Development

1. Middle Ages

1.1 Overview

People in the Middle Ages lived on a manor, which consisted of the castle, the

church, the village, and the surrounding farm land. These manors were isolated, with

occasional visits from peddlers, pilgrims on their way to the Crusades, or soldiers from

other fiefdoms.

In this "feudal" system, the king awarded land grants or "fiefs" to his most

important nobles, his barons, and his bishops, in return for their contribution of soldiers

for the king's armies. At the lowest echelon of society were the peasants, also called

"serfs" or "villains." In exchange for living and working on his land, known as the

"demesne," the lord offered his peasants protection.

Peasants worked the land and produced the goods that the lord and his manor

needed. This exchange was not without hardship for the serfs. They were heavily taxed

and were required to relinquish much of what they harvested.

Nobles divided their land among the lesser nobility, who became their servants

or "vassals." Many of these vassals became so powerful that the kings had difficulty

controlling them. By 1100, certain barons had castles and courts that rivalled the king's;

they could be serious threats if they were not pleased in their dealings with the crown.

1.2 Education

1.2.1 Objectives

During the Middle Ages, or the medieval period, which lasted roughly from the

5th to the 15th century, Western society and education were heavily shaped by

Christianity, particularly the Roman Catholic Church. The Church operated parish,

chapel, and monastery schools at the elementary level. Schools in monasteries and

cathedrals offered secondary education. Much of the teaching in these schools was

directed at learning Latin, the old Roman language used by the church in its ceremonies

and teachings. The church provided some limited opportunities for the education of

women in religious communities or convents. Convents had libraries and schools to

help prepare nuns to follow the religious rules of their communities. Merchant and craft

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guilds also maintained some schools that provided basic education and training in

specific crafts. Knights received training in military tactics and the code of chivalry.

As in the Greek and Roman eras, only a minority of people went to school

during the medieval period. Schools were attended primarily by persons planning to

enter religious life such as priests, monks, or nuns. The vast majority of people were

serfs who served as agricultural workers on the estates of feudal lords. The serfs, who

did not attend school, were generally illiterate

In the 11th century medieval scholars developed Scholasticism, a philosophical

and educational movement that used both human reason and revelations from the Bible

Scholasticism, philosophic and theological movement that attempted to use natural

human reason, in particular, the philosophy and science of Aristotle, to understand the

supernatural content of Christian revelation. It was dominant in the medieval Christian

schools and universities of Europe from about the middle of the 11th century to about

the middle of the 15th century. The ultimate ideal of the movement was to integrate into

an ordered system both the natural wisdom of Greece and Rome and the religious

wisdom of Christianity.

Formal education was unusual in the Middle Ages, although by the fifteenth

century there were schooling options to prepare a child for his future. Some cities such

as London had schools that children of both genders attended during the day. Here they

learned to read and write a skill that became a prerequisite for acceptance as an

apprentice in many Guilds.

A small percentage of peasant children managed to attend school in order to

learn how to read and write and understand basic math; this usually took place at a

monastery. For this education, their parents had to pay the lord a fine.

Noble girls, and on occasion boys were sometimes sent to live in nunneries in

order to receive basic schooling. Nuns would teach them to read (and possibly to write)

and make sure they knew their prayers. Girls were very likely taught spinning and

needlework and other domestic skills to prepare them for marriage. Occasionally such

students would become nuns themselves.

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If a child was to become a serious scholar, his path usually lay in the monastic

life, an option that was rarely open to or sought by the average townsman or peasant.

Only those boys with the most notable acumen were chosen from these ranks; they were

then raised by the monks. Children at monasteries were most often younger sons of

noble families, who were known to "give their children to the church" in the early

Middle Ages.

1.2.2 Curriculum contents

The medieval course of study was divided into the elementary trivium and the

more advanced quadrivium. The trivium comprised grammar, which included the study

of literature; dialectic or logic; and rhetoric, which also covered the study of law.

Completion of the trivium entitled the student to a bachelor's degree. The quadrivium

comprised arithmetic; geometry, which included geography and natural history;

astronomy, to which astrology was often added; and music, chiefly that of the church.

Once the quadrivium had been completed, the student was awarded a master of arts.

2. Modern Times

2.1 Overview

The Early Modern period spans the three centuries between the Middle Ages and

the Industrial Revolution, roughly from 1500 to 1800. As such, the early modern period

represents the decline and eventual disappearance, in much of the European sphere, of

feudalism, serfdom and the power of the Catholic Church.

2.2 Reformation and Protestantism

The Reformation, traditionally described has having been begun by Martin

Luther in 1517, was the movement which gave rise to Protestant churches and the

decline of the power of Roman Catholicism. The Reformation sought to "reform"

Christianity by returning it to original beliefs based solely on reference to the Bible,

eliminating later additions which accumulated in tradition.

