The Lord’s Gifts to Human Nature

Polybius, and Herodian. Moreover, second class students began to learn the basics of dialectics, to read the works of Homer, to study the paradoxes or speeches of Cicero, and to translate the Gospel of Luke in Greek. In the first class, students spent their time learning Dialectics, practicing Rhetoric, studying the speeches of Cicero, Olynthiacs and Philippics of Demosthenes, reading Homer and Virgil, and translating the Epistles of the New Testament from the Greek. In the upper school, while much time was spent studying theology, Hebrew, and Greek, the liberal arts were also contemplated. 36 For example, the Academy’s Professor of Arts would teach Advanced Rhetoric by utilizing both Aristotle and Cicero. 37 Truly, the liberal arts and the study of humanities were foundational to the educational program of the Academy of Geneva. The arts served as the preparation required for the study of the queen of the sciences—theology. 38

At the commencement of the Academy in 1559, the school’s first rector, Theodore Beza, said the following in his speech:

Indeed, you have not gathered in this place as many of the Greeks used to do, heading to their gymnasiums to engage in vain endeavors, but rather, imbued with the knowledge of the true religion and liberal arts, to be able to magnify the glory of God and to be a support to your families and an honor to your homeland. 39

36 Commenting on the use of ancient works at the Genevan Academy, Reid helpfully remarks, “Strange as it may seem, the Professor of Greek was not to deal with the New Testament. As the students would already have learned Greek, New Testament exposition was left to the Professor of Theology, the Greek professor being given the work of expounding various books on ethics. The authors suggested were Aristotle, Plato, Plutarch, or ‘some Christian philosopher.’ The afternoon lecture he was to debate the study of a Greek poet, orator or historian, always ‘choosing the purest.’ Here again one sees very clearly the humanist in Calvin as well as an indication of his attitude towards the knowledge and learning of the non-Christian world.” W. Stanford Reid, “Calvin And The Founding Of The Academy Of Geneva,” 16.

37 W. Stanford Reid, “Calvin And The Founding Of The Academy Of Geneva,” 15.

38 T. H. L Parker, John Calvin , 160.

What was the end of the religious and liberal arts education for the Academy of Geneva? Beza stated boldly that the goal of the education was to equip students to glorify God, support their families, and honor their homeland. Indeed, the liberal arts were to serve as foundational in the educational model established by John Calvin, specifically for the sake of God’s glory and man’s good. In the first twenty years of the Academy’s existence, more than two hundred graduates went on to serve in ministerial positions throughout Europe, over fifty graduates entered civil service, and others became lawyers, medical doctors, merchants, and nobles.40

Conclusion:

God’s Glory as the Goal—A Doxological Approach to Education

For John Calvin, the glory of God was central to his theological and educational vision. He instructs the reader in book one of his Institutes, “For until men recognize that they owe everything to God, that they are nourished by his fatherly care, that he is the Author of their every good, that they

39 Quoted in R. Ward Holder, John Calvin in Context . (Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 2020), 111.

40 Between 1559 and 1580, out of the graduates whose later careers were documented, 246 graduates became ministers, 54 entered civil service, 9 became lawyers, 15 became medical doctors, 4 became merchants, and 13 became nobles. Karin Maag, Seminary or University? , 29–30, 33, 56.

The Lord’s Gifts to Human Nature should seek nothing beyond him—they will never yield him willing service.”41 The liberal arts, for Calvin, aid man in glorifying God. As demonstrated in the Institutes, the liberal arts are gifts from God which He gives to men in His common grace. When mankind utilizes those gifts wisely, they magnify the Creator’s glory. At the Academy of Geneva, the study of the arts aided the student in their study of the Scriptures. The arts served as the foundation which made higher theological study possible.

The classical Christian education movement of today has sought to reclaim the study of the liberal arts under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. As this educational retrieval continues into the twenty-first century, Christian educators would be wise to find inspiration in John Calvin’s vision for education—one that appreciated the proper role and status of the arts, the need for the utmost emphasis on the study of Scripture, and the understanding that the liberal arts are to be studied with the glory of God as their end.

Lucas Vieira serves as the Dean of the Logic School and teaches a variety of humanities courses at Beacon Hill Classical Academy. He has earned a Graduate Certificate in Classical Christian Studies from New Saint Andrews College, a Master of Legal Studies from Trinity Law School, and his BA in Philosophy & Religious Studies from Westmont College. Lucas lives in Ventura, California, with his lovely wife, Madelyn, and their sweet daughter, Evangeline.

Bibliography

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Calvin, John. Jean Calvin. Translated by G. R Potter and M Greengrass. Documents of Modern History. London: Edward Arnold, 1983.

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Hoogstra, Jacob T., ed. John Calvin, Contemporary Prophet: A Symposium. Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1959.

Maag, Karin. Seminary or University? : The Genevan Academy and Reformed Higher Education, 1560–1620. St. Andrews Studies in Reformation History. Aldershot, England: Scolar Press, 1995.

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Parker, T. H. L. John Calvin: A Biography. [Rev. ed.] ed. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006.

Reid, W. Stanford. “Calvin And The Founding Of The Academy Of Geneva.” Westminster Theological Journal 18, no. 1 (November 1995): 1–33.