1964 Awake! - Theocratic Collector.com

see it in the American film censorship,
which the Europeans stamp as oldfashioned
and often describe as puritanical,
with a direct but generally unconscious
allusion to the historical cause of the phenomenon.
We could mention other examples of
differences, but those mentioned are clearly
connected with the spreading of the two
main streams of Protestantism after the
Reformation,
Special Cause of the Differences
Truly, there are many reasons why "the
New World" on the American continent
assumed characteristics of its own. The
vast and almost virgin land stimulated the
colonists, and its riches opened up great
prospects to them. But it was the sense
of duty, the industry and thrift that the
New Englanders brought along from Western
Europe that enabled them to take up
the challenge and develop the resources of
the country, and all these characteristics
were encouraged by the Calvinistic Bible
climate from which they came.
The influences carried to the new nation
with the immigrating Catholics and Lutherans
from all parts of Europe, and the
liberal Bible view that has since then advanced
on both sides of the Atlantic, have
not been able to change the United States
from being a country marked by Calvin's
view of the Bible; and the leveling out that
has taken place between the two continents
because of the two-way flow of influences
has not been able to change Northern Europe
from being a region marked by Luther's
view of the Bible,
How, then, did these two men with their
different views of the Bible come to influence
the two main camps of Protestantism?
The answer may help us better to
understand our fellowman on the other
side of the Atlantic Ocean, especially why
he generally has another attitude toward
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the Bible. The answer may also help us to
reconsider our own point of view as regards
the Bible. At least we will get t6 see
that it is of no little consequence how we
think about this Book. It has been a powerful
factor in the lives of men and nations
in the past and the present, and will be so
in the future too.
Calvin's Reformation
In 1528 the Frenchman John Calvin had
left his theological studies and thrown
himself into the study of law and arts
when he got the chance to read some of
Luther's writings and thereby was carried
away by the Reformation. Five or six
years later he broke away from the Roman
Church and stood up as a reformer himself.
Although he closely followed Luther
on the two essential points: that justification
is obtained by faith and that the Bible
and not the pope or the church councils
is the determining factor as to what is the
true faith, Calvin's efTort to represent a
"Bible Christianity" nevertheless led to a
protestantism distinct from that of Luther.
From 1541 to his death in 1564 he
worked with untiring energy as a leader
and reformer from his headquarters in Geneva,
the Rome of Calvinism. His special
reformation spread from Switzerland to
France, the western parts of Germany, the
Netherlands, England and Scotland, and
later it came to America with Puritans,
Presbyterians, and Baptists; also immigrating
Methodists and Anglicans carried
elements of Calvinism along with them.
Calvin was more intellectual and systematic
than Luther. "To both Luther and
Calvin the Bible was decisive ... , but in
a different way," says the church historian
Hjalmar Holmquist.' To Calvin the whole
Bible was inspired by God word for word,
He saw the Bible as God's law from which
you can directly draw rules for the life of
the individual and society in both spiritual
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