From the Director
As we move toward the Meeter Center’s 25th anniversary (2007–08)
and the 500th anniversary of Calvin’s birth (2009), the Meeter Center
continues to grow and develop. After many years of effort, we have completed
the index-ing of the Calvinism article file, thanks to the sterling work
of Charles Brown in particular (see page 2). Our book collection continues
to grow as well: in December we purchased a rare, first-surviving edition
(1545) of Calvin’s Latin catechism. You can find more details on
page 3.
We have a busy spring and summer planned. On April 6 the Meeter Center
held its biennial lecture, featuring Professor Raymond Mentzer of the
Department of Religious Studies at the University of Iowa. He spoke about
the ways in which early modern French Protestants set up their church
interiors and made use of seating arrangements to make statements about
status in their communities.
Following that, the Calvin Studies Society met in Grand Rapids from April
7–9 at Calvin Theological Seminary. The Center was highlighted during
the conference, particularly during the presentation and the display of
Reformation-era commemorative medals on Thursday, April 7.
In June the Meeter Center will host its fourth biennial Genevan paleography
course, taught by Dr. Tom Lambert, who has worked extensively on the Genevan
consistory records in Calvin’s time. We deeply appreciate the contributions
from Friends of the Meeter Center, who have made it possible for us to
offer a bursary to each qualified participant. Please see page 4 on how
to con-tribute to the Friends of the Meeter Center fund to support projects
including the paleography bursaries, Friends of the Meeter Center fellowships,
and collection enhancement through donations earmarked for rare books.
We have also selected seven fellowship holders who will spend time doing
research in the Center in the summer and early fall. There are more details
about them on page 3.
Thank you for your continued interest and ongoing support for our work.
Karin Y. Maag
Seating Disputes in the Huguenot Church
On April 6, Dr. Raymond Mentzer presented the Meeter Center
Biennial Lecture, entitled “No Benches Are Reserved: Seating Disputes
in the French Reformation Church.” Dr. Mentzer’s lecture focused
on 16th and 17th century Protestant France, when chairs and benches first
became church service mainstays.
The origins of church seating reside in the emphasis John Calvin and
his fellow Reformers placed on regenerating right belief and devotion
among the faithful. One consequence of this aim was a new focus on church
preaching. In order to accommodate the new Reformed worship style, temples
across France were built or renovated to include pulpits orbited by pews
and chairs. Seating was segregated according to age, sex, and social status.
In theory, seating within each section was public and unassigned. In
practice, however, benches and chairs, bought and built by church members,
became highly coveted, closely guarded, and intensely disputed possessions.
Dr. Mentzer offered an abundance of examples in which hapless consistories
attempted to resolve fierce seating conflicts. In one instance, a dispute
over the inheritance of a bench in the town of Alès involving three
women and a merchant’s family escalated from the local consistory
to the regional colloquy, then the regional senate, and even to the royal
court. The quarrel was resolved when the consistory locked the contested
bench in the bell tower. Illustrating the potential for such disputes
to rend local congregations, both parties subsequently refrained from
attending church.
Dr. Mentzer concluded his lecture by underscoring the ubiquity and intractability
of seating disputes in the French Reformed churches. He noted that something
as mundane as seating actually caused more division in the community of
believers than attempts to control dogma and theology. Seating, which
was originally implemented in an effort to restore piety, instead produced
disruption and distraction.
Jeff Rop
Calvin College history major
New Acquisitions
Books
DeKoster, Lester. Light for the City: Calvin’s Preaching, Source
of Life and Liberty. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans Pub., 2004.
Edmondson, Stephen. Calvin’s Christology. Cambridge; New
York: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
Engammare, Max. L’ordre du temps: l’invention de la ponctualité
au XVIe siècle. Geneva: Librairie Droz, 2004.
Helm, Paul. John Calvin’s Ideas. Oxford; New York: Oxford
University Press, 2004.
Kooi, Cornelis van der. As in a Mirror: John Calvin and Karl Barth
on Knowing God: A Diptych. Translated by Donald Mader. Leiden: Brill,
2005.
Selderhuis, Herman, ed. Calvinus praeceptor ecclesiae. Papers
of the International Congress on Calvin Research, Princeton, August 20–24,
2002. Geneva: Librairie Droz, 2004.
Spierling, Karen. Infant Baptism in Reformation Geneva: The Shaping
of a Community, 1536–1564. Aldershot, England; Burlington,
VT: Ashgate, 2005.
Articles
Beeke, Joel. “Calvin’s Piety.” Mid-America Journal
of Theology 15, 2004: 33–65.
Faber, Riemer. “The Influence of Erasmus’ Annotationes on
Calvin’s Galatians.” Dutch Review of Church History
84, 2004: 268–83.
Ganoczy, Alexandre. “Calvin, Jean, Theologian and Reformer.”
In Dictionary of the Reformation, edited by Klaus Ganzer and
Bruno Steimer, 44–48. New York: The Crossroad, 2004.
Kingdon, Robert. “Uses of the Psalter in Calvin’s Geneva.”
In Der Genfer Psalter und seine Rezeption in Deutschland, der Schweiz
und den Niederlanden, edited by Eckhard Grunewald, 21–32. Tübingen:
Max Niemeyer Verlag, 2004.
Maag, Karin. “Higher Education for Melanchthon and Calvinism: A
Comparative Approach.” In Melanchthon und der Calvinismus,
edited by Günter Frank and Herman Selderhuis, 61–74. Stuttgart:
Frommann-Holzboog, 2005.
Park, Gon-taik. “A Short Study on Calvin’s Biographies.”
