The Catholic Calvin – Pro Ecclesia
In this article, I explore the implications of recent historiography on how to relate Calvin to the broader catholic tradition. I argue that, although anti-Roman Catholic in many ways, there are important ways in which Calvin maintained broad continuity with the broader catholic tradition. While many modern Reformed theologians seek to use Calvin in their own efforts to marginalize the exegesis and theology of pre-modern catholic theology, these efforts rely upon a decontextualized account of Calvin's theological writings. From the article: "In the end, the catholic Calvin is one which disrupts the "either/ or" dichotomies that dominate much in contemporary theological discourse. It is a portrait of Calvin that is inconvenient for many of his Reformed followers and for his non-Reformed detractors as well. While there is no doubt that Calvin and his followers in Reformed orthodoxy were antagonistic to their Roman Catholic contemporaries, their theological vision was not formed by building...