frenchman ostentatiously refused to go to the Mass on Cood Friday in 1536, some arrests were made. In the ensuing commotion Calvin left Italy and went back to Basel, and from there to France. Since after the Edict o f Lyon ،heretics’ could live in France on the condition that within six months they be reconciled with Rome, Calvin could stay for a while in France, but after a few momffi he set out for Strasbourg. Because of hazardous circumstances he took a detour through the city of Ceneva, resulting in the famous meeting with Farel, who through dubious rhetorical means convinced Calvin to stay in Geneva.

2.3. ،That Frenchman

It is interesting to note that Calvin’s name is not even mentioned in the first official reference to him in Genevan records (September 5, 1536). ft reads: ،Master Guillaume Farel points out ffie necessity of the lectures begun by that Frenchman at St Peter’s and requests that he be retained and supported. He was told that such support would be taken under advisement’ (my emphasis) . ئ M uch has been written about Calvin’s first stay in Geneva, but for our purpose here it suffices to say that he had to leave ffie city in 1538 in ffie light o f conflicts wiffi inhabitants who did not share ffie way in which Calvin and Farel envisioned and enacted reform . ه Reformation scholar, Heiko Ober- man, to whose writings I will turn more extensively later in ffie paper, has commented that Calvin’s first stay in Geneva was not merely cut short because

12 Parker, John Calvin, 51.13 On Calvin’s relatinnship with the Duchess ©f Ferrara, which c©ntinued through later c©r-

resp©ndence, see F. w. Barton, Calvin and the Duchess (L©uisville: Westminster l©hn Kn©x Press, 1989).

14 Qu©ted in Hillerbrand, The Division o f Christendom, 300-301. Hillerhrand c©mments in this regard: ‘Hardly an exuherant expressi©n ©f welrome - and supp©rt’ (301).

41R.R. Vosloo/ Religion & Theology 16(2009) 35-52

of the haste with which he and Farel drove reform, but that it was also in part ،due to the Genevans’ reaction and opposition to him as stranger from the outside.’*؟ The reference to ‘that Frenchman’ {ille Gallus) in the records in the minutes of the city council is thus quite revealing.^

2.4. A Refugee Among Refugees in Strasbourg

Between his first and second stays in Geneva, Calvin spent three happy and significant years in Strasbourg. Strasbourg did not at that time belong to France, but given its strategic location close to the French eastern border, this city was one o f the chief cities o f refuge for the persecuted in France. It is here that Calvin became the minister o f a French refugee congregation, consisting of some four or five hundred members. Parker writes about Calvin’s new social location: Ά happy situation for him; a Frenchman among Frenchmen, a refugee among refugees, a poor man among generally poor m en.’̂ In many ways this congregation of French refugees served as model for the Reformed Churches in Geneva, France and elsewhere.*؟ Apart from his pastoral duties, and marrying Idelette van Bure, while he was in Strasbourg Calvin wrote his commentary on Romans (1540) and a new edition of the Institutio (published in 1539 in Latin and in 1541 in French), as well as his small treatise on the Lord’s Supper (1541). In Strasbourg he also wrote his famous response to Cardinal Sadoleto’s call that the (Genevans retnrn to the Roman church. Calvin’s stay in Strasbourg was also im portant for the development o f his ecclesiology, particularly through his contact with Bucer. Here he discovered a vision of the church of Christ in the diaspora. Oberman comments: ‘Calvin discovered the ecumenical church at his conversion... But in Strasbourg he discovered a new mark o f the church {nota ecclesiae): the authentic church of Christ, like the people of the }ews, is persecuted and dispersed.’*؟

15 H. A. Oberman, The Two Reformations (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003), 147.16 See alsn Lindberg, The European Reformations, 257.17 Parker,/ك Calvin, 68. In his bingraphy ©fCalvin, Selderhuis gives his chapter on Calvin’s

stay in Strasbourg the telling heading ‘De vluchteling’ (TLe Refugee). See H. 1. Selderhuis, Calvijn een mens (Kämpen: Kok, 2008), 111-141. Cf. also w. van’t Spijker, Calvin: Biographie und Theologie (C6ttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2001), 142—155 س Matthieu Amold’$ article ‘Straatsburg’ in Calvijn Handboek (ed. H. 1. Selderhuis; Kampen: Kok, 2008), 59-65.

