Calvin on church and government

Abstract

This article examines Calvin's understanding of civil government as well as the relationship between church and government against the background of radical political change during the sixteenth century. It becomes clear that Calvin had an organic understanding of church, government and people. These three entities are interwoven and interact on the basis of the covenant and civil contract. Calvin's approach, however, is not limited to the covenant, but has a surprising richness and diversity. He integrated theological, juristic and philosophical concepts in his understanding of the state. It is further shown that Calvin's high regard for civil government, entrenched the corpus christianum, even though he clearly distinguished between ecclesiastical and civil governance. It is also shown that Calvin had a fundamental influence on many of the political concepts which are generally accepted within modern democracies.

Hierdie artikel gee 'n kort uiteensetting van Calvyn se denke oor die kerk en owerhede, sowel as die verhouding tussen kerk en owerheid teen die agtergrond van die radikale politieke transformasie gedurende die sestiende eeu. Dit is duidelik dat Calvyn 'n organiese staatsbeskouing ontwikkel het. Die kerk, owerheid en volk het as een organisme gefunksioneer. Die drie entiteite was verweef en het in voortdurende interaksie met mekaar geleef op grondslag van die verbond en kontraktuele verbintenis. Sy verbondsmatige denke is verder aangevul met ander teologiese, juridiese en filosofiese insigte. Dit vertoon dus 'n verrassende diversiteit. Calvyn se positiewe waardering vir die owerheid het daartoe bygedra om die corpus christianum te bestendig, alhoewel hy baie duidelik onderskei het tussen die verantwoordelikhede van die kerklike en siviele regering. Daar word ook aangetoon dat Calvyn 'n fundamentele invloed op die vorming van die moderne, demokratiese regstaat gehad het.