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Calvin and Trent: Calvin's Reaction to the Council of Trent in the Context of his Conciliar Thought

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 June 2011

Theodore W. Casteel
Theodore W. Casteel
Affiliation:
Stanford University, California 94305
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Extract

It is self-evident from a survey of the Calvin Corpus that the Reformer's polemic with the Roman Catholic Church was one of the most important and essential aspects of his labors. However, it is distressing to note that this area of Calvin's thought, which finds its fullest expression in the many tracts which he penned in the 1540's, has been all but neglected in recent Calvin scholarship. The purpose of this brief essay is to outline one aspect of Calvin's attack on Rome: his reactions to the Council of Trent. Nowhere in Reformation literature are the essential theological and ecclesiastical issues which divided Rome and the Reformers more lucidly delineated.

Type
Research Article
Information
Harvard Theological Review , Volume 63 , Issue 1 , January 1970 , pp. 91 - 117
Copyright
Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College 1970

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References

1 The literature on this topic is limited to a few paragraphs in broader studies dealing with Protestant reactions to the Council of Trent: Kingdon, Robert M., Some French Reactions to the Council of Trent, Church History (1964), 379–81Google Scholar; Pauck, Wilhelm, The Heritage of the Reformation (New York, 1961), 157–60Google Scholar; Stupperich, Robert, Die Reformation und das Tridentinum, Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte 47 (1956), 48–52Google Scholar.

2 Pauck, 146f.; cf. McNally, Robert E., The Council of Trent and the German Protestants, Theological Studies 25 (1964), 8fCrossRefGoogle Scholar.

3 Wendel, François, Calvin (New York, 1963), 62Google Scholar.

4 Calvini, Ioannis, Opera Quae Supersunt Omnia (Corpus Reformatorum) (Brunswick, 1863–1900), XXXI, 28Google Scholar. Hereafter referred to as Opp. This glimpse of the timid, unpretentious and human side of the Geneva Reformer is something seldom noticed by his biographers, but has received some attention of late. Cf. Stauffer, Richard, Calvins Menscklichkeit (Zürich, 1964)Google Scholar; Parker, T. H. L., Portrait of Calvin (Philadelphia, 1954)Google Scholar; Grossmann, Eberhard, Beiträge zur psychologischen Analyse der Reformatoren Luther und Calvin (Basel, 1958)Google Scholar.

5 Letter to Farel, 15 March 1539: Opp., X, 322–29; cf. Doumergue, Emile, Jean Calvin, les hommes et les choses de son temps, 7 vols. (Lausanne, 1899–1917), Vol. 2, 536ff.Google Scholar; Wendel, 62.

6 Letter to Farel, March 1539: Opp., X, 330–32; Wendel, 63.

7 For Calvin's reactions to these conferences see his letters to Farel: 21 June 1540: Opp., XI, 50–54; 27 July 1540: Opp., XI, 63–64; Oct. 1540: Opp., XI, 83–86; 21 Oct. 1540: Opp., XI, 90–93; Letter to the Seigneury of Geneva, 12 Nov. 1540: Opp., XI, 104–06; Letter to Farel, 13 Nov. 1540: Opp., XI, 113–14f.

8 Doumergue, Vol. 2, 625–40; Wendel, 63; Jacques Pannier, Une Année de la vie de Calvin, Bulletin de la Société Calviniste de France, No. 45, p. 2.

9 Wendel, 63.

10 Opp., XI, 215.

11 Opp., XI, 215, 217. Wendel, 64.

12 Opp., XI, 215

13 Wendel, 64.

14 Opp., XI, 251.

15 Ibid.

16 Opp., XI, 634–35; Hastings Eells, Martin Bucer (New Haven, 1931), 339.

17 De Necessitate Rejormandae Ecclesiae: Supplex exhortatio ad Caesarem Carolum Quintum et Principes aliosque ordines Spirae nunc imperii conventum agentes, ut restituendae ecclesiae curam serio velint suscipere (1544), Opp., VI, 453–534.

18 Many of Calvin's tracts, including the one above, are available in translation in Tracts and Treatises, 3 vols. (Grand Rapids, 1958). Volume I contains an excellent introduction by T. F. Torrance.

