"Will Durant Explores the Life and Theology of John Calvin"

Explore the life and theological contributions of John Calvin, one of the central figures of the Protestant Reformation, in this informative video. Calvin's impact on Christian theology, his role in the Reformation, and his enduring influence on Protestant churches worldwide are examined by our knowledgeable host. Discover how Calvin's teachings on predestination, the sovereignty of God, and church governance continue to shape Christian thought and practice today.

[@1badplayer]

Little mistake early on in the lecture. Calvin did not burn Servetus.

[@scottweaverphotovideo]

Human life has been so shaped by those who were so sure they had all the answers. And everyone else was a devil.

[@scottweaverphotovideo]

Thanks for posting this excellent video. I've always been curious about this man and his strange beliefs.

[@sheikowi]

What a great monument to Will.

[@mgm6076]

Did Will just said that Calvin offered communism to the world? Thank you!

[@user-xb4hl6mx8y]

Calvin is no doubt one of the greatest minds devoted to Christ of all time.

[@robertbrowning5951]

Calvin was brilliant.

[@Pfsif]

And a vindictive, unforgiving, ruthless murderer.

[@timothydigiuseppe1753]

Hey, Hobbes was no slouch.

[@elisabeth4912]

21:11 bookmark

[@shelleyharris2850]

JC

[@barberpianoserv]

Which of Will Durant's books is this reading from ?

[@blisteredvision]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Story_of_Philosophy www.rosenfels.org/Durant.pdf

[@danieladrean142]

So much slanderous libel and libelous slander in such a relatively brief amount of time is not often found, even on the interwebs

[@barberpianoserv]

To what is your reply?

[@erichodge567]

This is from "The Reformation".

[@yogsenforfoth5948]

@@danieladrean142 What in gods name are you blathering about? You sound like a lost child. 😂🤦‍♂️

[@bonnie43uk]

Very interesting to hear the details of Calvins dispute with Michael Servetus which resulted in him being burnt 'slowly' alive.

[@albertacamus908]

FYI: Calvin had nothing to do with Servetus's death- Serveretus did it to himself - on this Durante incorrect

[@bonnie43uk]

@@albertacamus908 Was Calvin for or against the burning of people alive who disagreed with his version of scripture?

[@Gorboduc]

No doubt he was careless with matches.

[@JonEoinSaoradh]

@@albertacamus908 lmao...imagine defending the horrors of The Inquisition and blaming its victims? Imagine!😂🤣😂😒

[@beaudidly5347]

@@JonEoinSaoradh some dopes are just dopes and some dopes are dumb ignorant dopes, which one are you.

[@isaaclemmen6500]

Someone should adapt the trial of Servetus into a movie.

[@DurantandFriends]

Are you good at writing screen plays?

[@isaaclemmen6500]

@@DurantandFriends No experience whatsoever

[@DurantandFriends]

@@isaaclemmen6500 hmmm... are you familiar with the trial?

[@isaaclemmen6500]

@@DurantandFriends Not beyond the section in this audio segment

[@Finnyzation]

Fantastic comedic timing

[@AnthonyL0401]

I used to be a Christian. I have done a lot of therapy and work since 1990s, when I was into Christianity. Near the last 6 months of my belief, I was really into Calvin and the doctrine of election. I listened to RC Sproul all the time. And I really enjoyed Charles Spurgeon's sermons. These were all full of tons of denial of human nature, total shame about who we are as people, and almost giddy joy at the idea of someone getting their just desserts because of their sinful nature. VERY UNHEALTHY PSYCHOLOGICALLY!

[@johngarza124]

There’s nothing wrong with Christianity. You’re just a mewling little fuck up Tony. Therapy? Lol.

[@AnthonyL0401]

@@johngarza124 Yeah, I was abused as a child by neglectful and absent parents. Christianity is not true, that is the main thing that is wrong with it. You are a good example of the Christians I came across when I was questioning Christianity. I asked for answers and they got defensive. They weren't as much of a hostile dick as you just were, but they had no compassion.

