Unit information: The Thought of John Calvin in 2019/20

Unit name	The Thought of John Calvin
Unit code	THRS20197
Credit points	20
Level of study	I/5
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12)
Unit director	Dr. Balserak
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	None
School/department	Department of Religion and Theology
Faculty	Faculty of Arts

Description including Unit Aims

This unit examines the life, teachings and legacy of the Sixteenth-century reformer, pastor, theologian, biblical interpreter, lawyer, social visionary, and humanist, John Calvin. One of the most significant thinkers in the Western tradition, Calvin has been called profoundly forward-looking, hopelessly conservative, shamefully licentious, ruthlessly dictatorial. Whatever he was, his thought has had a massive impact on our society and on us. The unit will examine Calvin's context and seek to understand his theology: both its broad contours and the positions he takes on a range of subjects—doctrine of God, creation and the fall of humankind, predestination and soteriology, the church, etc. It will also consider his thinking on government, economics and other "secular" subjects.

Students will practise their oral presentation skills by giving a 10-minute individual or 15-minute group presentation.

Aims:

• To introduce students to the thought of John Calvin, to Protestant theology more broadly and to the religious, cultural and institutional contexts informing them.
• To provide a framework for analysing and evaluating a variety of perceptions of these topics.
• To develop critical interaction with primary and secondary materials.
• To develop written presentation skills through the course assessment.

Intended Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:

1. demonstrate knowledge and critical understanding of the thought of John Calvin and (more broadly) medieval/Reformation theology;
2. critically evaluate the religious, cultural and institutional contexts informing these;
3. analyse and critically evaluate competing perceptions of Calvin and his theological context;
4. demonstrate the ability to identify and evaluate pertinent evidence/data in order to illustrate/demonstrate a cogent argument orally and in writing.

Teaching Information

1 x two-hour lecture and 1 x one-hour seminar weekly

Assessment Information

Four 250-word summative reading responses (amounting to 1000 words) (20%) [ILOs 1–4].

One 3000-word summative essay (80%) [ILOs 1–4].

Reading and References

John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 2 vols, trans. Ford Lewis Battles (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1960).

T.H.L. Parker, Calvin: An Introduction to His Thought (Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox, 1995).

Alexandre Ganoczy, The Young Calvin, trans. David Foxgrover and Wade Waldo (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1987).

Charles Partee, The Theology of John Calvin (Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox, 2008).

François Wendel, Calvin; Origins and Development of His Religious Thought, trans. Philip Mairet (New York: Harper & Row, 1963; repr: Durham, N.C.: Labyrinth Press, 1987).

W. Fred Graham, The Constructive Revolutionary; John Calvin and his Socio-Economic Impact (Atlanta, GA: John Knox Press, 1971; repr: Grand Rapids: Michigan State University Press, 1989).