Calvin's Epistemology Essay

In Chapter 17 of Book I of Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion, Calvin expounds upon how when it comes to Calvin’s view of providence, “nothing is more profitable than the knowledge of this

When Calvin arrived in Geneva, William Farel saw in Calvin the leader that Geneva needed “and he urged the young scholar to go no farther but to stay in the city and help establish the work there” (Shelley, 2008, 256) . Calvin's patronage from Geneva helped with the growth and development of the French Protestant movement in the 1550s. Calvin trained French Protestant pastors at the Geneva Academy, and helped to smuggle them back into France to establish and develop local congregations. It was also during this time he wrote Institutes of the Christian Religion, in 1536, that put into words the

John Calvin  He spelled out his doctrine in 1536 called Institutes of the Christian Religion.  He formed Calvinism.

Knowledge is the beginning of wisdom. Knowledge is a gift from God. Knowledge is God, God is a someone, not a something. Full knowledge concerning God can’t be explained.

In 1536, John Calvin was a French lawyer and theologian who lived in Geneva, Switzerland. He published a book titled Institutes of the Christian Religion. Originally published his work in Latin but subsequently translated into different European languages. The Institutes outlined Calvin’s basic philosophies on “predestination” as a precondition for salvation. Calvin, like many Christian reformers during the Reformation, was most fascinated in discovering the true way to heaven. As he fought to comprehend the word of God, Calvin came to a logical spat regarding salvation. By Calvin’s ideas, since God was

Surely the Calvinists’ endeavor to defend the two wills of God makes their claim of sola scriptura seem a frail stalwart for defending the sufficiency of Scripture against foes who employ the same tactics; an ineffectualness born and sustained by their own forays into the academy of secrecy to bolster their theology when it conflicts with explicit revelation.

Do you ever wonder if you know anything for certain? For example, have you ever wondered whether you are truly alive or if life is only a dream one simply cannot wake up from? In his argument for skepticism, Peter Unger, states that “nobody ever knows anything to be so” (Unger, Pg. 42). According to Unger’s argument one simply cannot know anything about anything. One cannot know oneself, the world, or others. One does not know pain nor pleasure. One simply does not know anything. Through the use of different methods, however, one can indeed know things about oneself, the world, and others in contrast to what Peter Unger’s argument for skepticism states.

In John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion he spends a great deal of time expounding his doctrine of God's Divine providence in all of creation. He explains not only how God continually governs the laws of nature, but also how God governs man's actions and intentions to bring about His own Divine Will. Calvin believes that God's providence is so encompassing in creation that even a man's own actions, in many ways, are decreed by God. Because of this belief there arises the question, "Does Calvin leave room for the free will of man?"

The question of how I know what I know is a question that is one of the most difficult I have encountered. Much of what I know is based on logic and thinking. This is where I may veer off of the Christian Worldview slightly. I believe that God has given humans the ability to reason and think logically, and I use that as much as possible. I think that He intended for us to use our minds to find what we believe to be true, hoping that people would seek God when seeing that He is the only real truth. Cosgrove (2006) makes a great comment on secular humanism and a person’s ability to find value, and in

Why is it possible to know anything at all? Pastor Alin explains this as “Human beings can know both the world around them and God Himself because God has built into them the capacity to do so and because He takes an active role in communicating with them. (Alin, 2015).

René Descartes was the first philosopher to raise the question of how we can claim to know anything about the world with certainty. The idea is not that these doubts are probable, but that their possibility can never be entirely ruled out. If we can never be certain, how can we claim to know anything?

Calvin was forced to take refuge with some other reformers at a castle in Pau with Queen Marguerite of Navarre (King Francis I's sister: she was a noble name in church history). After living this fugitive life style for a while he decided to flee to Switzerland, where at twenty six he published the writings of his catechism, Institutes for the Christian Religion. He published these works with a bold preface addressed to King Francis I to help convince him that protestants were of no threat to his rule, but that did not work (Lord).

Empiricist philosophers such as John Locke believe that knowledge must come from experience. Others philosophers such as Descartes believe that knowledge is innate; this way of thinking is used by rationalist. In this paper I will discuss the difference between Descartes rationalism in his essays "The Meditations" and Locke's empiricism in his essays "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding". I will then lend my understanding as to what I believe as the ultimate source of knowledge.

One last thing Calvin is known for is his theology. This is put together in a

Descartes and Augustine, in their respective examinations of the mind and God, come to the conclusion that the true understanding of all things derives from the withdrawal of the self from foreign influence and the necessity to look inward. Although each thinker’s journey or course of understanding was different, and at times rather contrasting, their ultimate realizations about knowledge are very coherent.