[@FringeWizard2]

My problem with Rousseau and Christianity is they are both absolutist about man's nature. To me some men are good, some are bad. But to Rousseau all men are good by nature and to Christianity they are all totally depraved. To the Marxists man is a blank slate, something to be trampled under a boot, and conditioned however environment determines. To the Christians it is the work of God that reforms a man. But to me I ascribe to the fascist sentiment; some men are good by nature and others are not, and there's no changing that, for the very inclination to change for the better is but a thing belonging to the nature of a good man and nature does not change.

[@johngarza124]

@@AnthonyL0401 Well Tony, I AM sorry for what you went thru. I too am wary of most self professed Christians. I’m even more wary of psychotherapists and those that utilize them as a crutch. All that shit was a long time ago. Put it behind you best you can. Eat some rocks and harden up. Forget about pastors and clergy and all those kooks. Reread the Bible for yourself. You might find some things that make more sense to a grown man than they did to an abused little boy. Best of luck.

[@AnthonyL0401]

@@johngarza124 Thanks, your advice is good advice. I appreciate the reply and the nice sentiment.

[@TheJask101]

What are these talks? Are they read from books? If so what books?

[@fadista7063]

the wonderful series by Will and Ariel Durant. I had many of the volumes as a teenager, must get them again.

[@erichodge567]

This one is from Will and Ariel Durant's, The Reformation.

[@TheWolfgangfritz]

Used Book Stores probably still carry sets of Will Durant's Works. The Book of the Month Club 40 years ago used to give away this multi-volume set along with other incentives (leather bound Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Gibbon) etc. If one committed themselves to becoming a subscriber to the "Book of the Month Club".

[@gravenewworld6521]

15:38

[@ronaldvronca8999]

Every time I hear or read of any account or description of God and the Bible it absolutely boggles my mind and as I age causes actual distaste that anyone with an ounce of free willed intellect believes in this fantasy or as I see it more and more the nonsense of god and religions .

[@joshcornell8510]

Nonsense says the guy who believes the universe magically popped into existence for no purpose and whose worldview can't account for the reason he so proudly boasts in.

[@claytonturner548]

I felt the same way until nihilism set in on me. It was like realizing the pointlessness of everything, including my own reactions to tragedy. My faith struggles along the way only took me back toward that nihilistic thinking. No thanks.

[@joshcornell8510]

@Univac AI your atheistic worldview can't even account for knowledge and epistemology. wE jUsT kNoW

[@joshcornell8510]

@Univac AI you can thank the Christian worldview for the scientific method as well as the necessary preconditions for intelligibility and ethics that make the scientific method possible

[@dalewolford704]

Josh you are reaching only with stupid hubris...christianity killed science in its infancy, and made such practices by monks illegal and punishable by death. They later did everything possible to fight against every advancement of science...their "schools" were no more than religious monestaries where study was required to be contained within the parameters of their theology, which even after 500 years we come to find in all major issues the protestant reformation provides a nondifferentiated twin of catholocism. As for this entire doctrine of paulism, who you believe in more than you do jesus, I dare any single Christian to point to which statement in genises that shows clearly the punishment of god being eternally inherited sin. Both jews (they who authored the books that you spit upon and cherrypick from to suit your presentisn desires) and mualema see gods original punishment and forgiveness...only Christians use esegeises to inset the the notion of inhereted sin for everyone...which in time even yhwh states clearly is unjust, and jesus claims he is here for the sick not the well indicating that there are those that need not his saving/healing. And thus what have we to find is the true problem...the initial pollution of Rome: paul....the church fathers just couldn't help but scrap on Jesus to put forth their perfered theology...just like all the other initial cults of Christ did in there own way and then claimed heretical by rome Pauline Christians and all thus slaughtered...we have the representation of the religion of the most Machiavellian and murderous and he'll bent on conquest that any of the rest, some of which were much more aligned with the teachings of Jesus than is Pauline christianity. But why bother speaking up for truth when Christians care less for it than the lied they create that exalt them.,,its a religion of ego stroking and naught much else...stroke away all you want, but spew not your taint upon others, please.

[@michaelleblanc7283]

Glad Durant exposed this lesser man for what he was . . . only a foil for better men.

[@arlaban22]

Calvin was a mental case that was in the right place at the right time to propergate his insanity.

[@joshcornell8510]

It's funny that people innately hate the God of the bible (as it says they would because of their moral guilt before a Holy God and subsequent justified condemnation) but tolerate lesser man made, anthropocentric religions.

