Marilynne Robinson has a cure-all for the loneliness, self-centeredness, and confusion of our day: Turn back to the teaching of John Calvin (“The Sum of Our Wisdom”, The Hedgehog Review, Spring 2025).
The world needs to break free of the false image of humanity that gained popularity with Weber’s book, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Weber focused on the work ethic of Protestantism but drained away the spiritual vitality. Unhappily, this has become a widely held view of Calvinism, and it is false. Weber paved the way for our current getting-and-spending economy and worldview, which is ultimately dehumanizing.
Robinson insists, “The religious tradition propelled by the Calvinist reformation, which lies in the deep background of our cultural moment, provides a powerful account of the human person and the meaning of human life that stands in contrast to the anemic anthropology on offer today.” She provides a concise history of the Calvinist movement and how it came to be so firmly established on these shores. Calvinists provided a basis for social order, education, literature, and justice. The history of this, however, has been largely lost. Robinson wants to shout a cheer and send us back to this tradition for hope in our modern age.
Calvin had a strong and clear sense of the destructive power of sin, and especially how its effects on persons. He insisted that true knowledge begins with the knowledge of God and ourselves, which leads to a proper understanding of who we are as the image-bearers of God. God leads us to Himself and the ability to receive His abundant good gifts. Facing up to and repenting of our sins leads to the practice of neighbor love in ways uncommon for Calvin’s day as well as ours: “Calvin says that God has created a unity among men that means ‘every man ought to consider himself as charged with the safety of all. In short, then, all violence and injustice, and every kind of mischief, which may injure the body of our neighbor, are forbidden to us. And therefore we are enjoined, if it be in our power, to assist in protecting the lives of our neighbors; to exert ourselves with fidelity for this purpose; to procure those things which conduce to their tranquility; to be vigilant in shielding them from injuries; and in cases of danger to afford them our assistance.’” Robinson’s conclusion emphasizes the importance of every believer understanding their calling from the Lord: “Calvin’s theology places a mighty demand on human consciousness, first, last, and always to remember that the sphere of a life is a sacred landscape populated by holy creatures beloved of God, toward whom, in any circumstance, one must show honor and care befitting the sacred image that marks them all. Goodness is, so to speak, situational.”
This article encourages us to take seriously that the great issues facing us today are theological, spiritual, and personal. And this is right up Calvinism’s alley.