It is commonplace in much Protestant scholarship to argue that the Reformers intended to retrieve Augustine’s theology of grace while largely rejecting his theology of the church. This sentiment is encapsulated in B.B. Warfield’s famous quip in which he described the Protestant Reformation as “the ultimate triumph of Augustine’s doctrine of grace over Augustine’s doctrine of the church.” This paper will explore the ways that John Calvin developed his theology of the church in direct and sustained engagement with Augustine, particularly attending to Calvin’s use of and divergence from Augustine’s exegetical offerings related to ecclesial matters. This will hopefully provide some clarity to the ways that this Reformer sought to critically retrieve the great Doctor of Grace’s doctrine of the church in service of a Protestant ecclesiology.
The writings of Calvin where he most intently engages Augustine’s exegesis pertaining to matters of ecclesiology are his Institutes of the Christian Religion and biblical commentaries (especially commentaries on the the Synoptic Gospels, John’s Gospel, and 1 Corinthians). Calvin expresses greatest interest in Augustine’s exegesis of relevant texts in the Synoptics (especially the parables on the wheat and tares, the sheep and goats, and the wedding banquet; Peter’s confession and “rock” commendation; and Christ’s woes against the scribes and Pharisees), John’s Gospel (especially the texts on “hirelings”), and Paul’s letters (especially 1 Corinthians 5 and Ephesians 4). Augustine’s exegetical offerings on these topics that Calvin engages are littered throughout Augustine’s sermons (especially on the Psalms and the Gospel of John), letters, and also his writings about and against the Donatists (especially Conta epistulam Parmeniani and De Baptismo). This paper will explore the ways that Calvin appeals to Augustine’s interpretation of these biblical passages in support of his ecclesiological arguments, places where Calvin explicitly and implicitly diverges from Augustine’s interpretations, and also other biblical texts and exegetical offerings of Augustine important to his particular doctrine of the church that Calvin largely ignores.
As mentioned above, this paper will contribute to ongoing debates about the Reformers’ relationship to Augustine’s theology and, in so doing, it will build upon recent scholarship on Calvin’s use of Augustine (see L. Smits, Tony Lane, and S.J. Han) and attempt to refine some of the arguments put forward in Tadataka Maruyama’s landmark book on Calvin’s ecclesiology.