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Calvin: Ethics, Eschatology, and Education
Author: James L. Codling
Date Of Publication: Aug 2010
Isbn13: 978-1-4438-2262-6
Isbn: 1-4438-2262-0
This study examines the influence of John Calvin in ethics eschatology and education, as well as those influences that affected him. It examines his writings to determine if his vision made him an innovator. The research searched for reforms in the areas of ethics, curriculum, understanding of the teaching office, and universal education. It also looked at philosophy, economics, and labor.

A belief in the after life and end times was an ethical motivation for Calvin and education was a means by which the people that he worked with and wrote to could understand how they should live and why they should live like that. Thus, there is an important connection among ethics, eschatology and education. All people were to work to their potential at their job because in doing their job they would honor God. Teachers were especially important. Those who taught would affect the quality of education. Calvin worked to provide teacher training and support. He believed that all occupations could be a special calling from God and education was a means to prepare the young person for his or her calling.

Schools existed in Geneva before Calvin arrived in 1536; however, they did not function in the way that Calvin would have liked. Calvin provided the elementary students with a needed text when he prepared a catechism. The students had written material that they could read and study and a systematic presentation of the basic doctrines of the Christian faith. Calvin also wanted more appropriate facilities in which the students could learn. Although his organization of the schools improved the atmosphere for learning, the building of the Academy was his dream and became his major educational achievement in the city of Geneva.

Because16th century students needed to be prepared for the new world, there was a need for curriculum change. The students were required to read many of the prominent Greek and Roman authors in the ancient languages but the student learned theology, Hebrew, poetry, dialectic and rhetoric, physics, and mathematics as well. Calvin wished to graduate a well rounded scholar who could take his or her place in society. In this way the citizens of Geneva and all those of the Reformed belief would be better prepared for life on earth and the after life.

Jim Codling grew up in Canada and migrated to the US for education and marriage. He now resides in Mississippi. He received his Th.D. in Historical Theology from Concordia, St. Louis, and his Ed.D. from Mississippi State University. He is a pastor at Old Lebanon Presbyterian Church and lecturer at MSU in the fields of education and religion, and at Trinity College and Seminary. Previous publications include works in foundations of education, history, missions, the arts, and ethics in the classroom and the media. His wife, Christine, and children, Mattie and Louis, are artistic so that leaves him to be the writer.

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Sample pdf (including Table of Contents)

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