19 Opp., VI, 458.

20 Opp., VI, 525.

21 Opp., VI, 526.

22 Opp., VI, 529.

23 Ibid.

24 Opp., VI, 526f.

25 Opp., VI, 528.

26 Jedin, Hubert, A History of the Council of Trent (St. Louis, 1957), I, 495Google Scholar.

27 Ibid., 496.

28 Ibid., 497.

29 Admonitio paterna Pauli III. Romani Pontificis ad invictissimum Caesarem Carolum V (1544), Opp., VII, 253–88.

30 Opp., VII, 257–62.

31 Opp., VII, 281f.

32 Ibid.

33 Opp., VII, 281–86; Jedin, I, 499.

34 Wider das Papsttum zu Rom, vom Teufel gestiftet (1545). Luther, Martin, Werke (Weimar, 1928), LIV, 195–299Google Scholar. Here the Pope is characterized as “the most all-hellish father,” “the Ass Pope with long asses' ears,” “the destroyer of Christianity,” etc.

35 Opp., VII, 261ff.

36 Opp., VII, 281.

37 Ibid.

38 The source of this allusion is difficult to ascertain. Calvin may have been referring to the Milesian Tales, a class of voluptuous romances, usually witty and frequently erotic if not obscene. A more likely reference is probably to the residents of Miletus, a city in Asia Minor which was known in classical times for its opulence and flourishing culture. The city fell in 494 B.C. to the Persians, fulfilling an oracle that had been given by the priestess at Delphi:

“Then shalt thou, Miletus, so oft the contriver of evil,

Be to many, thyself, a feast and an excellent booty.”

Avery, Catherine B. (ed.), Classical Handbook (New York, 1962), 712fGoogle Scholar.

39 Opp., VII, 281.

40 Ibid.

41 Opp., VII, 282.

42 Ibid.

43 Opp., VII, 287.

44 Corpus Reformatorum: Philippi Melanchthonis Opera quae supersunt omnia (Brunswick, 1863–1900), VI, 432, 450. Cf. Robert Stupperich, Die Reformation und das Tridentinum, Archiv 47 (1956), 38–41.

45 Ad patres in synodo Tridentina, qui Deum timent, de causis, quae pios homines ab ea synodo absterrent.

46 Bucer attacked Trent in two other tracts. In August of 1545 he penned his De concilio et legitime iudicandis controversiis religionis, criminum, quae in Mart. Bucerum Ioh. Cochlaeus ad lllustrissimos … perscripsit, Confutatio. While this was an extended polemic dealing with several issues, it includes a defense of his concept of a national council and a strong denunciation of the Council of Trent. The next year Bucer published another invective against Trent under the title Zwei Decret des Trientischen Concili. Here the Strasbourg Reformer attacked the decrees on the authority of tradition and the infallibility of the Vulgate. In the preface he asserted that Protestants were justified in rejecting the Council, for the intransigent attitude of the Catholics precluded all chance of a religious agreement. The Council assembled at Trent was neither free, as had been promised, nor superior to the Pope, as the Council of Constance had decreed an ecumenical council should be. Hastings Eeixs, Martin Bucer (New Haven, 1931), 368, 382.

49 Stupperich, 43f.

48 Ibid., 46–48. Francisco de Enzinas (Dryander) is noted for his translation of the Wittenberg Bible in Spanish. He was a widely traveled refugee who was arrested in Brussels, and finally sought refuge in Basel.

49 Opp. VII, 365–506.

50 Les Actes du Concile de Trent, avec le remède contre la poison (1548). Cf. Robert M. Kingdon, 379–81. Our next three paragraphs are based on Kingdon's general critical introduction to the text of the Antidoto.

51 Another example is provided by Calvin's refutation of Servetus, where there was even more reason, from Calvin's point of view, to suppress statement of the rare but dangerous doctrinal position he was combating. Kingdon notes, however, that “such was Calvin's confidence in the irresistible logic of his own arguments, that it never seems to have occurred to him that his readers might find superior merit in those of his opponents.” Kingdon, 149f. Calvin used the same method in several other important tracts: cf. Articuli Facultatis Parisiensis Cum Antidoto (1544), Opp., VII, 1–44; Admonitio paterna Pauli III Cum Scholiis (1545), ibid., 253–88; Interim adultero-germanum (1549), ibid., 545–674.

