Unit name | The Thought of John Calvin |
---|---|
Unit code | THRS20197 |
Credit points | 20 |
Level of study | I/5 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
Unit director | Dr. Balserak |
Open unit status | Not open |
Pre-requisites |
None |
Co-requisites |
None |
School/department | Department of Religion and Theology |
Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
This unit examines the life, teachings and legacy of the Sixteenth-century reformer, pastor, theologian, biblical interpreter, lawyer, social visionary, and humanist, John Calvin. One of the most significant thinkers in the Western tradition, Calvin has been called profoundly forward-looking, hopelessly conservative, shamefully licentious, ruthlessly dictatorial. Whatever he was, his thought has had a massive impact on our society and on us. The unit will examine Calvin's context and seek to understand his theology: both its broad contours and the positions he takes on a range of subjects—doctrine of God, creation and the fall of humankind, predestination and soteriology, the church, etc. It will also consider his thinking on government, economics and other "secular" subjects.
Aims:
Students will be allowed to practice their oral presentation skills by giving a class presentation.
On successful completion of this unit students will be able to:
(1) demonstrate knowledge and critical understanding of the thought of John Calvin and (more broadly) Protestant theology;
(2) evaluate the religious, cultural and institutional contexts informing this;
(3) analyse and evaluate competing perceptions of this topic;
(4) demonstrated the ability to identify and evaluate pertinent evidence/data in order to illustrate/demonstrate a cogent argument.
1 x two-hour lecture and 1 x one-hour seminar weekly
1 x 2500 essay (50%) [ILO 1-4]
1 x two-hour exam (50%) [ILO 1-4]
John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 2 vols, trans. Ford Lewis Battles (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1960).
T.H.L. Parker, Calvin: An Introduction to His Thought (Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox, 1995).
Alexandre Ganoczy, The Young Calvin, trans. David Foxgrover and Wade Waldo (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1987).
Charles Partee, The Theology of John Calvin (Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox, 2008).
François Wendel, Calvin; Origins and Development of His Religious Thought, trans. Philip Mairet (New York: Harper & Row, 1963; repr: Durham, N.C.: Labyrinth Press, 1987).
W. Fred Graham, The Constructive Revolutionary; John Calvin and his Socio-Economic Impact (Atlanta, GA: John Knox Press, 1971; repr: Grand Rapids: Michigan State University Press, 1989).