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Introduction 13

INTRODUCTION

Christoph Stckelberger / Reinhold Bernhardt

The protestant reformer John Calvin from Geneva (1509-1564) had

arguably the greatest global influence of all the reformers. His 500th an-

niversary in 2009 is the occasion to reflect in this book on how he influ-

enced and still influences societies through his faith and ethical vision

for the Church, economics, politics and society. A special focus is given

to the influence of Calvin in various contexts outside Europe, especially

in Nord America (USA), Africa (South Africa) and Asia (China, Indo-nesia, South Korea).

The centre of Calvins faith and ethics is based on his profound and

innovative method of very broad biblical exegesis (contribution 1). That

is the reason why this book begins with this. Calvins overall goal was

to show the sovereignty, grace and continuing care of God for human

beings and the whole creation. Predestination and providence were not

abstract dogmatic concepts, but formed a pastoral theology particularly

for those like himself who were migrants and refugees, assuring them of

Gods care (contribution 2).

Calvins economic ethics is profoundly based on the value of equity

and caring for the poor. He was not the inventor of capitalism, but rather

of the social responsibility of economic actors (contribution 3). His

openness and curiosity for science was a door-opener for the develop-

ment of science and technology in the Anglo-Saxon world, but remained

anchored in the medieval world view (contribution 4). The same is true

STUECKELBERGER, Christoph, BERNHARDT, Reinhold, "Introduction", in: STUECKELBERGER,

Christoph, BERNHARDT, Reinhold (eds.), Calvin Global. How Faith influences Societies, Geneva:

Globethics.net, 2009. ISBN: 978-2-940428-03-8 (Globethics.net Series No. 3), pp. 13-15.

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14 Calvin Global

of Calvins concept of the role of women in family and church. The

Reformation opened the door for participatory relationships between

women and men, but at the same time it closed this door (contribution5).

The following articles show how Calvin was used and abused as

many outstanding figures in history have been for different purposes

which show the ambiguity of the influence of faith on societies: Max

Webers theory of the spirit of Protestantism and his influence on capi-

talism was and still is very influential, more than his contemporary Ernst

Troeltsch (contribution 6). In North America, the influence of Calvinism

was key for building the United States and for the worldwide influence

of Calvinism (contribution 7). In China, three different images of Calvin

exist. Calvin could become a strong basis for the future ethics and struc-

ture of the Protestant church in China (contribution 8). In South Africa,

Calvin was used for justifying Apartheid and being the basis for the

struggle against Apartheid (contribution 9). In South Korea, Presbyte-

rian churches have a great influence, but interpret Calvins heritage in

different ways and are a challenge from a womens perspective (contrib-

tuion 10). Calvinists are both individualistic pietists and socially en-

gaged Christians (contribution 11). In Indonesia, Calvin is used for justi-

fying the political abstention of the church and for on the other side en-

couraging it to take responsibility in politics and society as a partner of

the state (contributions 12 and 13).

Eight of the thirteen contributions were intially given as lectures in a

series on Calvin organised by the two editors on behalf of the Theologi-

cal Faculty of the University of Basel/Switzerland. They have also been

made available in English and German on the website of the Calvin jubi-

lee (www.calvin09.org). The additional contributions 7 and 9-13) show

the debate about John Calvin especially in Asia.

STUECKELBERGER, Christoph, BERNHARDT, Reinhold, "Introduction", in: STUECKELBERGER,

Christoph, BERNHARDT, Reinhold (eds.), Calvin Global. How Faith influences Societies, Geneva:

Globethics.net, 2009. ISBN: 978-2-940428-03-8 (Globethics.net Series No. 3), pp. 13-15.

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Introduction 15

We thank the Theological Faculty of the University of Basel and the

Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches for their support for the lecture

series.This book shows the commitment of the Globethics.netFoundation,

the global network on ethics based in Calvins city Geneva, to look for

the diversity of values in this case Protestant values and their contri-

bution to common global values and to humane and sustainable socie-

ties. We encourage readers to invite other people to download the book

for free and look for other full text documents on ethics in the large

online library on ethics of Globethics.net (www.globethics.net). We also

invite you to comment the contributions of this book on the Forum

pages of the same website of globethics.net.

Basel, October 2009

Christoph Stckelberger / Reinhold Bernhardt, editors

STUECKELBERGER, Christoph, BERNHARDT, Reinhold, "Introduction", in: STUECKELBERGER,

Christoph, BERNHARDT, Reinhold (eds.), Calvin Global. How Faith influences Societies, Geneva:

Globethics.net, 2009. ISBN: 978-2-940428-03-8 (Globethics.net Series No. 3), pp. 13-15.