Calvin. History and Reception of a Reformation Week 3. Calvin's Ethics Sequence 1. A Theological Ethic I am standing today in the "cour Saint-Pierre" (Saint-Peter square), a public square located directly in front of what was once Geneva's cathedral. It is a place that symbolizes the beginning of the Reformation in Geneva when, one day, children who had just attended mass grabbed small statues inside the church
and started throwing them at each other, creating instant panic among
the local canons. Saint-Pierre was an important place: it was there that waves and waves of refugees came to hear Calvin preach. It also had great political importance. As the largest public space in the city, the cathedral was where all major political assemblies and meetings took place. We are standing, then, in the very heart of the Genevan Reformation, in the very heart of Geneva -- both spiritually (as we can see from these beautiful stones) and politically. It's an ideal location from which to introduce you to Calvin's ethics. Calvin's ethics follow in the footsteps of the great ethical systems of Antiquity, and in particular those of Plato and Aristotle. Its aim is to define the right way to live -- how to act justly. Yet Calvin espoused a point of view that differs significantly from these ethical systems. As we'll see, Calvin's ethical ideas had a major impact not only on those societies that explicitly embraced Calvinism, but, it is fair to say, on modern society as a whole. Unlike the ethical systems inherited from Antiquity, Calvin's ethics do not originate in human beings -- what humans desire, what they think, what they feel -- or in the ways by which
they seek to understand themselves and make themselves understood to others. Calvin's ethics start with God, and what God teaches. For Calvin, indeed, anything one may conceive using one's own intellectual faculties or abilities is, by its very nature, unable to significantly address the true meaning of one's existence. Calvin's ethics, then, find their point of origin in God's stance towards human beings. This approach was at odds not only with philosophy, but with the Catholic ethics of his time, which were mainly influenced by Thomism (the intellectual legacy of Thomas
Aquinas), scholasticism, and the notion that reason and faith are to be seen as a coordinated pair. For Catholics, indeed, it was impossible for faith, having been given by God to man, to be contrary to reason, also given by God to man. In the Catholic mind of Calvin's time, reason was akin to God's image in man. For Calvin, however, ethics cannot be based on human reason, but only on the way in which God speaks to human beings. As we'll see, God does not communicate with human beings in one way only. This is because God speaks to several kinds of people -- or rather, more accurately, to several different components within human beings themselves. What God wants for human beings, at all times, is life. For Calvin, God first communicates with all people, Christian or not. God wants life for all. But human life, unlike that of all other animals, does not consist merely in eating, growing, procreating and accomplishing things. Rather, it consists in living in a properly human way. Thus God communicates with everyone so that they may live in a properly human way. This is the first level of Calvin's ethics. There is a second level, however: for Christians, proper living means living in relationship with God. To live in relationship with God, one must experience the fact that life is more than human life, realize that life consists in recognizing oneself as a child of God,
and recognize God as one's Father. This is the second level of Calvin's ethics. There is a third level, which goes beyond recognition of being God's child. In this level, one must live in a profoundly personal, intimate relationship with God. One who lives in this third level must change everything in his or her life, so as to reflect this relationship of intimacy with God. For Calvin, this third level acts as a preparation for eternal life with God, and thus represents the crucial moment of sanctification. Thus Calvin's ethics are divided into three levels, or stages: the first is for any human being whatsoever; the second is for Christians and Jews, i.e., those who have experienced
salvation; and the third is for those who wish to enter into an intimate relationship with God. The existence of these three distinct levels may strike us as surprising, since God is one (i.e., undivided). Calvin justifies it by arguing that we, as human beings, are divided. I am François Dermange, sure, but who is François Dermange? A man among all other human beings, someone who is trying to be a Christian, or someone who does not yet know who he
will be, for all eternity, alongside God? Thus, because man is divided, there are three possible ways to hear the Word of God, hence three ethical levels -- which we are going to explore in more detail in the next
sequences. This place, the Saint-Pierre cathedral, will allow us to reflect not only on the events that took place here, but on Calvin's thought as well.