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grace and the cardinal virtues of faith, hope and charity that were
necessary to proceed towards sanctification.
In this manner, special revelation like grace was something
added to man‘s basic nature and ability. In contrast, Calvin and the
Reformers insisted that man‘s fall had distorted man‘s capacity to
know. They didn‘t deny man‘s capacity to reason and even to
attain rudimentary truth as to the nature of the cosmos and human
existence. Nonetheless, at every point that knowledge was to some
degree distorted and incomplete. Without the Word of God, human
knowledge fails to see the necessary connections between creator
and creation, man‘s role within creation, or the deadly nature of
sin. Hence man‘s tendency to misuse knowledge toward
destructive ends. To Calvin and the Reformers, it would not have
been surprising that the very capability of humankind to master
nuclear fission has led to building of deadly atomic weapons or
genetic science to forward racist eugenics. Only God‘s Word gives
man an appreciation of his humble condition that leads to a
prudential ordering and use of knowledge. Thus, when addressing
secular or spiritual matters, God‘s Word provides the knowledge
necessary to appreciate human limitation and depravity in order to
establish proper safeguards for the common good; to use
knowledge in ways that alleviate suffering rather than simply
extend it.
The implications of Reformed versus Catholic views in this
regard can be seen in the political development of kingdoms and
nations inhabited by Protestant majorities. The view that no one
could escape the effects of sin provided wisdom to those who
questioned the divine right of Kings. Healthy appreciation of the
nature and extent of human depravity led to the establishment of
constitutional governments with significant checks and balances to
prevent granting any one person or party unlimited power.
Thus, from a Reformed perspective, the fall of man apart was
an unmitigated tragedy. Though made to reflect the image of God,
man‘s glory had become his shame. Instead of trust and obedience