[@WPBruce]

John Calvin is possibly the very finest teacher of Christian principles outside the Bible that ever lived. There is no more excellent presentation of Biblical truth than what is contained in the Institutes. Calvin's own innovative contribution towards theology appears to have been in the area of the Holy Trinity. The longest passages of the Institutes are on prayer. Calvin's life is itself a testament to the principles of the Institutes. His institutes and Commentaries are over 450 years old and yet are still widely read. Unfortunately there are a number of myths surrounding this great man. Those who are not only ignorant but proud of their ignorance usually charge him with two matters of which he is completely innocent. The first is that Calvin invented predestination. The second is that he is responsible for the burning of Michael Servetus. He has been rightly declared to be the "father' of American by both American and European historians because of so many Puritans and Pilgrims who brought his Biblical scholarship to America.

[@albertacamus908]

W.P. Bruce ;My guess is you are the only commenting person who actually reads to get your information! Good job!! 👍

[@historify.54]

A dictator and murderer. No wonder Europe is atheist.

[@stephensinclair3771]

@@historify.54 well said! He was a particularly hideous monster......I have read a lot about him. He and his ministers burned books.

[@annakimborahpa]

OK, in the passage quoted below Calvin (1) identifies the Pope as "the Roman Antichrist" and (2) states that the Catholic Mass "offers the greatest insult to Christ": John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book IV, Chapter 18, n.1 CHAPTER 18, OF THE POPISH MASS. HOW IT NOT ONLY PROFANES, BUT ANNIHILATES THE LORD’S SUPPER By these and similar inventions, Satan has attempted to adulterate and envelop the sacred Supper of Christ as with thick darkness, that its purity might not be preserved in the Church. But the head of this horrid abomination was, when he raised a sign by which it was not only obscured and perverted, but altogether obliterated and abolished, vanished away and disappeared from the memory of man-namely, when, with most pestilential error, he blinded almost the whole world into the belief that the Mass was a sacrifice and oblation for obtaining the remission of sins. I say nothing as to the way in which the sounder Schoolmen at first received this dogma. I leave them with their puzzling subtleties, which, however they may be defended by cavilling, are to be repudiated by all good men, because, all they do is to envelop the brightness of the Supper in great darkness. Bidding adieu to them, therefore, let my readers understand that I am here combating that opinion with which the Roman Antichrist and his prophets have imbued the whole world-viz. that the mass is a work by which the priest who offers Christ, and the others who in the oblation receive him, gain merit with God, or that it is an expiatory victim by which they regain the favor of God. And this is not merely the common opinion of the vulgar, but the very act has been so arranged as to be a kind of propitiation, by which satisfaction is made to God for the living and the dead. This is also expressed by the words employed, and the same thing may be inferred from daily practice. I am aware how deeply this plague has struck its roots; under what a semblance of good it conceals its true character, bearing the name of Christ before it, and making many believe that under the single name of Mass is comprehended the whole sum of faith. But when it shall have been most clearly proved by the word of God, that this mass, however glossed and splendid, offers the greatest insult to Christ, suppresses and buries his cross, consigns his death to oblivion, takes away the benefit which it was designed to convey, enervates and dissipates the sacrament, by which the remembrance of his death was retained, will its roots be so deep that this most powerful axe, the word of God, will not cut it down and destroy it? Will any semblance be so specious that this light will not expose the lurking evil? Starting at page 873 of the following pdf link: www.ntslibrary.com/PDF%20Books/Calvin%20Institutes%20of%20Christian%20Religion.pdf

[@captainmarvelmsc7692]

Mr. Bruce your opinion is highly flawed, skewed and utter defends a man who was mixing jewish kabbalah, 3rd century heresies, and a man who ruled Geneva as a complete tyrant...absolutely undefendable. But most of all his heresies, of heretical and demonic design, attacks the Body Blood Soul and Divinity of the Second Person of the Trinity, God The Son, Jesus Chrisr, the Word of God. And John Calvin's explination of this is hardly biblical and exceedingly that of the Pharisees.

[@joshcornell8510]

Anyone who calls the doctrine of predestination terrible has a horrible understanding of man's sinful nature

[@livejay9062]

Nature is sinful? Sounds convenient for those who which to use a book to control people for profit .

