Extra calvinisticum
Introduction
The Chalcedonian definition states the following concerning the hypostatic union of the two natures of Christ:
one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, to be acknowledged in two natures, inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably; the distinction of natures being by no means taken away by the union, but rather the property of each nature being preserved, and concurring in one Person and one Subsistence, not parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son, and only begotten, God the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ.[1]
However, certain tensions found within the declaration’s logic would blossom into controversy again in the sixteenth century as Lutheran and Reformed theologians put forth opposing doctrines of the person of Christ, specifically around questions of Christ’s human body. How, for instance, does this personal union “without change . . . without separation” relate to the concept of divine omnipresence? This question would cause a rent in Magisterial Protestantism.
Extra calvinisticum (Template:Lang-la) is a theological terminus technicus given by Lutheran scholastic theologians around 1620[2][3] to the teaching that Christ's divine nature cannot be enclosed or imprisoned within a human nature, but remains infinite despite being in union with a finite body. The doctrine is named for and associated with John Calvin, but is commonly found in the church fathers and is prominent in Augustine's Christology.[4] This theological distinction is in contrast to scholastic Lutheran Christology.[5] In the theology of Martin Luther Jesus Christ is omnipresent, not only his divine nature but also his human nature, this is because the two natures cannot be separated from one another, but are shared by the same individual (communicatio idiomatum).[6] The Reformed, on the other hand, argued that "the Word is fully united to but never totally contained within the human nature and, therefore, even in the incarnation is to be conceived of as beyond or outside of (extra) the human nature."[7]
For this reason, the Reformed argue that Christ cannot be present corporeally (bodily) in the Lord's supper, because he reigns bodily from heaven.
See also
References
- ^ author., Grudem, Wayne A.,. Systematic theology : an introduction to Biblical doctrine. ISBN 978-1-78974-208-4. OCLC 1231011012.
{{cite book}}:|last=has generic name (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Kreck, W, Lexikon reformierter Grundbegriffe [Lexicon Reformed Principle] (in German), Reformed Alliance in Germany, retrieved 2012-12-06
- ^ "Summaries of Doctoral Dissertations", The Harvard Theological Review, 56 (4), Cambridge University Press: 321–334, October 1963, doi:10.1017/S0017816000018903, ISSN 0017-8160, JSTOR 1508667
- ^ Muller, Richard A (2012) [1986]. Christ and the Decree (Kindle ed.). Kindle location 560–572.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link) CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Carson, Ronald (September 1975), "The Motifs of Kenosis and Imitatio in the Work of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, with an Excursus on the Communicatio Idiomatum", Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 43 (3), Oxford University Press: 542–553, doi:10.1093/jaarel/xliii.3.542, ISSN 0002-7189, JSTOR 1461851
- ^ Peters, David, The "Extra Calvinisticum" and Calvin's Eucharistic Theology (PDF), p. 5, retrieved 2012-12-06
- ^ Muller, Richard (1 September 1985), "Extra Calvinisticum", Dictionary of Latin and Greek theological terms: drawn principally from Protestant scholastic theology, Baker Book House, p. 111, ISBN 978-0-8010-6185-1, retrieved 2012-12-06