The causes of the Reformation cannot be located in any one event or in any one

aspect of medieval society. It wasn't just a matter of religion or politics or social

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discontent. It was, rather, a combination of all of these things - it was a problem which

extended through all aspects of society and how people lived. There was dissatisfaction,

discontent and malaise everywhere.

Protestantism, one of the three major divisions of Christianity, the others being

Roman Catholicism and Orthodoxy. The four main Protestant traditions that emerged

from the Reformation were the Lutheran (known in continental Europe as Evangelical),

the Calvinist (Reformed), the Anabaptist, and the Anglican. Despite the considerable

differences among them in doctrine and practice, they agreed in rejecting the authority

of the pope and in emphasizing instead the authority of the Bible and the importance of

individual faith.

The Protestant movement actually preceded the 16th-century Reformation.

Several dissident movements in the late medieval church anticipated the Reformation by

protesting the pervasive corruption in the church and by criticizing fundamental

Catholic teachings.

3. Education in the 16th century

3.1 Educational movements

3.1.1 Renaissance

Renaissance is the series of literary and cultural movements in the 14th, 15th,

and 16th centuries. These movements began in Italy and eventually expanded into

Germany, France, England, and other parts of Europe. Participants studied the great

civilizations of ancient Greece and Rome and came to the conclusion that their own

cultural achievements rivaled those of antiquity. Their thinking was also influenced by

the concept of humanism, which emphasizes the worth of the individual. Renaissance

humanists believed it was possible to improve human society through classical

education. This education relied on teachings from ancient texts and emphasized a range

of disciplines, including poetry, history, rhetoric (rules for writing influential prose or

speeches), and moral philosophy.

Rediscovery of Classical Literature and Art

During the Middle Ages there was a lively interest in classical literature,

especially Latin and Latin translations of Greek. This attention was mostly confined to

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the professional activities of theologians, philosophers, and writers. In the Renaissance,

however, people from various segments of society—from kings and nobles to

merchants and soldiers—studied classical literature and art. Unlike the professional

scholars of the Middle Ages, these people were amateurs who studied for pleasure, and

their interest in art from the past was soon extended to contemporary works. Medieval

art and literature tended to serve a specialized interest and purpose; Renaissance works

of art and literature existed largely for their own sake, as objects of ideal beauty or

learning.

Curiosity and Objectivity

The Renaissance was marked by an intense interest in the visible world and in

the knowledge derived from concrete sensory experience. It turned away from the

abstract speculations and interest in life after death that characterized the Middle Ages.

Although Christianity was not abandoned, the otherworldliness and monastic ideology

of the Middle Ages were largely discarded. The focus during the Renaissance turned

from abstract discussions of religious issues to the morality of human actions.

Individualism

In the Renaissance, the unique talents and potential of the individual became

significant. The concept of personal fame was much more highly developed than during

the Middle Ages. Renaissance artists, valuing glory and renown in this world, signed

their works. Medieval artists, with their focus on otherworldliness and on glorifying

God, were more humble and remained largely anonymous.

The attention given to the development of an individual’s potential during the

Renaissance brought with it a new emphasis on education. The goal of education was to

develop the individual's talents in all intellectual and physical areas, from scholarship

and the writing of sonnets to swordsmanship and wrestling. It was believed that the

ideal person should not be bound to one specific discipline, such as that of scholar,

priest, or warrior. This was in stark contrast to the Middle Ages, when specialization

had been encouraged.

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3.1.2 Humanism

Initially, a humanist was simply a teacher of Latin literature. The early beliefs of

humanism were that, although God created the universe, it was humans that developed

and industrialized it.. By the mid-15th century humanism described a curriculum — the

studia humanitatis — comprising grammar, rhetoric, moral philosophy, poetry and

history. These subjects were all studied, whenever possible, in the original classical

texts.

The humanities curriculum conflicted directly with more traditional education

that was based on scholasticism. A scholastic education concentrated on the study of

logic, natural philosophy, and metaphysics, or the nature of reality. . Scholastic training

prepared students for careers in fields such as medicine, law, and, above all, theology.

The humanists believed that this scholastic course of study was focused too narrowly on

only few professions. They claimed that it was not based sufficiently on practical

experience or the needs of society, but relied too heavily on abstract thought. The

humanists proposed to educate the whole person and placed emphasis not only on

intellectual achievement, but also on physical and moral development.

The aim of education was to develop a complete and harmonious personality. As

man is made up of soul and body, this second element had to be looked after as well and

that is why physical education and games are important also “mens sana in corpore

sana”. The student has to develop his physical, intellectual and moral attitudes.

Whereas in the middle ages the most important factor when teaching was the

doctrine to be transmitted and which passively absorbed by the students, now the

educator had a great confidence in the students´ personal resources and he helped them

to achieve those values and skills for the benefit of the spirit and the body.

The humanists thought that education was a continuous process and it was

neither completed at school nor limited to the time when one is young.

