attitude of a servant honouring his lord, it is an epistemic concept
that underlines how personal involvement precedes all theoretical
knowledge.
Although Bernard and Luther speak of humility, Calvin’s emphasis
on self-denial as the starting point of theological knowledge is dis-
tinctive and shapes his understanding of the heteronomous constitu-
tion of human identity. Later he calls the denial of ourselves‘the sum
of the Christian life’.^203 Calvin’s concept of self-denial sounds like a
reverse appropriation in that in order to honour God, Christians
must renounce the idea of self-possession:
We are not our own: let neither our reason nor our will, therefore, sway
our plans and deeds...We are not our own: in so far as we can, let us
therefore forget ourselves and all that is ours. Conversely, we are God’s:
let us therefore live for him and die for him. We are God’s: let his wisdom
and will therefore rule all our actions. We are God’s: let all the parts of our
life accordingly strive toward him as our only lawful goal...Let this
therefore be thefirst step, that a man depart from himself in order that he
may apply the whole force of his ability in the service of the Lord.^204Interestingly, this passage echoes the ideas of heteronomous consti-
tution and person-constituting conversion that have been present in
Christianity at least since the LatinRecognitions.The passage also
echoes the feudal bond between lord and vassal. Calvin adds to these
traditions a deeper self-renunciation in which the primary appropri-
ation of reason and will is denied. In doing this, Calvin adds a new
twist to the dialectics of lord and vassal. He considers that even when
we act like servants we think of ourselves as lords because we practise
false appropriation:
Each one of us, as if exempt from the common lot, wishes to tower
above the rest, and loftily and savagely abuses every mortal man, or at
least looks down upon him as an inferior. The poor yield to the rich; the
common folk, to the nobles; the servants, to their masters; the
unlearned, to the educated. But there is no one who does not cherish
within himself some opinion of his own pre-eminence. Thus, each
individual, byflattering himself, bears a kind of kingdom in his breast.
For claiming as his own what pleases him, he censures the character and
morals of others.^205(^203) The title ofInst.3, 7. (^204) Inst.3, 7, 1;Inst-E690.
(^205) Inst.3, 7, 4;Inst-E 693 – 4.
The Latin Traditions 101