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in retrospct, there must
be an
intrinsic continuum betw pseudo- and anti-
intellectualism
[Sat, 1 Jan 2005 03:31:54
-0700]
<<It was written of Calvin after [?*]the death of Servitus:
Calvin�s plea for the right
and duty of the Christian magistrate to punish heresy by death, stands or
falls with his theocratic theory and the binding authority of
the Mosaic code. His arguments are chiefly
drawn from the Jewish laws against idolatry and blasphemy, and from the
examples of the pious kings of Israel. But his arguments from the New
Testament are failures. He agrees with Augustin in the interpretation of the
parabolic words: "Constrain them to come in" (Luke 14:23). But this can only
refer to moral and not to physical force, and would imply a forcible
salvation, not destruction. But he cannot get over those passages
which contradict his theory, as
Christ�s rebuke to John and James for wishing to call down fire from heaven
(Luke 9:54), and to Peter for drawing the sword (Matt. 26:52), his declaration
that his kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36), and his whole spirit
and aim, which is to save and not to destroy. In his juvenile work on Seneca and in earlier editions of his
Institutes, Calvin had expressed noble sentiments on
toleration; even as Augustin did in his writings against the Manichaeans,
among whom he himself had lived for nine years; but both changed their views for the worse in their zeal for
orthodoxy.>>jt,
12/31/04
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