18 Parker recalls the following testimony of a French-speaking refugee from the Fow Coun- tries with regard to the church in Strasbourg: ‘Everyone sings, men and women, and it is a lovely sight. Each has a music book in his hand. For five or six days at the beginning as 1 looked on this little company of exiles, 1 wept, not for sadness but for joy to hear them all singing so heartily, and as they sang giving thanks to Cod that he had led them to a place where his name is glorified’ (Parker,/م Calvin, 69).

19 G erm an, The Two Reformations, 148.

42 R.R. Vosloo I Religion & Theology 16 (2009) 35-52

2.5. Calvin and Geneva: An Ambivalent Relationship

Partly as a result ofhis eloquent reply to Sadoleto, Calvin was invited back by the Genevans. Calvin returned to Geneva in September 1541 to stay there until his death in 1564 . ه name of Calvin is inextricably linked to Geneva. M cCrath rightly notes: ،To speak o f Calvin is to speak of Geneva. Calvin would shape, and be shaped by, Geneva.’̂ But Calvins relationship to Geneva is also ambivalent. Bernard Cottret observes: ،In Ceneva’s insularity he found refuge and an asylum; from there he drew his energy, his inspiration, his reason for hope. He also directed against the native Cenevans his coldest and most inextinguishable anger.’̂ For many years Calvin would consider himself as a temporary guest in Geneva - only accepting citizenship as late as 1559.

}eannine ©Ison captures well the ambivalent relationship between the displaced Calvin and Ceneva: ‘Powerful as his influence was there, he was always somewhat a sojourner in a foreign land. In this sense he was but one of the many refugees living in Geneva with their eyes on their homeland, hoping that someday all of France would be evangelized... Awaiting that day, he and his friends provided for foe continuing stream of Protestant refugees from Roman Catholic areas by offering them food and shelter in Ceneva.’̂

Numerous studies deal wifo foe relationship between Calvin and Geneva, including some very thorough and meticulous studies that draw on foe rich Cenevan archival docum ents.^ It is not our goal here to attend to foe fascinating and complex relationship between Calvin and Geneva, but for foe argument o f this essay it is im portant to note that foe refugee reality was very much part o f foe hfo in Geneva. As Cottret writes about this city: ‘It was in foe true sense a city o f refuge, to which flowed foe unsatisfied, foe insatiable, foe lovers of]esus Christ, desirous o f building an ideal Christian society.’̂ And Carter Lindberg concurs: ‘Geneva not only welcomed refugees, it created

^٥ McGrath, A Life ofjohn Calvin, 79.21 B. Ccttret, Calvin: A Biography (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000), 157.22 1. E. Olson, Calvin and Social Welfare: Deacons and the Bourse Française (London: Associated

University Presses, 1989), 11.23 See, for instance, E. w. Monter, Calvins Geneva (New York: John Wiley, 1967); w. c . Innes,

Social Concerns in Calvins Geneva (Allison Park: Pickwick Publications, 1983); w. G. Naphy, Calvin and the Consolidation o f the Genevan Reformation (Eouisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1994); w. G. Naphy ‘Calvin’s Geneva in The Cambridge Companion to John Calvin (ed. D. K. McKim; Cambridge: Cambridge: University Press, 2004), 25-37; and the work of Robert Kingdon and others on the consistory registers, cf. Registers ofthe Consistory o f Geneva at the Time o f Calvin 1542-1544 vol 1 (eds. R. M. Kingdon, 1. M. Watt, T. Eambert; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000).

24 Cottret, Calvin, 109.


them. At the center o f all the praise and blame that swirled through and around Geneva stood }ohn Calvin, him selfa displaced person from France. ي