52 In his refutation of the fourteenth decree on justification, for example, Calvin's argument depends in part on the tense of a verb translated as “live” in a passage from the prophet Habakkuk (2:4). Opp., VII, 465. Kingdon, 150.

53 Smits, Luchesius, Saint Augustin dans I'oeuvre de Jean Calvin (Assen, Louvain, Paris, 1957–58), 88–91Google Scholar, identifies and tabulates these references.

54 Kingdon, 150.

55 This is especially true of the French edition: at one point he compares the Council to “a diseased whore,” while at another the Tridentine Fathers are referred to as “horned beasts” with “stinking mussels.” Kingdon, 150f.

56 Canons I, II, III, VIII, & XXII, of the Sixth Session. Kingdon, 151.

57 Opp., VII, 413.

58 Kingdon 151.

59 Opp., VII, 380.

60 Ibid.

61 “Adsunt forte quadraginta aut circiter episcopi. Neque enim numerum teneo, neque etiam admodum euro, quia parum ad rem pertinet. Respondeant mini bona fide patroni conciliorum. Si quis ordine ipsos omnes recenseat, quotumquemque ex illis non contemnent? Imo, quum se illi ipsi venerandi patres mutuo aspiciunt, fieri non potest, quin eos sui pudeat. Nam et sibi noti sunt: et quale sit aliorum de se iudicium, non ignorant. Proinde, si removeas concilii nomen, nihil nisi quisquilias fuisse, quidquid illic episcoporum fuit, totus papatus fatebitur.” Opp., VII, 382.

62 Opp., VII, 411.

63 Opp., VII, 413.

64 Ibid.

65 “… quisquis Machabaeorum scripsit historiam, in fine optat, ut bene et congruenter scripserit; sin minus, veniam deprecatur.” Ibid.

66 Calvin cites several examples, particularly from the Psalms, to illustrate how the Vulgate has departed from the Hebrew. With regard to the Vulgate version of the N.T., Calvin states: “Quid? Vulgatam novi testamenti versionem authenticam facere, an eos non pudet? quum in omnium manibus versentur Vallae, Fabri et Erasmi scripta, quae innumeros in ea locos vitiatos digito vel pueris demonstrant.” Opp., VII, 416.

67 Especially Hebrew.

68 Opp., VII, 414.

69 Ibid.

70 Opp., VII, 416.

71 Opp., VII, 418.

72 Ibid.

73 Ibid.

74 Calvini, Joannis, Opera Selecta, ed. Barth, P. & Niesel, W. (Munich, 1926–1936), V, 136Google Scholar. Cf. Berkouwer, G. K., Calvin and Rome, in John Calvin: Contemporary Prophet (Grand Rapids, 1959), 190Google Scholar.

75 Literature on this topic is rather scarce: cf. Rückert, Hanns, Die Rechtfertigungslehre auf dem Tridenlinischen Konzil (Bonn, 1925)Google Scholar; Sullivan, Stephen C., The Formulation of the Tridentine Doctrine of Merit (Washington, D.C., 1959)Google Scholar; Oberman, Heiko, The Tridentine Decree on Justification in the Light of Late Medieval Theology, in Funk, Robert W., ed., Journal for Theology and the Church (New York, 1967), III, 28–54Google Scholar.

76 Jedin, II, 307f.

77 Denzinger, Henrici, Enchiridion Symbolorum (Freiburg, 1952), #793Google Scholar.

78 “Si quis praevaricationem sibi soli et non eius propagini asserit nocuisse, acceptam a Deo sanctitatem et iustitiam, quam perdidit, sibi soli et non nobis etiam eum perdidisse; aut inquinatum ilium per inobedientiae peccatum mortem et poenas corporis tantum in omne genus humanum transfudisse, non autem et peccatum, quod mors est animae.” Denzinger, #789.

