I really appreciate your writings. I embraced faith my freshman year of college 30 years ago while a science major at a large state university. I was loved into the Presbyterian Church by several classmates who had active faith lives. When I came out several years later the church's then stance on LGBT+ issues resulted in me leaving. Interestingly all those classmates and other later friends left the denomination because it eventually became too liberal for considering LGBT inclusion. Leaving for me was deeply painful. However, I truly felt grace was indeed "irresistible" and that I could not escape it if I tried. Where many see Reformed theology as dour and harsh the more I investigated the more it made sense. Just yesterday someone on Substack posted language from one of Calvin's sermons where he said the rich who do not help the poor are like murderers. Harsh but powerful. The church is very much in and of this world. Our calling is higher but I have to come to realize we are in desperate need of forgiveness and redirection as much as the individuals who make it up. I am now a Reformed Christian who worships Episcopalian. There is a place for everyone somewhere.
I love your description of yourself as "a Reformed Christian who worships Episcopalian." I plan to use that identifier to describe how I also understand myself!
Thank you for this article. I left the Reformed church many years ago and married into the Mennonite faith tradition and joined that denomination. It's refreshing to see some in the Reformed church truly embracing Jesus's command to love our neighbors, no questions asked.
I do not accept that you are in any way a “bad Calvinist.” You & others with a similar mind & message are different dispensations of Calvinism.
I think the phrase “bad Calvinist” is probably reflective of an anal, controlling, damning stream of Calvinist thinking & practice. This stream of thought & practice lacks the grace & redemptive transformation so very evident in Jesus life & mission to seek & create justice for all.
Thank you for all you do to promote grace & social justice.
Just a comment for folks here whose only acquaintance with Calvin is via things like Jonathan Edward’s infamous sermon, “Sinners in the hands of an angry God.” Calvin was the deepest and broadest thinker of the early Reformation, as Marilyn Robinson and Wolterstorff have been telling us for decades. Yet he was a person of his times, as are we all. Along with a deeply humanist understanding of the world, he followed Western church fathers like Augustine and Aquinas down the rabbit hole of predestinarian thinking by which God chooses some for salvation while rejecting others. Personally, I have found it very fruitful to combine Calvin’s broad humanist understanding of God’s sovereign love for creation with the universalist vision of the much earlier Eastern church Fathers like Athanasius and Gregory of Nyssa. That, in turn, recalls Paul’s vision of God’s love in Christ “through whom God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things… “ (Colossians 1:20).
I took a class on the Institutes at Dordt and that has provided my theological grounding ever since. My prof (John Vanderstelt, who was connected to ICS at the VU) presented it in a capacious way, keeping at the center the beauty of being in the hands of God.
Kristen, thank you for your continued flow of information that you are sharing. After reading Jesus and John Wayne and Sheila Gregoire The great Sex rescue, I came to realize the trap of fundamentalist thinking . The ICS' s letters of support clearly reflect my own thoughts and experiences as we also have been rejected by our CRC in Simcoe.
You do awesome work, Kristin! I'm so glad I came across Jesus and John Wayne a few years ago. It helped me make sense of what has happened to my world.
Thank you, Kristin. I now have something to think about and use to answer shortsighted Christians.
After a long and complicated life I have been ready to ditch Reformed thinking. I am in a Reformed church, body only. My heart, mind, and soul left a long time ago. Maybe there are Reformed churches with beliefs and actions like yours around me. Or maybe I can be a Reformed Christian, who worships Episcopal. (Thanks, Mike N)
Thank you, Kristin, and Nick, for helping to keep me in the community by being role models of both intellectual rigor and the embrace of mystery, but most of all for being steadfast champions of justice bathed in grace.
This writing struck me deep within my being, especially this from “Republican Theology” :
“And the theme that comes through over and over is not that the business of government is to secure justice in society but that the business of government is to secure individual liberty. What struck me in reading the book was that almost nothing is said about justice; it’s just the securing of individual liberty.”
It is obvious to me that this is what is happening in our country today:(
As our current President says “ I can do whatever I want “
But this is only true if you are white, Republican , and the right kind of Christian!
Otherwise you are screwed!