During Calvins second stay in Geneva, dramatic changes in terms of the city’s demography took p laced Lindberg notes that between 1550 and 1562 Geneva received approximately 7000 immigrants, ^ i s is quite significant in the light o f the fact that there were only 10 000 citizens in Geneva at the time of Calvin’s arrival. Some of these refugees were highly educated and wealthy, including printers such as Robert Estienne, lav^ers such as Germain Colla- don, and businessmen such as Eaurant de Norm andie.^ Calvin was aided by the continuous influx of religious refugees, since they generally supported him. ه vast majority o f these immigrants were from Erance, with some English and Italian immigrants as well, and for many of them Geneva was more than a safe haven: ،To them Geneva was not just a shelter, it was as close to the city o f God as earthly pilgrims could get.’̂ ه ل $ ر the people to whom Calvin preached and lectured consisted increasingly of refugees. Calvin wel- corned these religious refugees as brothers and sisters. Bouwsma calls attention to the fact that Calvin saw no duty as more pleasing and acceptable to God’ than the Scriptural obligation ،to be kind and dutiful to fugitives and exiles, and especially to believers who are banished for their confession ofthe W ord.’29 Eor Calvin such hospitality also implied the need for establishing institutions to deal with the plight o fth e refugees. ص

W ithout doubt, the increasing number of Erench refugees strengthened Calvin’s pastorate in Geneva. In ا54و , for instance, the Compagnie des éstrang- ers (the society o f refugees) undertook to support a professional scribe whose whole work was to transcribe his sermons.31 However, the startling increase in population was also accompanied by a xenophobia that hardly spared Calvin,

25 Lindberg, The European Reformations, 249.26 McGrath, drawing on Perrenaud’s Lapopulation de Geneve, notes that whereas Geneva had

about 13 100 intabitants in 1550, by 1560 the population has r i s e n to 21 400, with the main reason for this increase being the arrival of a large number of Protestant refugees seeking safety (A Life o f John Calvin, 121).

27 For a discussion ofthe refugees economic contribution, see also A. Biéler, Calvins Economic and Social Thought (Geneva: w c c , 2005), 132-134.

28 Lindberg, The European Reformations, 265.29 Quoted by Bouwsma, John Calvin, 25. See also Calvin’s commentary on Isaiah 16.4.30 The hospitality to refugees was, for instance, institutionalized into a welfare fund known as

the Bourse française or ‘the French fund for poor foreigners.’ For an extensive discussion ofthe Bourse française, see Olson, Calvin and Social Welfare. The French fund became a fundamental institution next to the Consistory and the ministerial association ofthe Venerable Company of Pastors. It was ^ministrated by deacons and pastors and financed independently of the city council.

31 See Parker, John Calvin, 91.


often t^e first target o f anti-French campaigns.’32 Naphy also notes that ‘xenophobia and confessional solidarity grew as one . ’ ال Anti-French sentiments had already become evident earlier in the late 1540s, expressed in statements such as ،Frenchmen ought to be thrown into the Rhone Rlver.’̂ M any Genevans increasingly feared that the immigrants would become permanent residents, thus upsetting the power structure of the city, ^ e s e immigrants were also often blamed for the rise in the cost of living.33 ظ tension that started in 1546 exploded in late 1554, with anti-French xenophobia leading to riots and a ttach on refugees. Calvin became involved in this factional struggle.^

One should also note that that the refugees played no minor role in the decisive battle for power in Ceneva in the 1550s, culminating in 1555 m Calvin’s victory over his opponents, the so-called libertines, who included people such as Francois Favre, Philibert Berthelier and Ami Perrin, ^ e s e fric- tions and conflicts centred on the Consistory’s power of exom m unication. Over against his opponents, Calvin insisted that the Consistory, the Genevan institution that exercised discipline, alone had the power to excommunicate unrepentant sinners - thus not the city council, ^ i s conflict was influenced by a decision of the council, made for economic reasons, to admit suitable (read wealthy) refugees to bourgeois status, thus entitling them to vote . ال The Perrinists (as Calvin’s opponents were also called) tried to block the voting rights, but to no avail, ^ u s the influx of (wealthy) refugees, who generally supported Calvin, played an im portant role in consolidating Calvin’s power in Geneva. O n the other hand, though, the immigrants who found refuge in (Geneva should not be romanticized. Parker comments: ‘Mixed with the immi-

32 c©ttret, Calvin, 160. c©ttret adds: ‘H©wever, the importance ©f these feelings ©f resent- ment must not be exaggerated; the graft of the Protestant refugees onto the ancient Genevan Stock was a success’ (160). c©ttret also n©tes that the influx of the French and Italian refugees led t© a spirit ©f enterprise that transformed Geneva ec©n©mically, inttoducing cl©ck making, weaving, and the silk industry. It also c©ntrihuted t© the ad©pti©n ©f French at the expense ©f the native Franc©-Pr©vençal (161).