[@russellbranch782]

Durant is quite wrong about the cruelty and violence exacted upon those subject to the Inquisition as anyone who reads ‘Why Apologise for the Spanish Inquisition’ by Alphonsus Duran and Paul Vota will discover. Or who watches the BBC documentary titled ‘The Myth of the Spanish Inquisition.

[@boblee5556]

Anyone who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities

[@blahblahblahblah2837]

What a horrible time to be alive

[@yogsenforfoth5948]

I agree. I can’t even begin to imagine how horrible it must have been.

[@frankhoward4485]

Two of the most frightening concepts in all of theology ... predestination and the preordained elect. It's as though in Calvin's mind, all of humanity (save the elect, of course) was trash. Worse than trash ... evil, worthless garbage whose denouement was inescapable and eternal torment ... unimaginably horrific punishment for mere existence. What a mind.

[@fiveSolas879]

He would be the 1st to admit his need of christ for he is totally depraved, as the scriptures say. Praise God for Calvin

[@douglasmcnay644]

Because that's the truth. We are born with a nature that is contrary to God and none of us are worthy. That's the point. That's why we need Jesus. If anyone didn't need Jesus, then there was no reason for Him to come down, suffer, and die. But He did. Ergo, we are all sinners, unworthy of anything but righteous judgement. No one can deny that they made their choices to sin freely. Everyone is given a choice. Inevitably we will always choose wrong. But God has given His Son to us as the free (to us, but painfully supplied) gift of grace to deliver us from our rightful judgement. And thank God He did.

[@albertacamus908]

Of course you have ever read his work or The Bible. But carry on, you have your reward on its way

[@1badplayer]

It is true that those who do not believe the Gospel are terrified of these doctrines.

[@JonEoinSaoradh]

@@douglasmcnay644 Your willingness to declare such inconsistent horrors as pure and true is disturbing,but then again,all things to do with Calvinism are capital D Disturbing.. Calvinism clearly declares the absolute entirety of our existence and of all creation to the Supreme and unknowable will of an all-powerful God. Furthermore,God has(by their doctrine)predetermined who will be saved & who will be condemned to eternal torment. BUT God in this scenario knowingly and willfully created humanity with all their characteristics,flaws,predelictions,&(as you state)their absolute certainty that they will fail the dictates of God. So God created @Douglas McNay Your willingness to declare such inconsistent horrors as pure and true is disturbing,but then again,all things to do with Calvinism are capital D Disturbing.. Calvinism clearly declares the absolute entirety of our existence and of all creation to the Supreme and unknowable will of an all-powerful God. Furthermore,God has(by their doctrine)predetermined who will be saved & who will be condemned to eternal torment. BUT God in this scenario knowingly and willfully created humanity with all their characteristics,flaws,predelictions,&(as you state)their absolute certainty that they will fail the dictates of God. So God,a perfect being,created these hopelessly flawed beings & moreover condemned most of them to eternal torment. God can do anything,yet it is through his will that eternal torment exists, & moreover, that the vast majority of humanity be condemned to existence & the aforementioned eternal torment. What,then,is the NECESSARY Conclusion? God is a malevolent & capricious being who desires widespread suffering of his creation for reasons that are not revealed to that creation. So fine, worship a malicious God if you will, but that is what this Calvinist God is. There is no alternative conclusion to be reached. What I'd suggest to you is that you examine the Calvinist(and indeed your own beliefs,I suspect)preoccupation with this vastness of Suffering handed out by God & recognize the following. Humanity is indeed a terribly flawed creation, and among those many flaws is a dark desire to malevolence and capriciousness. Indeed, it's this same malevolence and capriciousness that Calvinists falsely attribute to "God" that constitutes a deeply sinful ideology. God can either be Malevolent & Capricious by nature, or this necessary conclusion must be the false attribution of a wicked swath of humanity who presumes to know the inate will and nature of an unknowable God. I think it rather clear which of these I ascribe to. Should you wish to respond, address my points directly or do not waste my time..

[@nosretep1960]

Calvin was just the reinterpretation of Platonic deterministic gnosticism

[@FringeWizard2]

Yes.

[@annakimborahpa]

Your Pdg was pretty darn good.

[@codybrown5071]

20:17 bookmark

[@yairk1000]

Serveto was a Saint!