Peace, Chris Guthrie, PhD , feeling isolated here in little Bend, Oregon.
i am a hodgepodge of a human, (a)theologically, and part of that 'podge' is evangelicalism back in the 70s (covenant college & berkeley ca) and this piece brought back memories & gratitude for what i have lived, believed and learned these last 50+ years. Nick W and C Seerveld were most authentic lights for me in those days. I am so glad to read that they remain so beloved and even wiser. This is a tangent, but Marilynn Robinson is my bad calvin reading these days. i pay attention to the evangelical world, and i am grateful for all you beloved & brilliant 'co-belligerents' (a lovely 70s term we usta use). We shall overcome!
Thank you for continuing to write, teach, and participate in Reformed worldview formation at Calvin. I left the CRC 20 years ago for mainline Protestantism and ordination. That immigration meant I was free and didn’t have the double burden of proving myself. And I carry the same CRC/Reformed worldview into the pulpit and now into my life as I’ve stepped away from active parish ministry.
Thanks for opening my eyes to salt and light type Calvinists, and thanks for helping Christians of all brands (Methodist/now UCC) stay on point by continually point to Jesus' message.
Thank you, Kristin. I felt very seen reading this. I'm a Calvin alum and, like you, I was formed by a deeply Reformed theology and ended up in the academy. Those two things aren't coincidental. Although I'm heartbroken about the developments that led to the decision of ICS, learning of their letter was nonetheless encouraging. I think ICS had a pretty significant influence on my learning in the philosophy department at Calvin, especially through Lambert Zuidervaart, with whom I took several classes. It's good to know these places are continuing their work and that you are continuing yours.
Thanks so much for your observations about faith, and for including the excerpts from the NY Times interview with Nick. Also relevant are the following quotes from the Cardinal Lawrence homily in the film Conclave:
"Certainty is the great enemy of unity … the deadly enemy of tolerance"
"Our faith is a living thing precisely because it walks hand in hand with doubt"
"If there was only certainty and no doubt, there would be no mystery and therefore no need
I am so glad I found you. So much of what I read in your articles, whether written by you or quotes from other learned people, have been so helpful. They all state in a very intelligent way what I've gradually, over time, been feeling and now I read words to go with my feelings.
I really appreciate your writings. I embraced faith my freshman year of college 30 years ago while a science major at a large state university. I was loved into the Presbyterian Church by several classmates who had active faith lives. When I came out several years later the church's then stance on LGBT+ issues resulted in me leaving. Interestingly all those classmates and other later friends left the denomination because it eventually became too liberal for considering LGBT inclusion. Leaving for me was deeply painful. However, I truly felt grace was indeed "irresistible" and that I could not escape it if I tried. Where many see Reformed theology as dour and harsh the more I investigated the more it made sense. Just yesterday someone on Substack posted language from one of Calvin's sermons where he said the rich who do not help the poor are like murderers. Harsh but powerful. The church is very much in and of this world. Our calling is higher but I have to come to realize we are in desperate need of forgiveness and redirection as much as the individuals who make it up. I am now a Reformed Christian who worships Episcopalian. There is a place for everyone somewhere.
I love this.
I love your description of yourself as "a Reformed Christian who worships Episcopalian." I plan to use that identifier to describe how I also understand myself!
If there are more than a few of us we can create a secret handshake. Something not too emotive. That would just not do for us! God bless.
Me too
Me too
God bless you.
Thank you for this article. I left the Reformed church many years ago and married into the Mennonite faith tradition and joined that denomination. It's refreshing to see some in the Reformed church truly embracing Jesus's command to love our neighbors, no questions asked.
I do not accept that you are in any way a “bad Calvinist.” You & others with a similar mind & message are different dispensations of Calvinism.
I think the phrase “bad Calvinist” is probably reflective of an anal, controlling, damning stream of Calvinist thinking & practice. This stream of thought & practice lacks the grace & redemptive transformation so very evident in Jesus life & mission to seek & create justice for all.
Thank you for all you do to promote grace & social justice.
Persist.
Just a comment for folks here whose only acquaintance with Calvin is via things like Jonathan Edward’s infamous sermon, “Sinners in the hands of an angry God.” Calvin was the deepest and broadest thinker of the early Reformation, as Marilyn Robinson and Wolterstorff have been telling us for decades. Yet he was a person of his times, as are we all. Along with a deeply humanist understanding of the world, he followed Western church fathers like Augustine and Aquinas down the rabbit hole of predestinarian thinking by which God chooses some for salvation while rejecting others. Personally, I have found it very fruitful to combine Calvin’s broad humanist understanding of God’s sovereign love for creation with the universalist vision of the much earlier Eastern church Fathers like Athanasius and Gregory of Nyssa. That, in turn, recalls Paul’s vision of God’s love in Christ “through whom God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things… “ (Colossians 1:20).