79 Denzinger, #798.

80 Denzinger, #798; “to receive baptism, to begin a new life, and to serve the divine commandments.”

81 Denzinger, #814.

82 Denzinger, #801.

83 Ibid. Also Denzinger, #819.

84 Denzinger, #819.

85 Denzinger, #803.

86 Denzincer, #806.

87 Denzinger, #805.

88 Denzinger, #806.

89 Denzincer, #808; see also Denzincer, ##825, 826, 827, & 837.

90 Denzinger, #807.

91 Especially canons ii, 14, & 19.

92 Opp., VII, 446.

93 Opp., VII, 448.

94 Ibid.

95 Cf.Inst. (III, xi, 7).

96 Torrance, xxxv.

97 Opp., VII, 451.

98 Torrance, xxxvi.

99 Ibid.Opp., VII, 455.

100 “Si quis dixerit, homines iustiflcari vel sola imputatione iustitiae Christi, vel sola peccatorum remissione, exdusa gratia et caritate, quae in cordibus eorum per Spiritum Sanctum diffundatur atque illis inhaereat, aut etiam gratiam, qua iustificamur, esse tantum favorem Dei: anathema sit.” Denzinger, #821.

101 Denzinger, #807.

102 Denzinger, # # 793, 798, 803, 806, 807, 809.

103 Opp., VII, 458.

104 Opp., VII, 465.

105 Inst. (III, ii, 15).

106 Denzinger, #843 a.

107 “Haec autem praecipua obscuritatis causa, quod aegerrime adducimur, ut uni Deo in solidum relinquamus iustitiae gloriam.” Opp., VII, 441.

108 Opp., VII, 451.

109 Opp., VII, 506.

110 Ibid.

111 Johannes Cochlaeus, Ioannis Calvini in Ada Synodi Tridentinae Censura, et eiusdem Brevis Confutatio, circa duas praecipue calumnias (1548).

112 “Qua supra omnem leprosorum foeditatem abominabilis et contaminatus est.” Ibid., A3.

113 Conrad Brunus was canon of Augsburg. Born in 1491, he was educated at Tübingen, where he received the doctorate in canon law. Because of his fame in jurisprudence, he attended the Imperial Diets at Augsburg, Worms, Speyer, and Regensburg. He died in 1563. Allgemeines Gelehrten Lexicon, I, 1433.

114 Torrance, xxxiiif.

115 Interim adultero-germanum: cut adiecta est Vera ckrhtianae pacificationis et ecclesiae reformandae ratio (1549). Opp., VII, 545–674.

116 Ibid.

117 “… non est cur nobis fucum faciant concordiae nomine qui a sincera evangeli professione abducere nos tentant. Quid ergo? Optanda quidem est pax, summoque studio quaerenda. Sed potius quam redimatur ulla pietatis iactura, coelum terrae, si ita opus est, misceatur.” Opp., VII, 591.

118 Opp., VII, 672; cf. Opp., VII, 674, Torrance, xxxiv.

119 Opp., XVIII, 285–87. French translation by Anthony DeLuca. The context of the memorandum is difficult to ascertain; it seems to have been inspired by Pius IV's desire to reconvene the Council of Trent on November 12, 1560.

120 Ibid., 285.

121 Ibid., 286.

122 Ibid.

123 Ibid.

124 “Mais encore que le premier lieu luy fust accordé, il faudroit qu'il se submist devant toutes choses au concile, et jurast d'observer tout ce qui y seroit decidé et conclu, se démettant de la domination qu'il a usurpée, et que les évesques aussy jurassent de se conformer à l'estat présent pour maintenir, quand il se trouvera des corruptions et abus tant en la doctrine qu'aux cérémonies et aux moeurs.” Ibid.

125 Ibid., 287.

126 On Calvin's views on the episcopacy and papacy, see Ganoczy, Alexandre, Calvin: Théologien de L'Église el du Ministère (Paris, 1964), 386ff., 416Google Scholar; McNeill, J. T., Calvin and the Episcopacy, The Presbyterian Tribune (1942), 14–39Google Scholar.

127 Opp., XVIII, 287.

128 Ibid.

129 Kingdon, 380; Kingdon was here referring to W. Nijenhuis, Calvinus Oecumenicus (The Hague, 1959), and John T. McNeill, Calvin as an Ecumenical Churchman, Church History XXXII, 4(Dec, 1963), esp. 390f. To these I would add Jean Cadier, Calvin and the Union of the Churches, in Duffield, G. E. (ed.), John Calvin (Grand Rapids, 1966), 118–30Google Scholar.

130 Cadier, 118.