33 Naphy in McKim, The Cambridge Companion to John Calvin, 32. Naphy also argues that the influx ©f refugees threatened the city’s s©cial fahric: ‘ظ refugees’ skills and wealth upset Geneva’s ec©n©my. Prices, rents, and ptoperty values increased.ذ arrival ©f n©hle refugees with their prejudices and s©cietal expectati©ns exacerbated the situati©n’ (32).

34 This is a statement hy Franc©is Mestrat in June 1547. F©r this and ©ther remarks against the ‘accursed Frenchmen’, which included Calvin, see c©ttret, Calvin, 187- 188 -

35 See B©uwsma, John Calvin, 25, wh© refers to Momer, Calvins Geneva, 82. The c©st of living indeed increased in this period, which would he kn©wn as the great price rise.

36 See Naphy in McKim, The Cambridge Companion to John Calvin, 33-34.37 McGrath, A Life o f John Calvin, 122.


grants who had genuinely fled from persecution there were also some strange characters and, we may conjecture, not a few French secret agents. ص

^ e s e few brief historical remarks testify to the im portant im print that the refugee reality made on the social landscape o f cities like Strasbourg and Geneva, as well as on the life and ministry of Calvin . ه refugee reality also impacted heavily on the spread of Calvinism. As McGrath writes: ،The phe- nomenon o f the refugee and the place of refuge played no small part in the propagation o f Calvinism.. . During their period o f exile, such refugees often absorbed Calvins outlook, and upon their return to the native lands, pro- ceeded to propagate Calvinism . ص N ot only was Geneva a place o f asylum for refugees, but Calvin also maintained an interest in the confession and organi- zation o f the refugee congregations that were started elsewhere, ^ e s e congre- gâtions were often the sites o f conflicts and rivalry, also externally with Lutheran congregations. Calvin had a strong interest in these churches and their controversies, as his letters testify.40

3. The Refogee Reality and Calving Theology

It is the argument ofthis essay that Calvins refugee experience does not merely help us to gain valuable historical or psychological insight into the life of Cal- vin, or sociological knowledge o f life in sixteenth century Strasbourg or Geneva, but that it also serves as an im portant lens in understanding Calvins theology, ^ i s is not to say that this is the only lens for interpreting Calvins theological ideas, ^ i s essay makes the more modest claim that the necessary sensitivity to the impact o f the refugee reality on Calvins theology can contribute to a more responsible - and exciting - interpretation of Calvin the theologian. It may contribute to a rediscovery of certain neglected themes in his theology, such as exile and hospitality, as well as a re-evaluation of well-worn doctrines, such as election and providence. In addition, this paper wants to affirm that Calvins refugee experience did not only impact on his theology, but that his reading o f Scripture and his theological insights also influenced his response to his own exile, as well as his response to the refugees

38 Parker,/م Calvin, 42 ل. One ©f these agents, ]acques Spifame, lived next door to Calvin from 1559. He was beheaded in 1566. Many of the immigrants also did not agree with Calvin on d©ctrinal issues. In this regard one can recall the famous ronflict between Calvin and B©lsec on the d©ctrine ©^edestinati©n, and of course the much-discussed case against Servetus.

39 McGrath, A Life o f Calvin, 198.40 For a discussion ofCalvin’s correspondence with the refugee congregations, see w. Nijenhuis,

Calvinus Oecumenicus: Calvijn en de eenheidder kerk in het light van zijn briefwisseling (،s Gravenhage: Martinus 91- 77 ,(1959 , صم .


he ministered to. This dialectical relationship between theology and libe, or Scripture and ethics, must be maintained.

In order to illustrate something of the impact o f Calvin’s refugee experience on his theology, this section of the paper will limit itself to two aspects of Calvins work, namely his reading of Scripture, and specifically his Commen- tary on the ?salms, and secondly, his doctrine of predestination.

