EU-Digest - Happy 500th Birthday, John Calvin and Capitalism !

John Calvin

A special report on John Calvin

Happy 500th Birthday, John Calvin and Capitalism !

This year marks the 500th anniversary of John Calvin's birth. Born July 10, 1509, John Calvin, a French theologian who moved to Geneva, Switzerland, in 1536 followed in the footsteps of Martin Luther and the resulting efforts, teaching, and writings turned the western world upside down. Calvin's theology was highly influenced by Augustinianism, especially in terms of God's sovereignty and predestination. Calvin held strongly to the belief that God had already determined who was and who was not going to be saved. He also believed that all things are under the direct control of God; man does not have a free will since he "fell" into sin. Only God's grace, he wrote, can lead to salvation for man.

Calvin's belief system caught on, and Geneva soon became a Calvinistic theocracy. His thinking spread throughout Europe and has greatly influenced Protestant theology for almost 500 years.

The establishment of the Lutheran church out of this believe system was also the first step for Christianity to adapt to a new capitalist ethic. In contrast to the lavish and lascivious lifestyle of the Catholic clergy, Lutheran pastors led a simple life and preached puritan morals. Luther's contemporary John Calvin went even further in his own brand of Protestantism that became known as Calvinism. He promoted the new capitalist work ethic by banning dancing, gambling and theatre plays. After Calvin's death his followers managed to combine capitalism and Christianity even more by declaring that hard work pleases God and therefore leads to wealth. Personal prosperity thus turned into a sign of a godly life.

In this form Calvinism became the main Christian faith in the Netherlands, Scotland and England, from where it spread to North America. From the Netherlands later sprang the Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa, which supported racial segregation (apartheid) as the natural Christian order of the world. The reason why Calvinism establish itself in the Netherlands was that the 16th century Holland was under Spanish rule, and Spain remained feudal and staunchly Catholic. But the trading and banking activities that were once dominated by Italian cities had also been taken up by Dutch and other Northern European cities as well. The Hanseatic League sent it ships from the Baltic Sea across the world ocean, and Dutch cities became rich through the monopolization of the wool trade. Holland was therefore a center of mercantilism and opposed to Spanish rule not only out of nationalism - but also because of their commercial nature. Dutch merchants had also set their eyes on the Far East spice trade.

So when the Spanish king Charles V tried to stem the tide in 1522 by bringing the inquisition to Holland, it only fanned the flames and strengthened the protestant movement. In 1581 the Netherlands declared the successor to king Charles V, King Philip II deposed and laid the foundations for the Dutch Republic. This was the first time a feudal regime was deposed and replaced by a capitalist republic, and the event is sometimes referred to as the first bourgeois revolution. Capitalism was born in what now is know as the Netherlands, thanks to John Calvin.