The humanists also stressed the general responsibilities of citizenship and social

leadership. Humanists felt that they had an obligation to participate in the political life

of the community. From their perspective, the specialized disciplines taught by the

scholastics had failed to instill a respect for public duty.

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The pedagogists of humanism took into account all the transformations

experimented by society and worked out nee theories that often went back to the

classical world. In the early days of Humanism, education was elitist. It was mainly

princes and rich men and women who had to be educated. The masses were despised.

During all the time that humanism flourished one constant feature it showed,

was humanists´ constant preoccupation for educational aspects. They wrote about

school management, teaching methods, curricula and students behaviour.

The aim of education was to develop a complete and harmonious personality and

many teachers, to reach that goal, tried to promote educational reforms by teaching

themselves using their own methodologies or writing their own textbooks. Three

outstanding figures of humanism were: Colet, Erasmus and More.

ERASMUS

Erasmus of Rotterdam was one of the intellectual leaders of the XVI century. He

emphasized the European wide scope of the movement. To Erasmus, the Bible and the

Classics were two sides of the same coin, and he thus strove for a combination of

Christianity and humanism. Education was necessary, for fear that barbarism replace

civilization. To Erasmus, education nurtures our very being and sets us apart from other

creatures: people act from reason, and animals from instinct. Therefore, reason must be

developed by education. Also, learning is expected to overcome the hardship of life.

Erasmus preferred to focus on the value learning has to this earthly life, and not to

eternal life. Erasmus believed that a child’s mind must be instructed before it gets

corrupted. The child’s mind is receptive, pliable, and capable to take on any form, even

a god-like nature. To Erasmus, the seeds for life were implanted in us ‘by nature’, and

teachers only need to put in a good effort to make it sprout and grow.

COLET

John Colet influenced the generation that made the Renaissance the instrument

of Reformation. The aim of a true interpretation of Scriptures was to discover the

personal message which the individual writer meant to give. He was the first to

introduce the historical method of interpreting Scripture. Dean of St. Paul, he tried to

translate Christian humanism into practice. The foundation of the new school in the

London cathedral had a very important role as the old one was languishing. It was

meant for the education of 153 children with no money.

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According to Colet, the curriculum was in harmony with the humanistic theories

and true Christianity: the students should be instructed in the good Latin and Greek

literature. His purpose was to increase the knowledge and veneration of God and Jesus

Christ and the good life and Christian behaviour in the children.

MORE

Thomas More was very interested in pedagogy. More saw the connection

between educational, social and political problems and the influence that society

therefore has on education.

In Utopia, based in Plato´s The Republic, he writes about an ideal society and it

deals with the activities required by a just and balanced society and its success

depending on its learned mass of citizens.

The XVI century in general was a period very conscious of the value of

education. Many men of letters either directly connected with educationl activities or

institutiond or indirectly connected with them when reflecting a public consciousness,

wrote about schools, colleges and universities. In general, most reformers of education

intended to improve schools and their curriculums independently from any specific

doctrine.

3.1.3 Luther´s educational theory

The event usually considered the beginning of the Reformation is Martin

Luther’s publication, in 1517, of his Ninety-five Theses attacking the indiscriminate

sale of indulgences to finance the construction of Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

Luther, an Augustinian monk and professor of theology at the University of Wittenberg,

had been unable to find assurance of salvation in traditional Catholic teachings. He

came to believe that such assurance was to be found in the doctrine of justification by

divine grace through faith, which he thought Catholic theology had obscured by giving

equal weight to the efficacy of good works. The sale of indulgences, he believed, was an

abuse that originated in the mistaken emphasis on works.

Luther at first intended only to bring about reform within the church, but he was

met with firm opposition. In refusing to recant his views and demanding to be proven

wrong by Scripture, he denied the authority of the church, and he was excommunicated.

Protected by Frederick the Wise of Saxony, he wrote a series of books and pamphlets,

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and his ideas spread rapidly throughout the states of Germany and elsewhere in Europe.

In Scandinavia, national Lutheran churches were quickly established.

The Reformation was as much concerned with school as it was with church and

home. Appreciating the role of education in directing church and society back to the

source of the Christian faith, the reformers were committed to the schooling of the

young. One of Martin Luther's first acts as a reformer was to propose that monasteries

be turned into schools, while one of his last was to establish a school in Eisleben

Martin Luther was at the forefront of those who realized the need for change in

education, and with characteristic zeal he sought to effect improvements in Wittenberg

and throughout Germany. While he composed only a few works that treat education

directly, his other writings often reveal an attempt to relate education to the doctrinal

rediscoveries of the Reformation, and especially to subject learning to the "theology of

the cross". The few treatises Luther did dedicate strictly to education had such impact

that they may be deemed seminal for the development of reformed schooling in the

sixteenth century. These works not only influenced teachers and preachers throughout

Germany, but they also encouraged other theologians to consider the role of education

in society

"To the Councilmen of All Cities in Germany That They Establish and Maintain

Christian Schools" (1524).

