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John Calvin's Argument Analysis

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In 1536 John Calvin published his first volume of Institutes of the Christian Religion. It is in this text that he makes an argument concerning knowledge of God.Calvin argues the point that the Seed of Religion is within everyone. He goes on to use the scriptures and their authority, as well as several analogies to prove his point.
Calvin begins to set up his argument by stating that without knowledge of oneself there is no knowledge of God. He then goes on to say that without knowing God or looking to God, one cannot know oneself: “man never achieves a clear knowledge of himself unless he has first looked upon God 's face, and then descends from contemplating him to scrutinize himself,” essentially stating that one must look towards one 's …show more content…

Obedience is essential because, “all right knowledge of God is born of obedience” and obedience must be included in love. According to Calvin, piety is, “reverence joined with love of God which the knowledge of his benefits induces.” And, he goes on to say, pious men do not think up ideas about God and what he is or is not, they just listen to what God tells them. This is a kind of knowledge of God. From this, Calvin starts to get into his argument about the knowledge of God concerning the Seed of Religion.
“Men of sound judgment will always be sure that a sense of divinity which can never be effaced is engraved upon men 's minds.” In this as well is Calvin’s argument for humans having an innate sense of divinity which goes along with the seed of religion. According to Calvin, the seed of religion provides mankind 's most promising avenue toward knowledge of God. The seed of religion is the argument that everyone everywhere has an idea of God because humans have an innate awareness of …show more content…

To answer this, Calvin seems to go back to the idea of scripture and spectacles. “Scripture is superior to all human wisdom”, and so with the help of scripture and with the tools the liberal arts give you, you can see examples everywhere that confirm scripture. Scripture is where all of the answers can be found because it is such a powerful

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