3.1. Calvins Commentary on the Psalms and the Exile M o tif

In his inaugural lecture as professor at the Theologische Universität van de Christelijke Gereformeerde Kerken in Apeldoorn in 1997, the Dutch theologian H.J. Selderhuis offers a very interesting reading o f Calvin’s 1557 Commentary on the Psalms, ^ i s lecture, which has been published under the significant title Calvijn als asielzoekerAl (Calvin as Asylum Seeker), views Calvin’s Com- mentary on the Psalms as a sediment of his theology and as a source for his biography. After placing the Commentary on the Psalms in historical context,^ Selderhuis argues convincingly that Calvin recognized himself in the figure of David, w ithout idealizing him, and that he also identified the situation in which the church of Ceneva found itself with the situation o f Israel, ^ u s in an indirect way Calvin’s Commentary on the Psalms gives us much biographical information about Calvin, who was not eager to speak about himself, w h a t is especially im portant for the concerns of this essay is that Selderhuis identifies an im portant motive in the way Calvin draws the parallel between David and himself, and the congregation and Israel, namely the exile m otif (‘het balling- schap-motief’).^ In Calvin’s description o f David he mirrors his own experi- enees of exile, loss and displacement.

Selderhuis also refers to the fact that Calvin the asylum seeker became a minister to other asylum seekers.^ It is therefore not a surprise that the notion of asylum’ is often found in Calvin’s Commentary on the Psalms. Selderhuis

41 H. j. Selderhuis, Calvijn als asielzoeker (Apeldoorn: Geologische Universiteit, 1997). For Selderhuis’s more extensive treatment of Calvin’s engagement with the Fsalms, see H. j. Selder- huis, Calvins Theology o f the Psalms (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, ^007), as well as his essay ‘Calvin’s View of Te Bible as the Word’ in Reformed World 57, no. 4 (Dec 2007): 270-285.

42 Calvin published his Commentary on the Psalms in 1557, in the last phase of his life. Selder- huis notes that Calvin started to lecture on the Fsalms in 1552 and commenced writing his commentary in 1553. However, he had preached on the Fsalms every Sunday afternoon since 1549 already. The influx of refugees during this period resulted in the fact that the people to whom Calvin preached and lectured consisted increasingly of refugees. In addition, Calvin also kept in his thoughts the plight of the persecuted helievers in his native France. See Selderhuis, Calvijn als azielsoeker, 10.

43 Selderhuis, Calvijn als asielzoeker, 19.44 Selderhuis, Calvijn als asielzoeker, 20.


calls attenticn to the fact that asylum’ Is used nine times by Calvin in the commentary on the first 50 psalms and that this term clearly has a juridical mean- ing for him. Selderhuis also argues that Calvin not only saw a parallel between David and himself, but also between David and the other Reformed refugees who were unjustly displaced. In similar vein, Calvin saw himself as connected in his own exile with his exiled brothers and sisters.45

According to Selderhuis, the exile m otif is seen in the way that the situation ofCalvin and his congregation serves as an image ofthe situation ofthe church and the believer on earth. Selderhuis summarizes this point from Calvin’s commentary on the Psalms: ‘We are asylum seekers, that is to say, we are outside o f our Fatherland. We live and work here, but this is not our home: we live here temporarily in anticipation of our return home.’46 The exile m otif furthermore reaches past biography to theology: ،We are not only physically, but also spiritually dispersed and disturbed, through our sins we are outside of paradise in the desert and out o f this situation we can seek asylum from God, through G od’s grace. ’ ٠ For Calvin, those who have found asylum from God carry their cross in this world, leading to new forms of exile. Thus for Calvin, those who have found asylum at once become asylum seekers again, since they must carry their cross, resulting in new forms of exile. Moreover, they can continuously seek asylum through the compassion and care of God.48

Selderhuis’s discussion of the exile m otif in Calvin’s Commentary on the Psalms is important, because it affirms the impact o f Calvin’s refugee experience on his reading of Scripture, as well as the way that Calvin’s reading of Scripture influenced his theological assessment o f his context. Scott Hendrix also sees a link between Calvin’s refugee experience and his reading of Scrip- ture: ،Calvin’s agenda had personal roots in his own refugee experience that caused him to read the biblical story in a different way and ،to discover God as the first refugee, trekking with the people of Israel through the desert’.’49

45 Selderhuis writes: ‘de azielzueker up de kansel en up katheder is één met die asielzoekers in de kerk en in de collegebanken’ {Calvijn als asielzoeker, 21).

