- Type:
- Book Chapter
- Author:
- Paul Helm
- Published:
- 2020
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
Although John Calvin was not a philosopher by profession, he was educated in the subject; although Calvin became a theologian par excellence, he had no formal theological education. One might expect such a person to be a philosopher first and a theologian second. But Calvin subordinated his philosophy to his theology, without anesthetizing the philosophy. Calvin’s attitude to philosophy was to use it warily, as a tool for the conceptual elaboration of doctrine, and in polemics, with a resistance to speculation. His use of the philosophers of the ancient world was rather eclectic. This chapter argues that Calvin does not follow any one ancient school in appealing to philosophical insights or distinctions from various quarters where he thought they helped his argument, and he introduced these unselfconsciously, but in a way that shows familiarity with them.
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Sıkça sorulan sorular
- What is "Calvin, Calvinism, and Philosophy" about?
- Although John Calvin was not a philosopher by profession, he was educated in the subject; although Calvin became a theologian par excellence, he had no formal theological education.
- Who wrote "Calvin, Calvinism, and Philosophy"?
- Paul Helm