The letter was written in response to the decline of the church-run schools, as well

as to the anti-educational sentiments that arose in Wittenberg and elsewhere. One of the

premises underlying the arguments in the letter is the doctrine concerning the duties of

the temporal government to ensure decency and good order in society; for this reason

the letter was addressed to civic leaders, the councilmen possessed the political and

financial resources to erect the schools. Luther therefore reminds the councillors that by

their authority from God they must promote a godly society, and he seeks to convince

them that proper education would benefit the state as well as the church.

Luther not only addresses the councilmen in this open letter; he also writes to the

citizens, his "beloved Germans", because he realizes that there are citizens who neglect

their parental duties. Some may not understand their God-given responsibility, others

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may not be suited for the duty, and a third group of parents is one which does not have

the opportunity or the means to educate their children.

Luther's advocacy of a community-organized school was novel. Assuming that the

state would be ruled by Christian leaders, Luther imposes upon the government the task

of overseeing reformed education. Not anticipating the conflict between state and

church that was to develop later, Luther proposes a system of education that would

benefit all members of society, including boys and girls, wealthy and poor. Civic

schools would belong to a system of institutions throughout the land and would operate

in harmony with the church. In this manner, Luther thought, education could serve the

reform of religion and society.

Having alerted both parents and civic leaders to their respective duties in the

education of the youth, Luther next describes the benefits of schooling for state and

church. The councilmen are enjoined to support education, for "a city's best and greatest

welfare, safety and strength consist rather in its having many able, learned, wise,

honorable, and well-educated citizens ". For the proper government of the earthly realm,

education should be viewed as an important means in producing responsible citizens. In

short, the councilmen have a vested interest in the training of the young, who will be the

future civic leaders.

Influenced by the methods espoused by the Renaissance, Luther believed that

the best model for preparing civic leaders was the classical one. For him, the writings of

ancient Greece and Rome provided the most complete and exhaustive treatments of all

aspects of civic life, including professions such as medicine, law, and the various tasks

of temporal government. He and many peers felt that the methods of antiquity provided

the best model for educating future citizens in his own time.

Responsibility of the councilmen is to develop a community in which Christian

education may flourish, citizens and especially parents are called by the priesthood of

all believers to nurture their offspring. Luther founds the parental responsibility firmly

on the Bible, citing several texts as proof.

Not only would the state benefit from a reformed education, but also - and

especially - the church. Here, too, Luther advocated the study of ancient life and letters,

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for he was convinced that knowledge of antiquity would provide believers with a better

understanding of the historical, social and linguistic context of the Bible. The gospel

must be preserved, the true doctrine must be taught, and the faith must be defended on

the basis of God's Word alone. God, argues Luther, desires that all know the Bible.

Therefore Luther goes on at some length about the value of a classical curriculum for

the reformed school, for he was convinced that knowledge of the liberal arts - history,

languages and the like - provided the best context for the study of Scripture. Not only

ministers, theologians, teachers and scholars educated in this manner would best serve

the Church, but all believers as members of Christ's body would better know God and

His work in this world by means of such learning.

On Keeping Children in School (1530)

Another treatise by Luther on education is the so-called "Sermon on Keeping

Children in School", published in the form of an open letter because many parents still

preferred to direct their children to the work force and the immediate material rewards it

would afford, than to invest in spiritual development and moral reform. In this treatise

Luther focuses more on producing solid reformed preachers and teachers through whom

modest improvements may be made. The gist of this letter is not the establishment of

schools, but the proper development of them and their curriculum.

The main addressees of the Sermon are the reformed preachers throughout the land.

Luther speaks especially to them because he wishes to impress upon ministers the

advantages of education for Christian spiritual development. The relevance of education

for both religious and civic realms remains a key argument for sending children to

school.

First Luther addresses the problem of the little concern parents show for the

"spiritual well-being" of their children. Neglecting the role of Scripture in the life of

their children, parents appear to underestimate the function of learning in the service of

the Word, the sacraments, and "all which imparts the Spirit and salvation". It appears

that parents do not encourage their children to learn more about God and His works in

the created world and history. In Luther's view education is crucial to the advancement

of the gospel, and all should see that their children live first and foremost for the

proclamation of the Word in the lives of others and their own. It is also for this reason

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that he advises all to consider the importance of the preaching office and theology, and

all learning that advances them

As for the Sermon's discussion of the relevance of education for the state, Luther

herein attacks especially the increasing materialism of his fellow Germans. Seeking

physical comforts, wealth and material prosperity, parents wish for their children not

spiritual, but material well-being, knowing that many parents focus on this world rather

than the next. The true function of the secular realm is to create an orderly, fair, and

peaceful society in which the spiritual estate may be encouraged. Justice, social order,

and the preservation of life fall under the jurisdiction of the temporal government,

which must be exercised by people properly educated for such tasks. In this way the

temporal realm promotes God's kingdom on earth, as it is obedient to His word and

seeks to advance life according to His will.

