From the Director
From June 28 through July 30, 2004, we held our five-week summer seminar
funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. At times the Meeter
Center reading room had no free chairs, and the line-ups for the photocopier
were long! Fortunately we had use of the lower level, so that some of
our participants could find a spot to work down there. The Meeter Center
staff worked diligently to ensure that all the NEH participants as well
as our regular group of visiting scholars had access to the materials
they needed for their research. See page 3 for the seminar report.
We have two public lectures planned for October and November and two
more in the spring, including our biennial lecture to be given by Dr.
Raymond Mentzer of the religious studies department at the University
of Iowa. We are delighted that he will be with us to share his expertise
on church life among the French Huguenots. See page 3 for more on this
year’s colloquia.
From April 7–9, 2005, the Meeter Center is hosting the biennial
meeting of the Calvin Studies Society. A program and registration information
sheet is included with this newsletter. The theme of the conference is
“Calvin, Beza, and later Calvinism,” a fitting topic since
2005 marks the 400th anniversary of the death of Theodore Beza, Calvin’s
successor in the Genevan church and a significant figure in his own right.
As a bonus we will offer a dramatic read-ing of Beza’s play, Abraham’s
Sacrifice, as the evening entertainment on Friday, April 9.
Finally, please note that from June 6–17, 2005, the Meeter Center
will offer its fourth biennial Genevan paleography course, taught by Dr.
Thomas Lambert, one of the main scholars involved in the transcription
and publication of the Genevan consistory registers. Applicants must provide
a letter of reference and evidence that their French is at intermediate
reading level or better to participate. The first ten successful applicants
will receive a $500 bursary from the Friends of the Meeter Center. See
more information on how to apply on page 2 of this newsletter.
We look forward to seeing you at one or more of these events in the coming
year.
Karin Y. Maag
Music Wars in the Dutch Reformation
On October 15, Randall D. Engle presented a lecture on the
organ controversy in the Netherlands during the 16th and 17th centuries.
Drawn to the topic as an organist and CRC pastor, Engle explored why John
Calvin’s prohibition of the organ was quickly overturned after his
death. Engle identified the situation as unique —without parallel
in the history of church music. The Dutch Reformed Church was searching
for its identity and formulating its theology of worship. Because the
city magistrates owned the churches and paid the organists, the congregations
did not have power to remove the organs.
During this time, the controversy shifted from the statement that the
organ cannot be used to an interrogative: Why couldn’t the organ
be used? The Dutch Reformed Church was struggling to learn the newly composed
Genevan psalms without instrumental support. Highlights from provincial
and national synods and church orders revealed that organs were being
used again for preludes, postludes, and accompanying the singing of the
Genevan psalms. In 1640 the Synod of Delft found a middle way: the decision
to use the organ was left to the freedom of the churches.
Observing that the Dutch Reformed Church agreed with John Calvin’s
visual iconoclasm but not with his aural iconoclasm, Engle concluded that
Calvin’s aural iconoclasm clashed with the primary Calvinist principle
of congre-gational singing. The singing of the Genevan psalms was unsuccessful
without the organ. Many churches needed the organ to support congre-gational
singing so that the people could worship God in spirit and in truth.
Jana Bos, M.Div. student
Calvin Theological Seminary
An audio-cassette tape copy of Reverend Engle’s
lecture can be ordered from the Meeter Center for $2 + postage. Contact
Susan Schmurr at sschmurr@calvin.edu.
New Acquisitions
Books Beza, Theodore. Correspondance de Théodore de
Bèze. Vol. 26. Collected by Hippolyte Aubert. Geneva: Librairie
Droz, 2004.
Calvin, Jean. De handzame Calvijn. Amsterdam: Van Gennep, 2004.
Edmondson, Stephen. Calvin’s Christology. Cambridge; New
York: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
Foxgrover, David, ed. Calvin and the Company of Pastors. Papers
presented at the 14th colloquium of the Calvin Studies Society May 22–24,
2003. Grand Rapids: CRC Product Services, 2004.
Rare Books
Calvin, John. Commentarii in secundam epistolam ad Corinthios.
