John Calvin and Humankind’s Knowledge of the Existence of God: A Triple Lens Perspective

John Calvin’s references to the sensus divinitatis (SD) in the Institutes have been variously understood and applied. Famously, both Barth and Brunner appealed to Calvin in support of polar opposite positions on ‘natural’ knowledge of God in their fiery debate of 1934. In this paper I start by presenting 4 possible understandings of Calvin’s meaning of the SD: no knowledge of God, some knowledge, environment-specific knowledge and a sceptical position that posits Calvin was not really interested in this subject. After summarising these positions, I suggest that further light on the subject can be had through a consideration of Calvin’s writings outside the Institutes. I provide an overview of his comments on the semen religionis and conscience in the prologue of the first chapter of John’s gospel (the second lens focus in the study) and also consider his comments on ‘false’ religions in a number of his commentaries (the third lens). I suggest that all four interpretations outlined at the beginning of the presentation are plausible within the first few chapters of Book 1 of the Institutes
alone (the first lens). However, I suggest that only one interpretation is able to account for comments made by Calvin elsewhere in his writings. This position is that Calvin believed humankind to possess some knowledge of the God of the Bible. I close by considering the possible role of Calvin’s historical context in influencing his thought on this subject.