Luther and Calvin: A Comparative Essay
The Protestant Reformation, brought upon by many reformers, divided Christianity into two separate churches. Martin Luther and John Calvin were two significant reformers of the church whose ideas and attitudes toward political authority and social order were both similar and different in many ways. For example, they differed in their belief of separation between church and state. Both these individuals brought on a separate reformation to their respective locations, though with different political and social attitudes.
Martin Luther, unlike John Calvin, was unable to establish a separation of church and state due to his political interests. Luther, not having the support from the Catholic Church in establishing reform had to attract reform by way of gaining favor from the princes. His support for the independence of rulers from ecclesiastical supervision won him the support of many princes. Through Luther’s Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, he urged these German princes to force the reform on the Roman church. Due to this situation, the church and the state would not become separate. Princes would appoint officials who oversee the church enforcing reform. Hence, Luther’s attitude toward political authority is that he relied on the Princes assistance in reforming the church, therefore was unable to support a complete separation of church and state, unlike John Calvin. Calvin believed that God wielded his authority through the church, leaving the church independent and separate from the state. Because of his belief, Calvin had established a complete separation of church and state.
Both Calvin and Luther agreed on the idea that God was the only authority. Luther developed his idea of sola scriptura, which meant that righteousness comes from
faith, and faith comes only from reading the scriptures. Hitherto, this belief had not been deeply established, so this idea of the only religious authority being the Bible (and not an elite clergy) changed the origins of sovereignty. Calvin, similarly, believed in the sovereignty of God over all the creation and the necessity of humankind’s conformity to his will. Therefore, both were rejecting the idea of the church being the supreme authority.
Martin Luther revealed his attitude of social order through his reaction to the Peasant’s Revolt (1524-1525). Although at first, Luther had sympathized with the peasants, he later showed that he was against social revolts after many peasants revolted against their masters. Luther condemned these peasants as being “un-Christians,” and urged the princes to crush their revolt without mercy. As a result, tens of thousands of peasants were killed. This expressed Luther’s idea that the freedom of a Christian was to be found in an inner release from guilt and anxiety, and not in a right to restructure society by a violent revolt. Likewise, Calvin also opposed revolts. He had expelled many dissenting Christians, and even put one Spanish physician to death as a heretic for denying the doctrine of the Trinity.
In Geneva, Calvin had established a sort of social hierarchy in the church when he divided church organization into four levels. There were the pastors (five men who exercised their authority over religious matters), teachers (they teach the doctrine to the population), elders (they oversee everything that everybody did in the city), and deacons (they take care of the sick, elderly, widowed and poor). Calvin also sought to improve the life of the society by supporting good hospitals, a proper sewage system, and special care for the poor and infirm. Calvin, as well as Luther, praised women mainly for their roles as mothers and housewives. Calvin’s Geneva gained a reputation of being a “women’s paradise” because the laws punished men who beat their wives. Unlike previous civilizations, they treated women more importantly than before. They also played an active role in educating the population. Luther pressed for a universal compulsory education for both boys and girls. This illustrates the attitudes of both the reformers on social order. Both placed an importance on women, the ill, and children.
Although Luther and Calvin share some similarities amongst each other, they differ on some important issues such as the idea of separation of church and state. The attitudes of these two reformers toward political authority and social order were on some issues similar and on on other issues different.