Korean text. Presbyterian Theological Quarterly 71, no. 3, 2004:
34–70.
Tinker, Michael. “John Calvin’s Concept of Divine Accommodation:
A Hermeneutical Corrective.” Churchman, 118, no. 4, 2004:
325–58.
VanDrunen, David. “The Context of Natural Law: John Calvin’s
Doctrine of the Two Kingdoms.” Journal of Church and State,
46, no. 3, 2004: 503–25.
Dissertations
Balserak, Jon. “Deus humanitus saepe cum suis agere solet:
An Analysis of Divine Accommodation in the Thought of John Calvin.”
Ph.D. diss., University of Edinburgh, 2003.
Park, Gyeung Su. “John Calvin as an advocate of Church Unity: A
New Portrait of John Calvin.” Ph.D. diss., Claremont Graduate University,
2004.
Quaintance, Chad. “The Blessed Life: Theological Interpretation
and Use of the Beatitudes by Augustine, Calvin, and Barth.” Ph.D.
diss., Union Theological Seminary and Presbyterian School of Christian
Education, 2003.
A Job Well Done
When the Center’s Calvinism Resources Database (CaRD) was created
ten years ago, a variety of students entered the bibliographical material,
but the subject categories attributed to each article awaited more careful
analysis.
Approximately seven years ago, Charles Brown took on the part-time task
of adding subjects to each citation. It has been a Herculean task, which
he has performed carefully and studiously. Now it is finished.
We wish to thank Charles for his work and good attitude throughout this
project. Originally Charles came to us as a volunteer, but as the project
continued, it was hoped that he could receive a small stipend. So, in
addition to Charles, we also wish to thank Mrs. Annette Kirk, president
of The Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal, for her help in securing
funding from the Willard Foundation, as well as the Friends of the Meeter
Center for their help in providing funding for this job.
Rare Catechism Added to Collection
John Calvin’s 1545 Latin catechism, Catechismus ecclesiae genevensis
hoc est formula erudiendi pueros in doctrina Christi, was recently
purchased by the Meeter Center. One of only four copies known to exist
in libraries worldwide, the catechism was originally published in both
Latin and French. Other surviving copies are held by the Genevan University
Library, the Zentralbibliothek in Zurich, and the British Library
in London. There is one surviving French 1545 edition of the catechism,
in the library of Gotha, Germany.
The catechism uses the question-and-answer format to train and test children
and new converts in the basics of doctrine and the Christian life. Questions
and answers cover the Ten Commandments, the Apostles’ Creed, the
Lord’s Prayer, and the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s
Supper. This work, now the only known copy held by a North American library,
complements the Center’s 1545 Italian edition of the same catechism.
Paul Fields, curator
H. Henry Meeter Center
Meeter Center Colloquium Series
October 13, 2005 Dr. Christopher Kaiser, professor of historical
and systematic theology at Western Theological Seminary, will speak at
the Meeter Center’s fall colloquium. His topic will be “Beliefs
in Modern Science, Then and Now.”
March 16, 2006 The Meeter Center’s spring colloquium will
feature Rev. Joel Beeke, pastor of the Heritage Netherlands Reformed church.
His topic will be “The Puritan Art of Meditation.”
Fellowships Awarded in 2005
Faculty Research Fellowship: Dr. Daniel Eppley, an assistant
professor and Turner Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at McMurry
University, Abilene, Texas, will research sixteenth century Presbyterian
Puritan hermeneutics.
Student Research Fellowships: Mr. Geoff Cooke, a Ph.D.
candidate from the London School of Theology, U.K., will pursue research
on assurance of faith in the 1536 & 1539 Institutes.
Mr. Patrick O’Banion, a Ph.D. candidate at St. Louis University,
St. Louis, Mo., plans to study Zanchi.
Emo Van Halsema Fellowship: Rev. Kornelius Kuswanto,
a professor of Old Testament at South East Asia Bible Seminary, Malang,
Indonesia, will examine Calvin’s attitude toward the Jews.
Friends of the Meeter Center Fellowships: Dr. Yun Lak
Chung, a professor of New Testament at Anyang University, Anyang City,
Korea, plans to study Calvin’s understanding of the law.
Ms. Genevieve Gross, a Ph.D. candidate from the University of Geneva,
Geneva, Switzerland, will research secondary figures of the French-speaking
Reformation.
Mr. Johan de Niet, a Ph.D. candidate at the Free University, Amsterdam,
The Netherlands, will study the sixteenth century theory and practice
of comforting the sick.
Fellowship Applications for 2006 may
be obtained from the Meeter Center upon request and should be returned
by January 1, 2006. Application forms are also available on our Web
site.
Friends of the Meeter
Center
We welcome members to the Friends of the Meeter Center.
Friends’ donations help provide funding for special programs, including
the Friends of the Meeter Center Fellowships and the CD Music of the Genevan
Psalter. Checks may be made out to Friends of the Meeter Center and sent
to the Center’s address. Thank you for your support! Annual membership
fees are:
Student $20; Supporter $40; Donor $75;
Associate $100; Partner $200; Benefactor $500
Hugh and Eve Meeter Calvinism Awards
to High School Seniors
This year the Meeter Center received seven papers on the topic “Why
Has Education Been So Central for John Calvin and Calvinism?”
Joseph Breems from Moreno Valley, Calif., won the first-place award
of $2,500, and second-place winner Kristin Haagsma of Grand Rapids,
Mich. won $1,250. The topic for next year’s competition is “Calvin
and the Visual Arts.” Contact the Meeter Center to receive an
informative brochure about next year’s contest. Papers should
be received by January 15, 2006.
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