For Luther, knowledge of Scripture is both the basis and goal of education;

humanistic methods may serve this objective, but they are not to be considered an end in

themselves.. Without the gospel, then, education is meaningless. And it is only from the

perspective of the gospel that education must be valued. On the basis of the Bible all

youths should pursue education as a means to becoming responsible men and women

who can govern churches, countries, people, and households.

Luther wanted to create educational institutions that would be open to the sons

of peasants and miners. Luther realized that an educational system open to the masses

would have to be public and financed by citizens’ councils. Accordingly, Luther argued

that education must be extended to all children, girls as well as boys, and not simply to a

leisured minority. Even those children who had to work for their parents in trade or in

the fields should be enabled, if only for a few hours a day, to attend local, city-

maintained schools in order to promote their reading skills and hence piety. On the

premise that a new class of cultivated men must be developed to substitute for the

dispossessed monks and priests, new schools, whose upkeep was the responsibility of

the princes and the cities, were soon organized along the lines suggested by Luther. In

1543 Maurice of Saxony founded three schools open to the public, supported by estates

from the dissolved monasteries.

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An important aspect from Luther´s pedagogical point of view is his absolute

rejection of violent methods. He believed it was necessary that children found study, if

not more pleasurable, the equally as pleasurable as play.

The Lutheran reformers thought that education should be open to all, even

women who should have the opportunity of higher education.

4. John Calvin

4.1 Personal background

Born on July 10, 1509, John Calvin was one of the most influential men of the

Reformation movement. Calvin was raised and ordained in the Catholic Church in

Noyon (northeast of Paris). He underwent a “sudden conversion” in approximately 1533

and dedicated the rest of his life to developing a deep and thorough explanation of

Reformation beliefs. In 1536, he published The Institutes of the Christian Religion

which was then, and is still today, considered the most comprehensive single volume

written on Reform theology. He preached a strict adherence to sobriety, thrift and self-

denial which caused many to regard him as dour and severe.

Calvin is credited with advancing the cause of the Reformation to such diverse

locations as Geneva, America, Holland, Poland and Scotland.

Calvin’s Education

Calvin was educated in his home town while simultaneously being an ordained

minister of the church . At the age of 14, he moved into his uncle’s home and began

attending the College de La Marche, majoring in Latin. He received his B.A. in

philosophy and Theology in early 1528 from College de Montainge. At his father’s

urging, he began to pursue his law degree at the University of Orleans and added Greek

to his studies at the University of Bourges. However, he abandoned his studies in late

1530 due to his father’s illness (his father died in May 1531).

Calvin’s Conversion

Calvin underwent a “sudden conversion” in 1533, at which time he began pursuing

the things of God wholeheartedly and soon found himself leading his first group of

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Reformers in Paris. His new affiliation was not looked upon kindly and he spent the

next year breaking with Rome and even being imprisoned for a time.

Calvin and Geneva

In 1536, William Farel, Geneva’s leading Reformer at the time, convinced Calvin to

join him in Geneva to help further the cause of the Reformation. Although the Genevans

did declare allegiance to Reform teachings shortly after Calvin’s arrival, his stay was

very controversial. The two men brought huge changes in very little time which perhaps

was a bit too much for the citizens. After facing fierce opposition, Calvin & Farel were

forced to leave in 1538.

In 1541, Calvin was called to return to Geneva. Shortly after his return, he

established a church-run government in the city, fully supported by the Council. Calvin

was not an easy leader. He expected a lot from his sheep and the rest of the town and

imposed many restrictions on the citizens. Among those “forbidden things” were:

dancing, theatre going, card playing, cursing, swearing, obscene songs, drunkenness,

luxurious living and luxurious dressing. This strict moral code did not win him broad

popularity, causing some to complain that they left the tyranny of one leader (the Pope)

only to be subjected to the oppression of another.

4.2 Educational theory

1.Theory of Value

Knowledge for Calvin is divided into two parts: knowledge of God and

knowledge of self. The knowledge of God is gained from the New and Old Testament,

and the burden of education is placed on the church. The goal of this Christian

education is to instruct people to live a life in keeping with Christian virtue and value.

In the arena of self-knowledge, Calvin displayed a keen interest in the humanist learning

of his time.

2. Theory of Knowledge

The foundation of knowledge for Calvin comes from God. In fact, Calvin

believed knowledge about self could only be realized by “contemplating the face of

God” Because God is foundational to knowledge, and the ability to know God is innate,

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Calvin seems to make no distinction between knowledge and belief. For Calvin, there is

no knowledge without belief, as he writes in his Institutes, “…the unbeliever brings

death to all God’s Words”. Any mistaken representation of truth is either a direct result

of sin (turning away from God) or from not knowing God at all. Truth in self-

knowledge and knowledge of God comes only through the belief in God.