46 Selderhuis, Calvijn als asielzoeker, 27—28, with reference to a footnote in Calvin’s commentary on the introduction to Ps 37 (،. . . peregrinantur in mundo. C). The Dutch original reads: ‘wi) zijn asielzoekers, dat wil zeggen wij zijn buiten on Vaderland. Wij leven en werken hier, maar dat is niet ons thuis: wi) verblijven hier tydelik in afwachting van de thuisreis’.

47 Selderhuis, Calvijn als asielzoeker, 28, with reference to a footnote in Calvin’s commentary on Psalm 32:1 (‘. . .adgratiae aylum confugere.. The Dutch original reads: ‘wi) zijn niet alleen lichamelijk, maar ook geestelijk gezien verjaagd en opgejaagd, wij zijn wezenlijk door onze zon- den buiten het paradijs in de wuestijn terecht gekumen en vanuit die situatie moeten en mugen wi) asiel zoeken bij Cud, dat wil zeggen bij de genade van Cud.’

48 See Selderhuis, Calvijn كم asielzoeker, 28, with reference to a footnote in Calvin’s commentary of Psalm 25:11 (‘. .. admisericordiae Dei asylum confugere...’).

49 S. H. Hendrix, Recultivating the Vineyard: The Reformaron Agendas o f Christianization

R.R Vosloo/ Religion & Theology 16(2009) 35—52

Although one certainly has to he careful not to overburden this motive of exile, or the ‘refugee reality, as an interpretative lens to gain an insight into Calvin’s life and theology, it nonetheless challenges certain reductions o f Cal- vin’s theology and holds promise for a new exploration of Calvin’s legacy.

3.2. The 'Reformation ofthe Refugees and Calvins Doctrine ofPredestination

Calvin’s refugee experience also holds promise for revisiting his controversial doctrine ofpredestination, a doctrine often viewed as an abstract speculative system. However, the much-respected Reformation scholar Heiko Oberman has argued persuasively that in Calvin’s case the puzzling doctrine o f predestination was born out of the experience o f exile.

The Calvinist doctrine ofpredestination is the mighty bnlwark o fth e Chris- tian faithfnl against the fear that they will be nnable to hold ont against the pressnre o f persecntion. Election is the Gospel’s enconragement to those who have faith, not a message o f doom for those who lack it. In particnlar, it responds to the angnish that Calvin already had felt in the early wave of persecu tion ... Rather than providing grounds for arrogance, predestination offers all true Christians the hope that even under extreme distress they will persevere until the end.50

It is nnly later, argues Oberman, when foe refugees became settlers and citizens, that foe scriptural insights fostered by this experience were developed into a systematic foeology that ‘lost touch wifo its initial purpose and hard- ened its doctrinal crust.’51

According to Oberman, Calvin’s apparently abstract doctrine of predestination - or more accurately, election - must therefore be understood as ‘a matter o f existential faith for foe exiles who, far from home, in a language arising from their experience o f banishment, ‘traveled through foe wilderness. ’ و Oberman also sees Calvin’s fundamental experience o f exile as foe experience within which and from which he reads Scripture, quoting in this regard from Calvin’s commentary on }eremiah 22: 28: ‘And we know that it is a hard lot when one is driven far away from his own country.’̂ 5

(L©uisville: Westminster John Knnx Press, 2004), 88. Hendrix refers here to the work of Heiko Oberman. See H. Oberman, ‘Initia Calvinr. ٦١٦٣ Matrix of Calvin’s Reformation in Calvinus Sacrae Scripturae Professor (ed. w. H. Neuser; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, وول4,) ل5ل .

50 Oberman, The Two Reformations, 5 لل4—لل .51 Oberman, The Two Reformations, 115.52 Oberman, The Two Reformations, 118.53 Oberman, The Two Reformations, 11و . Oberman continues on the same page with the fol-

lowing prayer from Calvin’s commentary on Jeremiah 20:47: ‘Since You promised us restnowhere but in your heavenly kingdom, so grant, almighty Cod, that on our earthly pilgrimage

