Calvin, Calvinism, and Medieval Thought

Abstract

This chapter deals with the possible role of medieval scholasticism in early Reformed theology and aims at re-evaluating the triangle of medieval, Reformation, and post-Reformation thought. First, the chapter briefly reviews the question of medieval thought in Calvin’s theology, it discusses then the role of medieval scholasticism in the emergence of Reformed scholasticism, and it finally focuses on three exemplary cases of post-Reformation theologians and their attitude towards medieval thought: Antoine de Chandieu, Lambert Daneau, and Polanus of Polansdorf. In doing so, the chapter both extends and qualifies the ‘positive continuity view’ prevalent in recent research: on the one hand, on the level of explicit references, it points to the apparent discontinuity in the expressed attitude towards medieval thought between the first few and the later generations of Reformed theologians. On the other, it argues that on the level of implicit allusions and methodological imitations the doctrinal and methodical continuities between Calvin and later ‘Calvinists’ can be extended to continuities between late medieval and early Reformed theology.