Each of us must, then, be so stung by the consciousness of his own
unhappinessastoattainatleastsomeknowledgeofGod(notitiam dei).
Thus, from the feeling of our own ignorance, vanity, poverty, infirmity...
we recognize (recognoscimus)thatthetruelightofwisdom,soundvirtue,
full abundance of every good, and purity of righteousness rest in the Lord
alone...the knowledge of ourselves not only arouses us to seek God, but
also, as it were, leads us by the hand tofind him.^192For Calvin, the epistemic heteronomy is more radical, as he also teaches
that‘man never achieves a clear knowledge of himself (notitiam sui)
unless he hasfirst looked upon God’sface’.^193 The initial self-knowledge
only leads to a sense of depravity; for a fuller self-knowledge, one must
first seek God. A human being is‘never sufficiently touched and affected
by the acknowledgement (agnitione) of his lowly state until he has
compared himself with God’smajesty’.^194 Therefore, ‘however the
knowledge of God and ourselves may be mutually connected, the
order of right teaching requires that we discuss the formerfirst, then
proceed afterwards to treat the latter’.^195 These initial quotes show that
Calvin employs agnosco and recognosco to depict an affirmation,
whereas he prefers the terms notitia and cognosco/cognitio when
theological knowledge in general is meant.
This does not mean, however, that theological knowledge is theor-
etical or neutral. Calvin stresses that piety (pietas) is always needed
for such knowledge.‘We shall not say that, properly speaking, God is
known where there is no religion or piety.’^196 You cannot behold God
‘unless you acknowledge (agnoscas) him to be the fountainhead and
source of every good’.^197 Even this‘primary and simple knowledge’
(notitia prima et simplex)^198 is obscured by sin, but when the mind
becomes‘pious’it can‘acknowledge’(agnoscit) God as Lord and
Father.^199 In other words, piety is a heteronomously given form of
life which enables theological knowledge. As piety, this knowledge
(^192) Inst.1, 1, 1;Inst-E 36 – 7. The French text of 1560 has herecognoissance,cognoistre,
recongnoissons(different editions in CO). The English text of 1574 hasknowledge,
reknowledge. The German text of 1572 haserkennen. In the following footnotes,
I simply indicate the terminology employed in these three vernacular editions.
(^193) Inst.1, 1, 2;Inst-E37. (^194) Inst.1, 1, 3;Inst-E39.
(^195) Inst.1, 1, 3;Inst-E39. (^196) Inst.1, 2, 1;Inst-E39.
(^197) Inst.1, 2, 2;Inst-E42. cognoistre/know/erkennest.
(^198) Inst.1, 2, 1;Inst-E40.
(^199) Inst.1, 2, 2;Inst-E42. Immediate context: recognoist iuste Iuge/knoweth/
erkennet.
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