BOOK REVIEW:
The Starting Point of Calvin's Theology. George H. Tavard. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000. ix + 199 pp. ISBN: 0802847188. 

This is a wonderful book that takes the reader of English on a study that cannot be done in any other book presently in print. Though those familiar with Calvin scholarship might look at the title and wonder whether this is another effort at finding the “key” to Calvin’s thought, just the opposite is true. Tavard is not attempting another effort at discovering the coherence of Calvin’s theology. Instead, the “starting point” of the title refers to the first work of theology that Calvin wrote, the little-known Psychopannychia. Though this work is widely acknowledged to have been Calvin’s first foray into purely theological writing, little interpretation of it has been attempted, and no other work is available in English. 

While this filling of a void should be sufficient to entice some audiences, the book does far more than simply explicate Calvin’s first theological work. Tavard approaches this task from a bluntly ecumenical perspective. This renowned Catholic ecumenist asks the question, “Why have the discussions between Catholicism and Calvinism born so little fruit?” Searching for more productive models of engagement, Tavard hit upon the informal discussions of the Groupe des Dombes, a dialogue that has included Reformed, Lutheran, and Catholic theologians from French-speaking countries that began as early as 1937. In reviewing those conversations and comparing them with the official discussions, Tavard detects the difference between the two in the lack of the voice of Jean Calvin himself in the official discussions. Having set that as his context, Tavard states the aim of his work is “to open a way of entrance into his (Calvin’s) thought that may be more congenial to the Catholic mind than delving right away into the finished product of the final edition of the Institutio.” In other words, this is a mining of Calvin for ecumenical effect. 

The first six chapters of Tavard’s work delve into Calvin’s Psychopannychia. This is Calvin’s earliest theological work, written in 1534, and the lack of effort that has been devoted to it demonstrates that the community of Calvin scholars still works with a set of blinders. For example, studies of the Seneca commentary, which attempt to find traces, or deny traces, of Calvin’s early theology, far outweigh any serious grappling with this text. The community of scholars would be indebted to Tavard solely on the basis of his bringing this text to the surface. The first chapter lays out the background of Calvin’s writing of Psychopannychia, and the diffidence its presence has inspired in students of Calvin, with the exception of some very late French scholars. In the second chapter, Tavard further positions Calvin’s offering in its appropriate historical context by reviewing the Renaissance and medieval consideration of the soul. Tavard’s third chapter concerns itself with the outline of the whole of the treatise, helpfully set against two alternative analyses, and begins to set out Calvin’s argument. Then, the fourth through sixth chapters represent Tavard’s explication of the text, and his linking of Calvin to his theological influences, and his opponents. 

The final three chapters of Tavard’s work leave the safe ground of Psychopannychia for rather more dangerous ground. Bluntly put, Tavard takes several chances in this section, proffering answers to perennial Calvin scholarship questions. In the seventh chapter, Tavard ventures into the timing and nature of Calvin’s conversion. With statements such as “Calvin’s consent to the publication of Psychopannychia in 1542 without anti-papal additions may well suggest that even after his reforming ministry in Strasbourg, in the first year of his second ministry in Geneva, Calvin did not yet consider that all the bridges had been drawn between the reform movement and the conservative tradition, although he certainly had no reason to be optimistic about a possible reconciliation.” (113), Tavard invites serious discussion, as well as possible dismay. The cherished notions about Calvin that are held most dear, have always seemed to be those about which that Frenchman has left us the least evidence. In any case, it is these last three chapters which will most interest those who are interested in how this study will illuminate Calvin, rather than in the text of Psychopannychia for its own sake. 

In the seventh chapter, Tavard links some of the themes of Psychopannychia to the 1536 edition of the Institutes. The eighth chapter considers Calvin’s response to the episcopate of the Church, while the ninth considers the topic of Christian freedom. The tenth chapter sets out Calvin’s thought as being “in the Bonaventurian version of the Augustinian tradition, for which spiritual experience is essential to theological reflection.” (p. 172). Tavard then supplies a conclusion that construes Calvin’s theology as far more open to a Catholic appreciation, because of its essential catholicity. 

In short, this is a fine book. Having said that, it is not a book without faults. The index is rather too brief, making searching more difficult than it might have been. Further, Tavard does not frequently come to grips with modern Calvin scholarship. At times, that is not a difficulty, because as noted above, this is ground little covered. Then again, when Tavard takes up questions as well worn as Calvin’s conversion, some reflection of the thicket into which the reader is plunging seems necessary. 

Those caveats aside, this is an important study. It makes no apologies for its ecumenical impulse, and adds immensely to the English-language understanding of Calvin’s early theology. We are indebted to Professor Tavard for this contribution, both to our understanding of Calvin, and to the ecumenical enterprise. 

R. Ward Holder
Assistant Professor of Theology
St. Anselm College, Manchester, NH 

PUBLISHED IN THE BULLETIN OF THE INSTITUTE FOR REFORMED THEOLOGY, SUMMER 2002, VOL. 2, #4.