promote our salvation...When we acknowledge (agnoscimus) the
Father’s rod, is it not our duty to show ourselves obedient and teachable
children?^219These passages illustrate how the knowledge of God emerges
through the awareness of human sinfulness and the knowledge of
God’s mercy. In keeping with the medieval tradition, Calvin some-
times speaks of‘acknowledging benefits’. It is distinctive for Calvin,
however, that the steps of recognizing confession, self-denial, and
surrender to God are deeply embedded in personal character for-
mation. Calvin wants to achieve a thoroughgoing renewal of human
self-understanding in which the pious knowledge of God constitutes
a new Christian mindset. This person-constituting dimension
of recognition associates him with the longer tradition of theRecog-
nitionsand the new ideas of epistemic, loving recognition present
in Ficino.
The steps of self-denial serve the recognition of God. All things are
created for us, but instead of just enjoying and consuming them we
need to honour God. The point of this attitude is to keep the human
mind uncorrupted:
All things were created for us that we might know (cognoscamus) the
Author and give thanks for his kindness toward us...Where is your
recognition of God (recognitio Dei) if yourflesh boiling over with
excessive abundance into vile lust infects the mind (mens) with its
impurity so that you cannot discern anything that is right and honor-
able?...Where is our recognition of God (recognitio Dei) if our minds
befixed upon the splendour of our apparel? For many so enslave all
their senses to delights that the mind lies overwhelmed.^220This truly Puritan passage reveals some significant features of
Calvin’s view of recognition. First, recognition concerns knowledge.
Second, it is comparable to the gratefulness and thanksgiving dis-
cussed in the context of this quote. Third, recognition is in a sense
second-order or self-reflective knowledge and, in order to work well,
it requires a proper self-relationship that keeps the mind focused
and clear.
(^219) Inst.3, 8, 6;Inst-E706. recognoissance, recognoistre, nous oyons dire/acknowledging,
acknowlege, know/zuerkennen, erkennen.
(^220) Inst.3, 10, 3;Inst-E 721 – 2. recognoissions, recognoissance, recognoistrons/
knowe, reknowledging, reknowledging/erkennen, gedechtnis, gedechtnis.
104 Recognition and Religion