CALVINISM. The system of thought deriv ing its name from its greatest representative, John Calvin (1509-64). It has its starting-point in the conception of the sovereignty of God. This is not merely Ibis sole causality in the physical universe. but His priority, in particular, in the whole realm of the religious life. The funda mental element of the system was expressed by Sehleiermacher, Die christlichc Munk. (See. 32 IL). and after him by the learned historian of the reformed theology, Schweizer, Die (Ilaubens lch•e der erangcliseh-reformirten Kirche (Sec. 23). as the feeling of the entire dependence of all that is and takes place upon God. This pre destination, which has sometimes been seized upon as the distinguishing feature of the system, is a consequence of the true principle rather than that principle itself.
The historical origin of Calvinism goes far back of Calvin himself. It found its first promi nent exponent in Augustine (q.v.). though its essential elements may he detected in the ear liest history of the Church. It took its Augus tinian form in consequence of the discus sions of the Pelagian controversy (see PE LA(;IANISM ), in which the point at issue was the originating source of conversion. Pelagius mantained that this was in the independent action of man. Augustine that it was in the prevenient grace of God, eliciting the human ac tivity. From this germ developed the most dis tinctive fen lures of Augustinianism, original sin. bondage of the will, and inability to be good. predestination. and the reference of all good to God alone. The tendency of the course of dis cussion in the diddle Ages was to weaken the Augustinian system. but it was restored by the Reformers. Luther. Zwingli, and Calvin. The latter incorporated it in his Institutes (final edition, 1559), which was the most perfect sys tem of Christian doctrine that had ever been produced. From this work it went into the great Protestant confessions, the Heidelberg, French, Belgic, Synod of Dort (on occasion of the con troversy with the Arminians, q.v.), and the re markable series of English confessions, begin ning with the .1rticles of the Church of England
(first issued in 1552), embracing the Lambeth (1595) and the Irish (1615) articles, and con eluding with the Westminster (1547). It was represented by a long series of divines, of whom Beza, Bullinger. Ames, Turretin• John Owen, Jonathan Edwards. and Charles Hodge (best recent statement of the system) may lie men tioned. It is now the confessional theology of the Presbyterian and so-called 'Reformed churches in all the nations. In New Eng land, under the influence of Edwards and his pu pils, there arose a school of 'consistent' Cal vinists, who variously modified the details of the system, principally in consequence of a new psychology of the will and of virtue. lint this has manifested its essential divergence from Calvinism by the further development through which it has gone.
The decisive element of the Calvinistic sys tem is. then, its doctrine of God. With other Protestant systems, it is distinctly theistic and trinitarian. it lays emphasis upon the inunut a ble nature of God, and upon llis unchangeable attributes of justice and love, each equally sov ereign. God's design in the creation of the world was the manifestation of His own glorious at tributes, of which these are the chief. Accord ingly, lie forms in eternity the plan upon which lie eonducts both creation and the government of the created world. lie "foreordains what soever conieth to pass." Two schools have arisen as to the order of the divine decrees: one, the 'Supralapsarian.' looking to the final result as the first thing contemplated in God's deuce. and making their order. therefore, creation, election, and reprobation, the fall, redemption by Christ, and application of redemption by the Holy Spirit: the other, the `Infralapsarian.' which seeks to avoid the impression gained from Su pralapsarianism, that men are condemned be fore they are guilty, by making the order of de crees, creation, fall, eleetion, redemption, etc. The latter has been the prevailing view among Calvinists. though many regard the difference as merely logical.