3. Theory of Human Nature

Calvin's basic reform theology sees man as a sinful, fallen creature created by

God. The forgiveness of sin comes through the martyrdom and resurrection of Christ,

God’s son, and subsequent belief in Christ’s ability to forgive sins. Contrary to popular

notion, Calvin’s doctrine of election interprets Christ’s death as a sacrifice for all

people. The assurance of election for Calvin is proven through faith in Christ.

Subsequently, faith in Christ allows for self-knowledge and an understanding and

appreciation for the world.

4. Theory of Learning

Calvin's own educational training was very much based in humanism. He

emphasized strong training in the liberal arts, preferring these to the study of law or

medicine. Calvin placed great importance on learning, beginning at a young age, so as

not to “leave the Church a desert for our children.” He reorganized the existing primary

schools in Geneva, stressing disciplined behavior, cleanliness and promptness. The

curriculum was typical of the Renaissance thinking. It included drilling Latin grammar

and vocabulary, as well as planned times for physical exercise. The Psalms were sung in

French for one hour each day. Calvin forbade excessive force and required the principal

of the school to have a “gracious personality free from harshness and rudeness”

5. Theory of Transmission

Calvin had an elaborate theory of government. He separated the church into four

offices: pastor; doctor or teacher; presbyter or elder; and deacon. Teachers were mainly

to be in charge of schools and ministers in charge of Sunday schools. He viewed the

main function of the church as being educational. An intimate knowledge of the subject

was gained by frequent repetition, such as the daily singing of the psalms. Calvin also

considered expositional teaching and preaching integral to the learning process.

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6. Theory of Society

Calvin put society squarely under the sovereignty of God. For Calvin, God

should be the president and judge of all our elections. Yet Calvin did not interpret the

state as the kingdom of God, rather as an opportunity for good government and to help

people. He believed the state should order all functions of life, including the church. In

the government he set up in Geneva, magistrates interpreted the law. Calvin accepted

Roman law in the secular arena. He encouraged these magistrates to have weekly prayer

times to keep themselves humble and truthful. Calvin’s espoused a state run by lay

people who upheld the teachings of the church (theocracy), not a state run by ministers

(hierocracy).

7. Theory of Opportunity

While in Geneva, Calvin set up a government whose citizens pledged to

maintain a school to which all would be obliged to send their children including the

children of the poor, who would attend free of charge. It is not entirely clear whether

girls were included in this pledge, though there was a school for girls in Geneva. Of

course, the right to schooling was only available to those who were citizens of Geneva.

Calvin also heavily encouraged the building, through private donations, of the Geneva

Academy. This Academy became a leading institution of higher education in Europe,

and supplied the blueprint for universities in colonial America.

8. Theory of Consensus

Within Christianity, the only framework Calvin knew, he believed in consensus

building. He frequently exchanged ideas with other reformers, carefully supporting his

view through scripture. He negotiated and compromised. Toward the end of his life,

Calvin proposed a “free and universal council to reunite all Christianity”. He was even

willing to have the pope preside over the council, provided he would submit to the

decisions of the council. However, Calvin was unable to build consensus with thinkers

outside his faith.

4.3 His work

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In Basel (Switzerland) early in 1536 Calvin published the first edition of his

Institutes of the Christian Religion. When he learned that Francis I's objections to

Protestants was on the basis that they rejected all civil authority, as some Anabaptist

groups in fact did, Calvin rushed the Institutes to press with a dedication and preface to

the king, acknowledging the king's authority and laying out the articles of Reformed

faith in clear fashion. The work, which underwent several revisions before its final

exhaustive edition in 1559, was without question one of the most influential handbooks

on theology ever written. Its publication marked Calvin as a leading mind of

Protestantism and kept him from pursuing the quiet scholarly life he had hoped for. As

he described it, "God thrust me into the fray."

Traveling to Strassburg (a free city between northern France and Germany) in

1536, Calvin stopped for the night in Geneva. With the help of its Swiss neighbors,

Geneva had recently declared its political independence from the Holy Roman Empire.

Only two months earlier the reformer William Farel, it had declared allegiance to

Protestantism. Farel, who had been working in Geneva for nearly three years, somehow

learned of Calvin's presence in the city and asked him to join in the task of leading the

Genevan church. Calvin accepted Farel's invitation as God's call. He was twenty-eight

at the time. The rest of his life was given mostly to the work of reform in Geneva.

Calvin immediately set to work reorganizing the church and its worship. Under

Catholicism the Genevan church had observed Communion only two or three times a

year; Calvin, who favored a weekly celebration, recommended a monthly observance as

a temporary compromise. Calvin's emphasis on church discipline grew directly out of

his high regard for the Lord's Supper. To oversee that sacrament was taken worthily

Calvin instituted a church board (the Genevan Consistory) which assured that all

communicants (those participating in Communion) truly belonged to the "body of

Christ" and also were practicing what they professed. Calvin also introduced

congregational singing into the Church.