Geneva: Jean Girard, 1548.
_____. Commentaire sur l’Epistre aux Ebrieux. Geneva: Jean
Girard, 1549.
_____. Institutio christianae religionis. Edited by Nicolas Colladon.
[Geneva]: Eustache Vignon & Jean Le Preux, 1585.
Articles
Baars, A. “Meditatio futurae vitae bij Calvijn.” Theologia
Reformata 47, no. 3, 2004: 225–47.
Boer, Erik A. de. “The Presence and Participation of Laypeople in
the Congrégations of the Company of Pastors in Geneva.” The
Sixteenth Century Journal 35, no. 3, 2004: 651–70.
Coertzen, Pieter and S. J. Hans. “ An Investigation into Calvin’s
Use of Augustine.” Nederlands Gereformeerd Teologiese Tydskrif
45, no. 1 & 2, 2004: 36–44.
Currid, John D. “Calvin as Hebraist: Guarding the Sacred Deposit.”
Reformed Theological Review 63, no. 2, 2004: 61–71.
Lang, M.H. de. “De Harmonia (1555) van Calvijn.” In De
opkomst van de historische en literaire kritiek in de synoptische beschouwing
van de evangeliën van Calvijn (1555) tot Griesbach (1774), 23–35.
Leiden: [s.n.], 1993.
Millet, Olivier. “Les Loci communes de 1535 et l’ Institution
de la Religion chrétienne de 1539–1541, ou Calvin en dialogue
avec Melanchthon.” In Melanchthon und Europa, 85–96.
Stuttgart: J. Thorbecke, 2002.
Pitkin, Barbara. “The Protestant Zeno: Calvin and the Development
of Melanchthon’s Anthropology.” The Journal of Religion
84, no. 3, 2004: 345–78.
Stevenson, William R., Jr. “An Agnostic View of Voegelin’s
Gnostic Calvin.” The Review of Politics 66, no. 3, 2004:
415–43.
Dissertations
Shin, Dong Soo. “Creation, the Fall, Redemption and Consummation
as a Framework for Understanding the Law-Gospel Relationship in Calvin”
Th.M. thesis, Calvin Theological Seminary, 2004.
Paleography at the Meeter Center
Do you or someone you know have plans for archival research in the near
future? Do you plan to read manuscript sources in French? If so, we have
the training you need to be able to decipher sixteenth-century French
handwriting! Applications are invited for our fourth biennial Genevan
paleography course at the Meeter Center, from June 6–17, 2005.
The two-week session will feature intensive morning seminars with the
afternoons free for individual practice and research using the Center’s
collection. Dr. Thomas Lambert, one of the chief scholars involved in
the transcription and publication of the Genevan consistory registers,
will be the instructor. Students must be proficient in reading modern
French at the intermediate level prior to taking the course. The application
deadline is March 15, 2005. The first ten successful applicants will each
receive a $500 bursary to help defray travel and accommodation costs.
One of the participants in our 2003 course reported: “My brief
assessment of the course is that it was fantastic. I had no experience
in paleography before the course, but after two weeks I feel much more
confident about doing archival research with sixteenth-century sources.
At the very least the course has shown me what I can expect to find when
I do go to the archives.” Another noted, “Apart from learning
a good deal of sixteenth-century French, I greatly appreciated all the
related information that Dr. Lambert imparted to us. From the structure
of the Genevan government to the daily preaching schedule of the churches,
Dr. Lambert gave us a great introduction to life in Geneva during the
ministry of John Calvin. Paleography might be difficult, but the rewards,
as Dr. Lambert showed us, are great.” Application information can
be found on our Web site, www.calvin.edu/Meeter.
