If you hear the words “Calvinist” or “Calvinism,” do they bring positive or negative images to your mind? Do you think of a theological system of belief, particularly about salvation, or do you think more of a way of life? Do you think, “Those are the sort of people I want to spend time with?” or “those are the words that best describe me”? My guess is that in West Michigan the reaction to these words is more positive, while in the majority of other places it’s negative. Here are some words used to describe what it means to be a Calvinist from the “Calvin and Us” exhibit going on this summer at the Grote Kerk in Dordrecht: “A wagging finger, doing your duty, saving your pennies, having just one biscuit with your coffee, and a simply furnished home on display to all the world through a large front window.” None of those words has anything to do with the doctrine of salvation.
In the Netherlands, at least, the word Calvinism has come to denote a certain religious severity and austerity. There isn’t much fun or joy associated with it. As we walked through the exhibit in Dordrecht we heard some “man on the street” interviews with Dutch people who condescendingly described Calvinism as the way of their grandparents. The people being interviewed wanted to be sure they made clear these sorts of things were from a time in the past – the sort of stereotypical “Dutch-ness” that is long gone.
John Calvin was born 500 years ago. What do you know about him? He wasn’t Dutch. He never even set foot in the Netherlands. He was French, but most of his adult life was spent in Geneva. Calvin was, without doubt, a person of amazing intellect and ability. He was a prolific preacher, teacher, and writer. And like anyone important enough to get an “ism” associated with his or her name, there is a bit of a gap between John Calvin and Calvinism. I find it helpful to think of Calvin in his context – coming out of the abuses that caused the Reformation in the first place. Calvin wanted us to know that salvation came from God alone, that there was nothing human beings could do or pay to gain their salvation, that it was 100% a gift of God. Affirming that God alone is sovereign (and man is not) led him to predestination. But Calvin wasn’t pulling these ideas out of thin air; he was finding them in the Bible. Of course, not everyone reads the Bible the same way.
We went to the Calvin exhibit on Thursday afternoon last week. Then on Saturday Gretchen and I visited Amsterdam. I was wondering, as we walked by a “coffee shop” and smelled the strong odor of marijuana coming from inside, how the country that perhaps more than any other in the world embraced a rigid, conservative form of Calvinism, gave rise to legalized pot and the red light district? How did that happen?
The history of the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands is a history of several splits and divisions, with each group attempting to express the true Reformed faith. Today the Netherlands is home to a vast array of religious and secular belief systems. One survey I saw recently said that 50% of the Dutch population openly says they do not believe in God, the highest percentage of any country on earth. How can the this country be the home of many religious schisms and at the same time be noted for tolerance?
Maybe I’m hung up on schisms because I live in Dordrecht. This is where the Synod of Dort took place in 1618-1619. The Canons of Dort were first read in the Grote Kerk, where the Calvin exhibit is taking place. I saw a drawing of the Synod of Dort – there was a huge circle of men wearing black with those funny white clown collars on surrounding “the remonstrants,” whose orthodoxy was on trial at the Synod. (The remostrants lost, by the way.) The Canons are where the acronym “TULIP” to describe Calvinism comes from, and fun and easy to defend doctrines like double predestination are fully articulated. One of the ironic things, of course, is that while the Canons of Dort are still a doctrinal standard of Reformed Churches, the theology of the great majority of people in Reformed Churches today is much more in line with the remonstrants, who believed in free will – that humans have a role to play in making decisions about their salvation.
Here are some pictures from the Grote Kerk and the exhibit. I never know exactly how these will be laid out on the blog page, but here is what I’ve included: The Grote Kerk from the outside and inside, two views of Dordrecht from the top of the church tower, and some of the exhibit. The picture with a lot of Dutch on it asks, “Who would we be without Calvin?” I included the picture with all the lines showing various divisions within the Reformed churches here because this subject in particular fascinates me. I look at all those splits and wonder if this is just human nature or something special in the Dutch psyche. I don’t think the non-churched world is impressed when you have several variations on the same theme (who are a bit at odds with each other) in buildings a few blocks apart.
How does all of this strike you? I aired a bit of the schism theme a couple weeks ago, so let me ask a different question. Is it just me or is there something a bit schizophrenic about one nation going from hyper-conservatism to hyper-liberalism? More than once people (in West Michigan) have suggested to me that all the religious people left the Netherlands a century and a half ago and migrated to the US and you see what was left behind. Those comments are said a bit “tongue in cheek,” but much truth is said in jest. Here are a few lines from the other side, from a book here commenting on the migration of Dutch people to the US: Holland’s most identifiable contribution to the emerging continent can be felt this day in the State of Michigan where large concentrations of Dutch-Americans (the Michi-Dutch) have inhabited the picturesque landscape…the Michi-Dutch haven’t changed much over the past 150+ years…As staunch churchgoers and moralistic merchants, they believe they are THE true Dutch…Many of the second- and later-generation Dutch in western Michigan have no idea what the real Holland is like.
In other words, I think today’s Dutch reconcile the “schizophrenic” nature I referred to earlier by thinking that they have progressed from a repressed past.
What do you think?
I think it's really interesting that Swedes say the same things and have the same attitudes toward Luther. It makes me wonder if other European countries/cultures today that consider themselves in some way "post-Christian", if they all respond similarly to their most influential "reformer". While they have some theologies in common, Lutheranism and Calvinism are also quite different... so I find it really interesting that the average person would put Luther and Calvin in the same box, basically. Like you said, it seems to have nothing to do with theology or salvation, but more with a perceived cultural heritage that so many are trying to escape.
ReplyDeleteJeff, I don't know if this really applies, but I would equate it to what happens here in the U.S. when we have a change in political party; it's the pendulum swing from left to right, literally in politics; depending on what happened in the past term, the next one tends to want to "balance" out the nation, or "reform" the previous sins; eg. Reagan wanting to change the economy from the perceived disaster made by Carter; Bush II wanting to "reign in" the media's influence in politics, therefore, access to info/public awareness, thus all the secrecy with what was really happening, going to war, etc. and Cheney choosing to work "in the darkness" so to speak, or was it "going to the dark side?" I'm not really sure. Anyway, thus, we now have the results of that, which sent us in another direction, which many see Obama now trying to "reform", to get us out of chaos and ruin, but now he is being called all sorts of names, Socialist and Communist being two. In my mind, with this kind of reaction, nobody wins.....and, in the end, the general population usually bears the brunt of it. Maybe Holland is in a period where the pendulum is swinging toward the non-religious side, and later, in however many years, it will change back to embracing Calvin? I don't know. Like I said, this is all my own perceptions from this side of the gulf of separation. Take it with a grain of salt!
ReplyDeleteP.S. I do have to add that I am in the midst of fighting a cold, so I am under the influence of all kinds of drugs to stave off the cold symptoms.....so, I may not be very logical or rational in my thought process at this time!
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