Calvin Against the Calvinists in Early Modern Thomism
chapter 14 Calvin against the Calvinists in Early Modern Thomism Matthew T. Gaetano Reformed Protestants opposed to Arminianism saw themselves as aligned with the Dominican Thomists who opposed the accounts of free choice provided by Luis de Molina (1535– 1600) and many of his fellow Jesuits.1 Do- minicans and Reformed Protestants both defended a fiercely anti- Pelagian doctrine of predestination, reprobation, and intrinsically efficacious grace, while Jesuits, Arminians, and some Lutherans honed notions like middle knowledge out of concern that their opponents, whether Roman Catholic or Protestant, destroyed free choice and made God the author of sin.2 Scholars have recognized these cross- confessional resemblances, and this volume has helped to clarify the substantive borrowings. Reformed theologians clearly expressed their sense of a common outlook on predestination, reprobation, and the relationship of grace and free choice not only with Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274) but also with post- Tridentine Dominicans.3 At times, they employed 1 The title is a reference to Basil Hall, “Calvin against the Calvinists,” in John Calvin: A Collection of Distinguished Essays, ed. Gervase Duffield (Grand Rapids: 1966), 19– 37. But, in contrast with Hall, the Dominicans examined in this essay generally praised the (supposed) depar- tures of later Reformed theologians from John Calvin. For an excellent discussion of the problems with Hall’s approach and with the term Calvinist, see Richard A. Muller, Calvin and the Reformed Tradition: On the Work of Christ and the Order of Salvation (Grand Rapids: 2012), 15, 48, 52, 145, 159– 60. 2 Besides the contributions to this volume, see the clear account of the figures and issues in this debate in Willem J.
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