CALVINISM. The system of religious
thought taught by John Calvin, which
maintains that God is the sovereign ruler of the
world and every good thought comes directly
from him. The conception of the sovereignty
of God did not originate with Calvin; it is as
old as the Hebrew writings; but he emphasized
it in such a way that it impressed itself
upon the religious thought of his day and has
continued to be the conception of God held by
all Christian denominations and by many of
whom it is made such a cardinal belief that
the possibility of doubting it is not even
brought into question. The dominant features
of Calvinism impressed themselves upon his
followers so thoroughly that they became a
moving power in the lives of vast masses of
people. Calvin followed the belief in predestination
to its logical conclusion and he
proclaimed that some were born to life and some
to damnation; he taught that regeneration
could be obtained only through the spirit of
God acting upon the human heart; that God
will keep to the path of righteousness only
those to whom he has given regenerating
grace, and that he who is elected will continue
in the way of righteousness. Calvinism
emphasizes the unchangeable nature of God, his
never-dying love and his justice; for the
manifestation of these, his great and glorious
attributes, he created the world and all that is
thereon. He foreordains everything that comes
to pass; and the world moves forward according
to his plans. Calvinism lays stress upon
election, redemption, bondage of will, grace and
the pereseverance of the saints. According to
Calvinism the fall of man was predestined, and
all descendants of Adam have ineherited his sin
and the accompanying punishment.
All Calvin's religious beliefs are logically
stated and developed in his ‘Institutio
Christianæ Religionis’; but, with all his care, he left
certain questions unanswered; and these have
divided his followers into two camps or schools, the “Supralapsarian” and the “Infralapsarian,” who differ principally on the order of the divine decrees. The former looks to the final result, as the first thing contemplated in these decrees; while the latter tries to soften the pronounced theory of predestination by having God permit man to fall. This softened form of predestination is the one generally accepted by Calvinists. (See ). Consult Bright; ‘Select Anti-Pelagian Treatises of St. Augustine’ (London 1880); Calvin, ‘The Institutes of the Christian Religion’ (Philadelphia); Hodge, A. A., ‘Commentary on the Westminster Confession of Faith’ (Philadelphia 1869); Kuyper, A. ‘Calvinism, The Stone Lectures’ (New York 1898).