Calvin spent the following three years (1538-1541) in Strassburg, enjoying his

long-sought period of peaceful study. Calvin also pastored a congregation of Protestant

refugees from France, organizing its church government after what he believed to be the

New Testament pattern and compiling a liturgy and popular psalm book. He also

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participated as a representative of Strassburg in the religious colloquies in Germany

between Roman Catholics and Evangelicals (Protestants).

In the meantime, the Roman Catholic Church, mindful of Calvin and Farel's

expulsion from Geneva, judged that with some diplomatic care the city might be

persuaded to return to Catholicism. Early in 1539 the city council received a letter

urging such a move from Cardinal Jacopo Sadoleto, an Italian archbishop with a

reputation for favoring moderate reform. The council was at a loss to find anyone in

Geneva sufficiently competent to respond to the letter. They forwarded it to Calvin in

Strassburg, whose reply to the cardinal still stands as a brilliant explanation and

justification of the Protestant Reformation.

Through a remarkable series of coincidences, the four principal Genevan leaders

who had secured Calvin's exile were disgraced - all in unrelated incidents - and in 1541

the city implored him to return. At Farel's insistence, he reluctantly returned.

The city council, now much more attentive to Calvin's proposals, approved his

reforms with few emendations. He began a long, unbroken tenure as Geneva's principal

pastor. Though constantly embroiled in controversy and bitterly opposed by strong

political factions, Calvin pursued his tasks of pastoring and reform with determination.

In addition to traditional areas of Christian works, such as arranging for the care

of the elderly and poor, many of Calvin's reforms reached into new areas: foreign

affairs, law, economics, trade, and public policy. Calvin exemplified his own emphasis

that in a Christian commonwealth every aspect of culture must be brought under Christ's

lordship and treated as an area of Christian stewardship. Calvin worked on the

recodification of Geneva's constitution and law, appeasing the severity of many of the

city's statutes and making them more humane. In addition, he helped negotiate treaties,

was largely responsible for establishing the city's prosperous trade in cloth and velvet,

and even proposed sanitary regulations and a sewage system that made Geneva one of

the cleanest cities in Europe. Although the legal code, much of it adopted upon Calvin's

recommendations, seems strict by modern standards, nonetheless it was impartially

applied to small and great alike and was approved by the majority of Geneva's citizens.

As a result, Geneva became a "Christian republic," which the Scottish reformer John

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Knox called "the most perfect school of Christ .... Since the days of the apostles."

Church and state served as "separate but equal" partners.

He founded Calvin´s Academy in 1559 (opened in 1564). It was of great

importance in the spread of Calvinism. Calvin's main intention was that his academy

would prepare ministers to preach the gospel. Its outstanding academic reputation and

brilliant teachers attracted Protestant students from all over Europe.

Calvin's reputation and esteem always seemed greatest among the population of

Protestant refugees who flocked to the city, making Geneva the accepted center of the

Protestant movement. Missionaries fanned out from Geneva to the surrounding

countries. The "Reformed Church" thus became the only Protestant group with a

universal program.

4.4 His influence

In addition to theology, two areas in which Calvin made major contributions are

education and church government. The excellence of his own educational training is

attested by the fact that his writings have had a lasting effect on the French language.

Perhaps more important, he encouraged the development of universal education. Calvin

was convinced that for every person to be adequately equipped to "rightly divide" God's

Word, he or she had to be educated in language and the humanities. To that end he

founded an academy for Geneva's children, believing that all education must be

fundamentally religious. The city's university grew out of the academy, linked to

evangelical preaching and offering an education comparable to the finest in Europe.

Some have called the University of Geneva Calvin's "crowning achievement." The

Academy was the place of education for many theologians, who had joined the

Reformation and then became Reformers of their countries. The effect can in no way be

overestimated. John Knox from Scotland, for example, studied in Geneva along with

many others from a wide range of countries.

Wherever Calvinism has gone it has carried the school with it and has given a

powerful impulse to popular education. It is a system which demands intellectual

manhood. In fact, we may say that its very existence is tied up with the education of the

people. Mental training is required to master the system and to trace out all that it

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involves. It makes the strongest possible appeal to the human reason and insists that

man must love God not only with his whole heart but also with his whole mind. Calvin

held that "a true faith must be an intelligent faith"; and experience has shown that piety

without learning is in the long run about as dangerous as learning without piety. He saw

clearly that the acceptance and diffusion of his scheme of doctrine was dependent not

only upon the training of the men who were to expound it, but also upon the intelligence

of the great masses of humanity who were to accept it. Calvin crowned his work in

Geneva in the establishment of the Academy. Thousands of pilgrim pupils from

Continental Europe and from the British Isles sat at his feet and then carried his

doctrines into every corner of Christendom. Knox returned from Geneva fully

convinced that the education of the masses was the strongest bulwark of Protestantism

and the surest foundation of the State. "With Romanism goes the priest; with Calvinism

goes the teacher," is an old saying, the truthfulness of which will not be denied by

anyone who has examined the facts.

