Re-Envisioning Christian Humanism

Calvin’s idea of propertyfits within this general framework. Private prop-
erty is for the general good.‘Those who have riches, whether inherited or won
by their own industry and labor, let them remember that what is left over is
meant not for intemperance or luxury but for relieving the needs of the
brethren.’^50 Calvin’s language on the subject is emphatic:

Whatever I possess, I do so only from the hands of God, and where I see poverty

or need, I must help those who are in need as far as in me lies.... If we want God

to be glorified in all the benefit he has bestowed on us, let us employ this

rule... that no one should keep himself to himself, but that we should know

that God has intermixed the rich and the poor, so that we may have the

opportunity to do good.^51

Need I say that this is an extraordinarily humanistic understanding of the
social order? It is as far from an Ayn Rand-style individualism as one can
imagine—or, indeed, from any other style of individualism! Solidarity, not
individual freedom, is the linchpin in Calvin’s social thought. Social justice, for
Calvin, goes well beyond the negative justice of the modern liberal tradition. It
is not enough to protect one’s neighbour against assault of various kinds;
social justice is secured only if we all together see to it that the neighbour’s
needs are satisfied.

PULLING IT TOGETHER

Let me conclude by pulling together, into a unified picture, the three forms of
Christian humanism that we have found in Calvin. The orienting centre of all
of Calvin’s thought is our knowledge of God. Thefirst two of the four books
comprising Calvin’sInstitutesare titled‘The Knowledge of God the Creator’
and‘The Knowledge of God the Redeemer’. It turns out, however, that our
English word‘knowledge’does not fully capture what Calvin has in mind. For
Calvin, true knowledge of God is not just knowing thingsaboutGod; true
knowledge of God is alwaysacknowledgementof who and what God is.
It is commonly said and assumed that, for Calvin, God is above all sovereign;
pronounce the word‘Calvinism’and most people think,divine sovereignty.If
Calvin speaks of God as sovereign anywhere in the 1,500 pages of the Ford
Lewis Battles English translation of theInstitutes, I have missed it. Over and
over the word Calvin uses to describe God is‘majesty’. What we learn from

(^50) Calvin, Commentary on 2 Corinthians 8:15; quoted in Biéler,Calvin’s Economic and Social
Thought, 283.
(^51) Calvin, Sermon XLIV on theHarmony of the Gospels, Matthew 3:9f.; quoted in Biéler,
Calvin’s Economic and Social Thought, 77.
The Christian Humanism of John Calvin 93