NEH Summer Seminar
Fifteen college and university faculty from across the U.S. joined Ray
Mentzer of the University of Iowa and Karin Maag, director of the Meeter
Center, for a five-week seminar on “John Calvin and the Transformation
of Religious Culture in Geneva, France, and Beyond.” Participants
met three mornings a week for three hours for a wide-ranging seminar discussion
based on primary and secondary sources and used the rest of the time for
their own research. Social events included gatherings at the homes of
local participants and a pot-luck dinner as well as smaller group outings
to the farmers’ market, local restaurants, and movies. Thanks to
the generosity of local faculty and staff, we were able to provide bicycles
to participants who wanted them. Faculty at the college and seminary were
also generous with their time, meeting individually with participants
who wanted to explore certain themes related to their discipline. As one
of the members of the seminar commented on the evaluation form, “These
two directors seem to me to have accomplished NEH goals in exemplary fashion,
and I certainly hope they run this seminar, or some version of it, again.”
In Memoriam
The Meeter Center expresses its sympathy to the family and friends of
Jelle Faber, professor of dogmatology and principal at the Theological
College of the Canadian Reformed churches from 1969–1989. He was
the author of two books and numerous articles in Dutch and English on
various aspects of the Reformed faith. He died September 30, 2004, in
Ontario, Canada, at the age of 80.
Meeter Center Colloquium Series
November 18, 2004 Dr. Susan Felch, professor of English at Calvin
College, will speak at the Meeter Center’s fall colloquium. Her
topic will be “Women and the Reformation.”
March 3, 2005 Dr. Karin Maag, director of the H. Henry Meeter
Center and Calvin College history professor, will be the Meeter Center’s
spring lecturer. Her topic will be “Hero or Villain? Interpretations
of John Calvin and His Legacy.”
April 6, 2005 The Meeter Center Biennial Lecture will feature
Dr. Raymond Mentzer, Daniel J. Krumm Professor of Religious Studies, Department
of Religious Studies, University of Iowa. Dr. Mentzer is a noted expert
on the social history of the French Reformation. His topic is “‘No
Benches Are Reserved’: Seating Disputes in the French Reformation
Church.”
A Summer at the Meeter Center
This year I spent a wonderful summer in Grand Rapids. As a Faculty Fellow-ship
recipient I was able to use the extensive collection of the Meeter Center
and to enjoy the stimulating environment the Center staff has created.
Moreover, this year the Meeter Center hosted the NEH seminar, and this
provided an excellent opportunity to meet other scholars in Calvin research.
During the summer I worked on a critical edition of Calvin’s treatise
against the Anabaptists, a paper about Calvin’s correspondence with
Jean de L’Espine, and an article about Farel’s influence on
Calvin’s treatise against the Anabaptists. The Meeter Center posseses
a rich collection of sources and literature on these subjects. The extensive
microfiche collection and the collection of articles were especially of
great use to me. I was pleasantly surprised by the article catalogue that
enables scholars to find articles on specific subjects easily. The fact
that all these materials are so readily at hand made it possible for me
to study the wider context of, for example, Calvin’s writing against
the Anabaptists and to compare this writing with other Reformed polemics
against the Anabaptists.
Other scholars who have had the opportunity to spend some time in Grand
Rapids have already described the Meeter Center as a sort of heaven on
earth for Calvin scholars, and indeed it is!
Fellowship Applications for 2005 may
be obtained from the Meeter Center upon request and should be returned
by January 1, 2005. Application forms are also available on our Web
site.
A Reformation Tour
This tour (July 22 – August 5, 2005) will highlight
Reformation Europe. Visits to Lutheran and Reformed churches in the Netherlands,
Germany, and Switzerland will concentrate on worship, art, music, and
theology. Other sites such as Wartburg Castle, Wittenberg, Dordrecht,
and Heidelberg will be visited. The tour leaders will be Emily Brink,
senior research fellow at the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship and
editor of Reformed Worship, and Frank Roberts, professor emeritus of Reformation
history at Calvin College. The tour is cosponsored by the Calvin Alumni
Association and the H.H. Meeter Center for Calvin Studies. To register,
contact Frank Roberts at robefr@calvin.edu.
Hugh and Eve Meeter Calvinism Awards
to High School Seniors
The topic for 2005 is “Why Has Education Been So Central for
John Calvin and Calvinism?” Contact the Meeter Center to receive
an informative brochure about the contest. Papers should be received
by January 15, 2005.
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