The Academy could be regarded as the culmination of Calvin’s work. It was

here that interpretation of Scripture, as the central interest of Calvin, began to be carried

out in a structured way.

This Calvinistic love for learning, putting mind above money, has inspired

countless numbers of Calvinistic families in Scotland, in England, in Holland, and in

America, to pinch themselves to the bone in order to educate their children. The famous

dictum of Carlyle, "That any being with capacity for knowledge should die ignorant,

this I call a tragedy," expresses an idea which is Calvinistic to the core. Wherever

Calvinism has gone, there knowledge and learning have been encouraged and there a

sturdy race of thinkers has been trained. Calvinists have not been the builders of great

cathedrals, but they have been the builders of schools, colleges, and universities. When

the Puritans from England, the Covenanters from Scotland, and the Reformed from

Holland and Germany, came to America they brought with them not only the Bible and

the Westminster Confession but also the school.

Three American universities of greatest historical importance, Harvard, Yale,

and Princeton, were originally founded by Calvinists, as strong Calvinistic schools,

designed to give students a sound basis in theology as well as in other branches of

learning. Harvard, established in 1636, was intended primarily to be a training school

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for ministers, and more than half of its first graduating classes went into the ministry.

Yale sometimes referred to as "the mother of Colleges," was for a considerable period a

rigid Puritan institution. And Princeton, founded by the Scotch Presbyterians, had a

thoroughly Calvinistic foundation.

Calvin's ideas on church government, which have had a powerful effect on

political theory in the West, are regarded by other scholars as his greatest contribution.

The representative form of government he developed was organized so that basic

decisions are made at the local level, monitored through a system of ascending

representative bodies, culminating in a national "general assembly" with final authority.

At each level, power is shared with the laity, not controlled exclusively by the clergy or

administrative officials. In emergencies the local church can function without meetings

of the upper-level bodies; in the midst of a hostile culture the church cannot be

destroyed by silencing the minister. As a result, the Calvinist church was able to

survive, even flourish, under adverse conditions. It experienced severe persecution in

Holland under Spanish occupation, in France (except during brief periods of toleration),

in England under Queen Mary, in Scotland, in Hungary, and elsewhere.

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5. Conclusion

For Calvinists, Science and art were the gifts of God's common grace, and were

to be used and developed as such. Nature was looked upon as God's handiwork, the

embodiment of His ideas, in its pure form the reflection of His virtues. God was the

unifying thought of all science, since all was the unfolding of His plan. But along with

such theoretical reasons there are very practical reasons why the Calvinist has always

been intense1y interested in education, and why grade schools for children as well as

schools of higher learning sprang up side by side with Calvinistic churches, and why

Calvinists were in so large measure the vanguard of the modern universal education

movement. These practical reasons are closely associated with their religion. The

Roman Catholics might conveniently do without the education of the masses. For them

the clergy — in distinction from the laity — were the ones who were to decide upon

matters of church government and doctrine. Hence these interests did not require the

training of the masses. For salvation, all that the layman needed was an implied faith in

what the church believed. It was not necessary to be able to give an intelligent account

of the tenets of his faith. At the services not the sermon but the sacrament was the

important conveyor of the blessings of salvation, the sermon was less needed.

For the Calvinist matters were just reversed. The government of the church was

placed in the hands of the elders, laymen, and these had to decide upon the matters of

church policy and the weighty matters of doctrine. Furthermore, the layman himself had

the grave duty, without the intermediation of a sacerdotal order, to work out his own

salvation, and could not suffice with an implied faith in what the church believed. He

must read his Bible. He must know his creed. And it was a highly intellectual erred at

that. Even for the Lutheran, education of the masses was not as urgent as for the

Calvinist. It is true; the Lutheran also placed every man before the personal

responsibility to work out his own salvation. But the laity were in the Lutheran circles

excluded from the office of church government and hence also from the duty of

deciding upon matters of doctrine. From these considerations it is evident why the

Calvinist must be a staunch advocate of education. If on the one hand God was to be

owned as sovereign in the field of science and if the Calvinist's very religious system

required the education of the masses for its existence. Calvinist pressed learning to the

limit. Education is a question of to be or not to be for the Calvinist.

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The traditionally high standards of the Presbyterian and Reformed Churches for

ministerial training are worthy of notice. While many other churches ordain men as

ministers and missionaries and allow them to preach with very little education, the

Presbyterian and Reformed Churches insist that the candidate for the ministry shall be a

college graduate and that he shall have studied for at least two years under some

approved professor of theology. As a result a larger proportion of these ministers have

been capable of managing the affairs of the influential city churches. This may mean

fewer ministers but it also means a better prepared and a better paid ministry.

 

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