/4R.R. Voslooو Religion & Theology 16(2009) 35-52

In order ro do justice to Oberman’s emphasis on the importance of the experience o f e^i؛e and banishment as a lens to Calvin’s theology, in particular his doctrine of predestination, it is necessary to attend more closely to his influential historical demarcation of the three different epochs of the Refor- m ation.^ The first epoch of the Reformation is the reformation of Luther, which had its base in foe monastery but also reached out to foe territory and foe kingdom . ه second Reformation was foe Reformation of the cities, and cities like Strasbourg, Zurich, Nuremberg and others became foe laboratories for applying foe ideas o f reform. ه third Reformation, which Oberman describes as ،foe Reformation of foe refugees,’ began after foe defeat of foe ?rotestant princes in 1548 and 1549, when foe cities were recatholicized and many Protestant citizens either adapted to foe circumstances or fled. The expulsion of numerous Protestants through foe city gates created a metamor- phosis regarding Protestant self-understanding. M any ideas arose during this period that would be misunderstood and misconstrued once Calvinism again gained a firm footing in places like foe Netherlands, foe Palatinate, Scotland and foe United States (and can we add, South Africa). These misin- terpretations or reductions are due to the fact that Calvin’s ideas became disembedded from foe historical and experiential context that gave them their intelligibility.

Oberman sees Calvin as a transitional figure between foe second and foe third Reformation. Calvin was indeed foe city Reformer in Ceneva, but although he was very much involved in the local context o f Geneva, he also envisioned foe growth of foe Reformation in foe whole of Europe. Eor Ober- man fois explains foe fact that Calvin liked to conclude his sermons wifo foe brief prayer: ،May this grace be bestowed on all foe peoples of foe earth.’55

It is within fois historical epoch o f ،foe Reformation of foe refugees’ (or third Reformation) that Oberman places foe development o f foe dogma of election and predestination. Oberman emphasizes that this new political and social context of foe third Reformation produced new theological accents and

we may consent not have an abiding city but to be driven here and there, and despite all that still call upon You with a quiet spirit, hermit us to carry on our wayfare, which you have designed to train and to test us, that we might be firm and steadfast in this warfare until at last we arrive at that rest which has been obtained for us by the blood of Your only-begotten Son. Amen.’ For the discussion of Oberman that follows I will mainly draw on the chapter ‘Calvin’s Legacy: Its Great- ness and Limitations’ in his posthumously published The Two Reformations. This chapter is a translation of an earlier lecture, published as H. A. Oberman, De erfenis van Calvijn: Grootheid en grenzen (Kämpen: Kok, 1988).

54 See also in this regard, his chapter O ne Epoch — Three Reformations’ in idem. The Refor- mation: Roots and Ramifications (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1994), 201-220.

55 Oberman, The Two Reformations, 148.


insights, because the experience nf diaspnra led penple to view the Gospel with new eyes. During the later, national phase of Calvinism, many ofthese insights disappeared or were adjusted. However, within the context o f ،the Reforma- tion o f foe Refugees’ foe doctrine o f election had great pastoral power. As Oberman writes: ،For those who had no permanent place o f residence, not even a fixed stone on which to lay their heads, neither valid passport nor a residence permit, predestination became their identity card.’̂ In fois context foe doctrine o f election, which Calvin called the providentiel specialissima, was experienced in a special way as a confirmation o f G od’s guidance and protec- tion amidst foe challenges o f life in dispersion . ه doctrine provided comfort and assurance. Oberman argues: ،The church in-flight discovered foe comfort of providence and election, ^ i s is evident in Calvin’s heartfelt cry, “We have no other place o f refuge than his providence . ” ٧ And furthermore: ،The doctrine o f election becomes not merely a limitation but an abomination when it is uprooted and displaced in its turn, torn from its biblical context in foe pilgrimage of foe church on its journey from foe burning bush to foe final feast around foe forone of the Lamb.’58

4. C©nclusi©n؛ Celebrating foe Legaey ©f foe Dispiaeed Calvin

In 2009 foe 500th anniversary o f Calvin’s birth will be commemorated. In anticipation of this event, a group o f scholars met in Geneva in April 2007 to reflect on the question ،W ho was }ohn Calvin and what is his legacy in the light o f foe critical issues facing foe Reformed churches and foe world today?’ The report which followed foe consultation challenges some of foe stereotypes

56 Oberman, The Two Reformations, 57ل.

57 Oberman, The Two Reformations, 149. Naphy (in McKim, The Cambridge Companion to John Calvin, 33) nffers a similar argument: ‘To Protestante being persecuted for their faith, these doctrines were of great comfort. Calvin, ever-conscious of the plight of his fellow French Protes- tants, knew the power ofthis doctrine. It insured that sufferings, persecutions, exile, deprivation, and even death were not meaningless but, ultimately, were part of God’s plan for believers.’

