What people typically mean when they say that Calvinism is “rigid” is that the Calvinists teach that God is sovereign in creation and salvation, that just as he spoke into nothing and created all that is, so too he freely, sovereignly, and graciously saves his elect, those whom he determined from all eternity to save. The opposite view is that God is somehow dependent upon his creatures in providence and in salvation.

In an introductory essay on the life and work of Charles Grandison Finney (1792–1875), the writer contrasts his approach to evangelism with that of the Calvinists in the same period. The essay is attributed to the editors of Christian History magazine. They write about Finney:

Hired by the Female Missionary Society of the Western District, he began his missionary labors in the frontier communities of upper New York. A rigid Calvinism dominated the theological landscape, but Finney urged his listeners to accept Christ openly and publicly.

Near the end of the essay they use the same language again:

Such rigid Calvinism, he said, “had not been born again, was insufficient, and altogether an abomination to God.”

Indeed, Google the phrase “rigid Calvinism” and one finds no small number of results. One of the most fascinating of which is a 1752 article, “Calvinisme” in The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d’Alembert where Calvinism is not only said to be “rigid” but said to be characterized by the six points:

1. That Jesus Christ is not really present in the sacrament of the Eucharist but is there only as a sign or figure;

2. That predestination and reprobation are anterior to the divine prescience of good or bad works;

3. That predestination and reprobation depend on the pure will of God, without regard to the merits or demerits of men;

4. That God gives to those he has predestined faith and justice that cannot be removed; he does not impute to them any sins;

5. That the just are incapable of doing any good works as a consequence of original sin;

6. That men are justified by faith alone, which makes good works and the sacraments useless.

With the exception of the first article that they have constantly retained, modern Calvinists either reject or soften all the others.

This article is an artifact of French Enlightenment and the rise of the “encyclopedists.” Clearly the author of this piece was prejudiced against Reformed theology, most likely by Romanism. Of course, for the Reformed (Calvinists) Christ is present in the Lord’s Supper by the mysterious operation of the Holy Spirit. In Belgic Confession (1561) art. 35, the Reformed Churches confess:

In the meantime we err not, when we say, that what is eaten and drunk by us is the proper and natural body, and the proper blood of Christ. But the manner of our partaking of the same, is not by the mouth, but by the Spirit through faith.

Numbers 2–5 are standard Augustinian, anti-Pelagian theology not unique to Calvinism. Number 5 is slightly ambiguous but I take it to mean that because of sin, people are unable to do good works unto justification. The first half of number 6 is accurate but the second half is a non sequitur. That the list begins and ends with this caricature suggests the author’s Romanist sympathies.

In the following paragraphs this relic of eighteenth-century the Enlightenment universalism (e.g., the universal fatherhood of God, the universal brotherhood of man) and optimism about human nature and progress describes Calvinism as “rigid.”

Read More