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John Calvin Rediscovered - the Impact of His Social & Economic Thought

Author:	Edward Dommen and James D Bratt (editors)
Published By:	Westminster John Knox Press (Louisville, Kentucky)
Pages:	161
Price:	£16.99
ISBN:	978 0 6642 3227

Reviewed by Alun Brookfield.

In Britain nowadays, admitting to being a Calvinist is rather like admitting to having a peculiarly offensive disease, which requires one to withdraw from normal society lest one offend those of more delicate disposition. So a book which seeks to redeem the great Reformer’s reputation is to be welcomed, especially by closet Calvinists such as this reviewer.

Calvin and his theological and socio-economic writings have waxed and waned in ecclesiastical fashion over the centuries. In modern times, a key point was reached in 2005 with the translation and publication of Calvin’s Economic and Social Thought (Andre Bieler). To mark its publication, and international consultation was held in Geneva in November 2004. This book assembles eleven of the contributions to that consultation.

The first five essays address the question of how Calvin’s thinking on socio-economic and environmental issues and church discipline fit into his own time period and how they translate into our modern world.

The next four assess Calvin’s global influence, especially on the late 19th century, and on Latin America and Asia.

The final two papers address the challenges of translating Calvin (written originally in Latin) into English and German, especially when those doing the translating are bringing their own subconscious theological and socio-economic suppositions to the task.

So this book is not primarily about Calvin’s theology. Rather it is about the ways in which Calvinism has influenced and shaped the modern world, and about how Calvin’s theology informed his view of the world, of society and of economics. Even as a Calvinist (of the Spurgeonic variety, for those who might be interested in such niceties!), I was frankly astonished at the extent to which Calvin’s theology has shaped, not just my view of the world, but that of the whole of Western capitalism. It was clear from reading this book that, sadly, most of those who have built on Calvin, lacked his genius for grasping both ends of a paradox, surrendering instead to grab only one end or the other, leading to the unbalanced economy we now have, in which the rich get richer while the poor get poorer.

This book is a real eye-opener onto the modern world. I commend it.