58 Oberman, The Two Reformations, 150. With a play on Luther’s famous words shortly before his death ‘Wir sind Bettler, Hoc est verum’, Oberman concludes his fascinating discussion on Calvin’s legacy with the words: ‘We are beggars. Nous sommes de gueux. Hoc est verum. We are destitute. And that is the truth’ {The Two Reformations, 168). It is also interesting to note that in an bn Memoriam column of the American Historical Association (February 2002) for Oberman, who died April 22, 2001, the authors (Susan Karant-Nunn and Richard Cosgrove) mention that Oberman’s earliest childhood memories were of the Jewish refugees who passed through the Oberman house as part of a covert network to find a safe haven for them. This tempts us, once again, to speculate on the enigmatic (and dialectical) relationship between biography and theology.


associated with Calvin, arguing also that one should not draw an idealized picture of Calvin . و In addition, the report identifies eight areas that are viewed وas of particular interest today, and that may provide fresh access to Calvin’s legacy.^ One of the areas identified in the report relates to Calvins insistence on G od’s gift o f creation, ^ i s section refers to God’s will for creation’s flour- ishing and adds that this vision includes a compassionate commitment to love, justice, responsible care and hospitality towards widows, orphans, and strangers.’61

In the light o f the opportunity to reflect anew on the legacy of (the displaced) Calvin, our historical and theological engagement with his witness will also be influenced by our social location. Amidst a world o f growing migration, displacement and xenophobia, we may well discover that Calvin’s life and theology, with all its limitations, may provide surprising insights that can aid in the reclaiming o f a graceful theology of hospitality. Such an endea- vour will be strengthened by the recognition o f Calvin’s own refugee experi- enees and the way it serves as lens to reveal his theological ideas. It remains important, however, to affirm the need for a sensitive historical hermeneutic that is mindful o f the continuity and discontinuity b e ^ e e n Calvin and us, between sixteenth-century religious refugees and 21st-century economically and politically displaced persons.^ Nevertheless, Calvin’s engagement with reality was deeply drenched in his reading of Scripture and the Bible’s emphasis on the need to show hospitality to ،the widows, orphans, and strangers’ found many echoes in his sermons, letters, commentaries, The Institutes and other theological tracts. In this sense Calvin’s life and theology may have continuing significance to sustain a theology o f hospitality towards modern widows, orphans, and strangers,’ or in the interpretative language ofthe report o f the 2007 Genevan consultation, ،those who are defenseless, displaced,

59 For the report, see ‘What is the significance of Calvin’s legacy?’ in Reformed World 57, no. 4 (Dec 2007): 231-236. The report states: ‘Calvin was not sain t... his response to conflicts was often harsh and his role in the execution ofServetus was, indeed, more than dubious’ (232).

60 The eight areas the report emphasized are: Calvin’s commitment to proclaiming the glory of God; Calvin’s determination to place Jesus Christ at the forefront of all our thinking and living; Calvin’s emphasis on the Holy Spirit in creation and salvation; Calvin’s engagement with Scripture; Calvin’s determination that God’s will be brought to bear on all areas of life; Calvin’s insistence on God’s gift of creation; Calvin’s realization that the church is called to discern, in ongoing ways, its relation to the principalities and powers ofthe world; and Calvin’s commitment to the unity ofthe church.

61 ‘What is the significance of Calvin’s legacy?’, 234.62 Jacques Derrida rightfully reminds us that we ought to distinguish prudently between the

categories ofthe foreigner in general, the immigrant, the exiled, the deported, the stateless or displaced person. See his address to the International Farliament of Writers in 1996 in Stras- bourg, published in j. Derrida, Cosmopolitanism and Forgiveness (London: Routledge, 2001).


hungry, lonely, silenced, betrayed, powerless, sick, broken in body and spirit, and all those who suffer in our globalizing and polarizing world.’̂

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آلمآورلم؛

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The Displaced Calvin: 'Refugee Reality' as a Lens to Re-examine Calvin's Life, Theology and Legacy

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