[@albertacamus908]

Durante history is so tainted with Durante own opinions- its commentary not history

[@FringeWizard2]

Lol at that name.

[@annakimborahpa]

To my mind, Durante saved his personal commentary on Calvin for the very end (1:27:59 - 1:28:07): "But we shall always find it hard to love the man who darkened the human soul with the most absurd and blasphemous conception of God in all the long and honored history of nonsense."

[@Shadowman4710]

All history is by definition commentary....

[@dalewolford704]

There are things in history which are fact, most likeliest, pretty sure of, maybe, probably not, wholly unlikely and of course that which is commentary.

[@fadista7063]

Makes the Puritans look like libertines! My ancestors include Hugenots, thankfully the New World demanded a more pragmatic endeavor, and the excesses died out much quicker.

[@ursulanedi6005]

Jean Calvin too miss understood the scripture. To punish someone who had the strong evidence, that the practice of child baptism was not coincident with the teaching of Jesus, was in my opinion as well a crime. The bad practices from the Catholic Church towards their Opponent‘s, rooted a long time after the reformation, as well into the reformed minds. Torture made common sense during those days. At the same time when people where removed in Geneva through the fire with the help from the evangelical church 2 fine Scholar‘s such as William Tyndall and his friend John Fritz were burned at the scaffold in Antwerp and London represented by the English crown, king Henry the 8 and the Catholic Church!

[@1badplayer]

Who is it that Calvin punished for disagreeing with child baptism.

[@dawsonjgyou]

Of all the horrible doctrines of religion, it is hard to imagine how any could ever outdo the injustice, horror and evil of Calvin's doctrine of predestination.

[@albertacamus908]

Idiot

[@dawsonjgyou]

Arn't you suposed to be chariable to idiots? Explain to me how it can be just to condemn a person before he is born to eternal damnation regardless of what he does during his life. @@albertacamus908

[@stephensinclair3771]

Your completely correct. In the lamentable list of human folly that has led too unnecessary misery, this wretched man has too be near the top. His convictions were all the result of his own vanity.

[@BRNRDNCK]

@@dawsonjgyou That’s a misunderstanding of predestination. Typical.

[@dawsonjgyou]

@@BRNRDNCK How else can it be understood"? Please explain.

[@yogsenforfoth5948]

I can’t imagine a worse time or place to exist on this planet than in medieval Europe. Good god, those old time Christians were some horrifyingly wicked people.

[@rolldeepNASA]

An evil man!

[@albertacamus908]

Said the unelected, uninformed ,lazy thinker

[@rolldeepNASA]

@@albertacamus908 sounds as if Calvin would have found a useful lapdog in you...

[@claytonturner548]

@@albertacamus908 says the elitistist, advocating for the condemning of souls before life. "Suffer the little children, let the come unto me..... because the vast majority of them will be in a furnace soon."

[@dalewolford704]

What you miss is by your numbers you now constitute the wide door not the small one...

[@Pfsif]

Today, Calvin would be diagnosed a Psychopath.

[@ambiacreations3825]

Calvin was satans favorite.

[@dalewolford704]

Close...try more like paul

[@danieladrean142]

So much slanderous libel and libelous slander in such a relatively brief amount of time is not often found, even on the interwebs

[@danieladrean142]

@Nifty Cheer First, it’s not necessary that everyone go to hell, and, thank God, Jesus gave his life as a ransom for _many_. Additionally, listening to someone get John Calvin wrong is most definitely a waste of all people’s (who are all made equally made in the image and likeness of God and therefore have inherent dignity and value as such) time.

[@rgaleny]

I HATE HIM !!!

[@fiveSolas879]

By what standard?

[@richardnailhistorical3445]

Calvin is the perfect example of 'the religious lunatic' - this world would be a better place without people like this!

[@marcusrowan7212]

ill never understand skme people's obsession with that old book (the bible) yeah its nice literature but to sing it so many praises and dismiss all other works so easily and readily. what a fool, calvin was.

[@DurantandFriends]

As I've gotten older, I've started to appreciate the beauty of literature in all forms, including the "Good Book". Personally, I think that the division between believer and secularist is closer than we admit. We just seem to be having arguements about things that don't matter.

[@someguy559]

Good thing this guy, Calvin, is dead!