I took a class on the Institutes at Dordt and that has provided my theological grounding ever since. My prof (John Vanderstelt, who was connected to ICS at the VU) presented it in a capacious way, keeping at the center the beauty of being in the hands of God.
Kristen, thank you for your continued flow of information that you are sharing. After reading Jesus and John Wayne and Sheila Gregoire The great Sex rescue, I came to realize the trap of fundamentalist thinking . The ICS' s letters of support clearly reflect my own thoughts and experiences as we also have been rejected by our CRC in Simcoe.
Thanks again for your insights,
John Oosterveld Simcoe Ontario
I’m sorry to hear this. Now is definitely the time to build new communities.
You do awesome work, Kristin! I'm so glad I came across Jesus and John Wayne a few years ago. It helped me make sense of what has happened to my world.
Ditto
Thank you, Kristin. I now have something to think about and use to answer shortsighted Christians.
After a long and complicated life I have been ready to ditch Reformed thinking. I am in a Reformed church, body only. My heart, mind, and soul left a long time ago. Maybe there are Reformed churches with beliefs and actions like yours around me. Or maybe I can be a Reformed Christian, who worships Episcopal. (Thanks, Mike N)
Thank you, Kristin, and Nick, for helping to keep me in the community by being role models of both intellectual rigor and the embrace of mystery, but most of all for being steadfast champions of justice bathed in grace.
My family and I enjoy listening to your churches sermons online.
I’m so glad! Today’s was another fabulous sermon.
Looking forward to listening soon.
I do often as well, ever since Kristin (and Randy Blacketer) started sharing them back in COVID. COS is fortunate to have some amazing preachers.
This writing struck me deep within my being, especially this from “Republican Theology” :
“And the theme that comes through over and over is not that the business of government is to secure justice in society but that the business of government is to secure individual liberty. What struck me in reading the book was that almost nothing is said about justice; it’s just the securing of individual liberty.”
It is obvious to me that this is what is happening in our country today:(
As our current President says “ I can do whatever I want “
But this is only true if you are white, Republican , and the right kind of Christian!
Otherwise you are screwed!
Peace, Chris Guthrie, PhD , feeling isolated here in little Bend, Oregon.
i am a hodgepodge of a human, (a)theologically, and part of that 'podge' is evangelicalism back in the 70s (covenant college & berkeley ca) and this piece brought back memories & gratitude for what i have lived, believed and learned these last 50+ years. Nick W and C Seerveld were most authentic lights for me in those days. I am so glad to read that they remain so beloved and even wiser. This is a tangent, but Marilynn Robinson is my bad calvin reading these days. i pay attention to the evangelical world, and i am grateful for all you beloved & brilliant 'co-belligerents' (a lovely 70s term we usta use). We shall overcome!
Thank you for continuing to write, teach, and participate in Reformed worldview formation at Calvin. I left the CRC 20 years ago for mainline Protestantism and ordination. That immigration meant I was free and didn’t have the double burden of proving myself. And I carry the same CRC/Reformed worldview into the pulpit and now into my life as I’ve stepped away from active parish ministry.
Thanks for opening my eyes to salt and light type Calvinists, and thanks for helping Christians of all brands (Methodist/now UCC) stay on point by continually point to Jesus' message.
Thank you, Kristin. I felt very seen reading this. I'm a Calvin alum and, like you, I was formed by a deeply Reformed theology and ended up in the academy. Those two things aren't coincidental. Although I'm heartbroken about the developments that led to the decision of ICS, learning of their letter was nonetheless encouraging. I think ICS had a pretty significant influence on my learning in the philosophy department at Calvin, especially through Lambert Zuidervaart, with whom I took several classes. It's good to know these places are continuing their work and that you are continuing yours.
Thanks so much for your observations about faith, and for including the excerpts from the NY Times interview with Nick. Also relevant are the following quotes from the Cardinal Lawrence homily in the film Conclave:
"Certainty is the great enemy of unity … the deadly enemy of tolerance"
"Our faith is a living thing precisely because it walks hand in hand with doubt"
"If there was only certainty and no doubt, there would be no mystery and therefore no need
for faith"
Glen P
I am so glad I found you. So much of what I read in your articles, whether written by you or quotes from other learned people, have been so helpful. They all state in a very intelligent way what I've gradually, over time, been feeling and now I read words to go with my feelings.