The source of Calvinism’s anxiety is easily demonstrated by thinking about riding/driving in a car. Which produces more anxiety? Driving a car or riding in a car as passenger? Since anxiety is largely about control, and since Calvinism cede’s all control to God, it’s natural for that theology to be anxiety producing.
As a side note, I personally am not sure that Calvin was a redeemed person. He gave his approval of the execution of Michael Servetus due to his views on the Trinity as well as his opposition to infant baptism. Hard to look past that.
In Calvin's eyes, he was one if the elect. He saw himself as doing the "work" of God, just as the Jesuits during the Inquistion, and Saul of Tarsus, thought that they were doing the work of God. I know Roman Catholics, as well as Swiss Reformed and Lutherans, who believe that the persecution and mass executions of the Anabaptists was "God's Work."
As a lawyer who got deep into Calvinism in my 20s, I have to say I feel seen here:
“You can see the conflict here, between a bulletproof theological system and the raw experiences of life. As a logical system, Calvinism has a compelling crystalline beauty. Calvin, let's recall, was a lawyer. Many rationalistic types, if you've ever chatted with a staunch Calvinist, find this analytical system captivating. Like a complex puzzle, Calvinism is a vast logical structure to be explored. So down they go, into this dogmatic, analytical rabbit hole.”
And the deeper they go down that rabbit hole while they progress farther down the messy journey of life, the more tightly some hold to their supposed rationality even as it leads them to self-evidently evil conclusions. As Chesterton said, “The madman is not the man who has lost his reason. The madman is the man who has lost everything except his reason.”
Thank you so much for that distinction between bulletproof theology and interior, embodied ambiguity.
The kind of Calvinism that I have personally witnessed often seems to be the analytical mind's dismissal of personal responsibility, or even as a withdrawal from participation in creation.
It is a system of filling in logical gaps in God's actions, but it does not leave much room for our embodied experience. Similar to the tyranny of analytic rationality seen in the rise of modern scientism? It's difficult to live/participate in the Calvinistic story, at least as most people understand it.
I myself have begun attempting to think through my prior (and current) commitment (whatever that is) to Reformed theology including the tulip.
Its difficult when that’s all you know, but trying to read broadly, outside of my previous tribe at least seems to help.
I think that Calvinism did a couple things for me: make me arrogant, complacent, self-obsessed, and emotionally unstable. “Make me,” I sure did choose it. I wonder what the allure was. Certainty? Superiority?
Anyway, there seems to be a huge disconnect between the theory and reality.
The same dynamic was in play during the ministry of J Arminius. He lived among people who were arrogantly cocksure of their salvation, and those who fretted constantly over whether or not they were "saved" or not. Out of these experiences--his wrestling with them, etc.--came the theology known as Arminianism. (I'm sure you know this; I'm just processing and responding). This sort of thing is almost completely ignored among people who are deeply committed to "eternal security" while (in some cases, of course not all) not committed to any real commitment to fidelity or piety. Thanks for this post. I "discovered" you through "Old Scratch" and have been a follower since. I find you to be a breath of fresh air.
The Old Testament is filled with the short lasting effects of revival. The human ego does not have the ability to see beyond the very near short term, just like corporate business plans, 5 years max.
If you can not make a commitment to see it through to the end, failings and all, of course the revival fails.
The source of Calvinism’s anxiety is easily demonstrated by thinking about riding/driving in a car. Which produces more anxiety? Driving a car or riding in a car as passenger? Since anxiety is largely about control, and since Calvinism cede’s all control to God, it’s natural for that theology to be anxiety producing.
As a side note, I personally am not sure that Calvin was a redeemed person. He gave his approval of the execution of Michael Servetus due to his views on the Trinity as well as his opposition to infant baptism. Hard to look past that.
In Calvin's eyes, he was one if the elect. He saw himself as doing the "work" of God, just as the Jesuits during the Inquistion, and Saul of Tarsus, thought that they were doing the work of God. I know Roman Catholics, as well as Swiss Reformed and Lutherans, who believe that the persecution and mass executions of the Anabaptists was "God's Work."
As a lawyer who got deep into Calvinism in my 20s, I have to say I feel seen here:
“You can see the conflict here, between a bulletproof theological system and the raw experiences of life. As a logical system, Calvinism has a compelling crystalline beauty. Calvin, let's recall, was a lawyer. Many rationalistic types, if you've ever chatted with a staunch Calvinist, find this analytical system captivating. Like a complex puzzle, Calvinism is a vast logical structure to be explored. So down they go, into this dogmatic, analytical rabbit hole.”
And the deeper they go down that rabbit hole while they progress farther down the messy journey of life, the more tightly some hold to their supposed rationality even as it leads them to self-evidently evil conclusions. As Chesterton said, “The madman is not the man who has lost his reason. The madman is the man who has lost everything except his reason.”
Thank you so much for that distinction between bulletproof theology and interior, embodied ambiguity.
The kind of Calvinism that I have personally witnessed often seems to be the analytical mind's dismissal of personal responsibility, or even as a withdrawal from participation in creation.
It is a system of filling in logical gaps in God's actions, but it does not leave much room for our embodied experience. Similar to the tyranny of analytic rationality seen in the rise of modern scientism? It's difficult to live/participate in the Calvinistic story, at least as most people understand it.
I myself have begun attempting to think through my prior (and current) commitment (whatever that is) to Reformed theology including the tulip.
Its difficult when that’s all you know, but trying to read broadly, outside of my previous tribe at least seems to help.
I think that Calvinism did a couple things for me: make me arrogant, complacent, self-obsessed, and emotionally unstable. “Make me,” I sure did choose it. I wonder what the allure was. Certainty? Superiority?
Anyway, there seems to be a huge disconnect between the theory and reality.
The same dynamic was in play during the ministry of J Arminius. He lived among people who were arrogantly cocksure of their salvation, and those who fretted constantly over whether or not they were "saved" or not. Out of these experiences--his wrestling with them, etc.--came the theology known as Arminianism. (I'm sure you know this; I'm just processing and responding). This sort of thing is almost completely ignored among people who are deeply committed to "eternal security" while (in some cases, of course not all) not committed to any real commitment to fidelity or piety. Thanks for this post. I "discovered" you through "Old Scratch" and have been a follower since. I find you to be a breath of fresh air.
The Old Testament is filled with the short lasting effects of revival. The human ego does not have the ability to see beyond the very near short term, just like corporate business plans, 5 years max.
If you can not make a commitment to see it through to the end, failings and all, of course the revival fails.
There is a good discussion of this over at Flatcaps and Fatalism. https://flatcapsandfatalism.substack.com/p/is-asceticism-ascetic