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Traité des reliques
For much of its history the Catholic Church has countenanced the veneration of relics—objects or even bones associated with a saint, or with Jesus Christ himself, that were deemed to have healing power or some beneficial spiritual effect on believers. Despite criticism from some skeptical observers (including even St. Augustine), the belief in relics has continued to this day.
In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, when the Protestant Reformation launched a wholesale attack on Church practices, the use of relics was included among the superstitions that were deplored as a corruption of the Christian faith. John Calvin, one of the chief architects of the Reformation, published this thorough critique of relic worship in 1543.
He runs through the gamut of objects that are venerated in various churches. From the alleged swaddling clothes of Jesus to pieces from the crown of thorns, Calvin pointedly shows how little proof there is that these objects are real and how obviously they are used as a means of taking advantage of the gullible. He is especially scathing and witty on the then-widespread belief in the authenticity of fragments of the so-called True Cross. Calvin remarks that if one were to accept all such claims, one would have enough wood to fill up a ship’s cargo hold!
This edition of Calvin’s classic treatise includes an interesting introduction by expert investigator Joe Nickell, author of Relics of the Christ, Inquest on the Shroud of Turin, and Looking for a Miracle, among many other books (see www.joenickell.com). Nickell presents a brief biography of Calvin and brings the story of investigating relics up to date by explaining how sophisticated modern techniques are helping to unravel the mysteries surrounding such famous relics as the Shroud of Turin and many other similar venerated objects.
In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, when the Protestant Reformation launched a wholesale attack on Church practices, the use of relics was included among the superstitions that were deplored as a corruption of the Christian faith. John Calvin, one of the chief architects of the Reformation, published this thorough critique of relic worship in 1543.
He runs through the gamut of objects that are venerated in various churches. From the alleged swaddling clothes of Jesus to pieces from the crown of thorns, Calvin pointedly shows how little proof there is that these objects are real and how obviously they are used as a means of taking advantage of the gullible. He is especially scathing and witty on the then-widespread belief in the authenticity of fragments of the so-called True Cross. Calvin remarks that if one were to accept all such claims, one would have enough wood to fill up a ship’s cargo hold!
This edition of Calvin’s classic treatise includes an interesting introduction by expert investigator Joe Nickell, author of Relics of the Christ, Inquest on the Shroud of Turin, and Looking for a Miracle, among many other books (see www.joenickell.com). Nickell presents a brief biography of Calvin and brings the story of investigating relics up to date by explaining how sophisticated modern techniques are helping to unravel the mysteries surrounding such famous relics as the Shroud of Turin and many other similar venerated objects.
86 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1543
48 people are currently reading
186 people want to read
About the author
John Calvin
1,716 books541 followersFrench-Swiss theologian John Calvin broke with the Roman Catholic Church in 1533 and as Protestant set forth his tenets, known today, in
Institutes of the Christian Religion
(1536).
The religious doctrines of John Calvin emphasize the omnipotence of God, whose grace alone saves the elect.
* Jehan Cauvin
* Iohannes Calvinus (Latin)
* Jean Calvin (French)
Originally trained as a humanist lawyer around 1530, he went on to serve as a principal figure in the Reformation. He developed the system later called Calvinism.
After tensions provoked a violent uprising, Calvin fled to Basel and published the first edition of his seminal work. In that year of 1536, William Farel invited Calvin to help reform in Geneva. The city council resisted the implementation of ideas of Calvin and Farel and expelled both men. At the invitation of Martin Bucer, Calvin proceeded to Strasbourg as the minister of refugees. He continued to support the reform movement in Geneva, and people eventually invited him back to lead. Following return, he introduced new forms of government and liturgy. Following an influx of supportive refugees, new elections to the city council forced out opponents of Calvin. Calvin spent his final years, promoting the Reformation in Geneva and throughout Europe.
Calvin tirelessly wrote polemics and apologia. He also exchanged cordial and supportive letters with many reformers, including Philipp Melanchthon and Heinrich Bullinger. In addition, he wrote commentaries on most books of the Bible as well as treatises and confessional documents and regularly gave sermons throughout the week in Geneva. The Augustinian tradition influenced and led Calvin to expound the doctrine of predestination and the absolute sovereignty of God in salvation.
Calvin's writing and preaching provided the seeds for the branch of Protestantism that bears his name. His views live on chiefly in Presbyterian and Reformed denominations, which have spread throughout the world. Calvin's thought exerted considerable influence over major figures and entire movements, such as Puritanism, and some scholars argue that his ideas contributed to the rise of capitalism, individualism, and representative democracy in the west.
The religious doctrines of John Calvin emphasize the omnipotence of God, whose grace alone saves the elect.
* Jehan Cauvin
* Iohannes Calvinus (Latin)
* Jean Calvin (French)
Originally trained as a humanist lawyer around 1530, he went on to serve as a principal figure in the Reformation. He developed the system later called Calvinism.
After tensions provoked a violent uprising, Calvin fled to Basel and published the first edition of his seminal work. In that year of 1536, William Farel invited Calvin to help reform in Geneva. The city council resisted the implementation of ideas of Calvin and Farel and expelled both men. At the invitation of Martin Bucer, Calvin proceeded to Strasbourg as the minister of refugees. He continued to support the reform movement in Geneva, and people eventually invited him back to lead. Following return, he introduced new forms of government and liturgy. Following an influx of supportive refugees, new elections to the city council forced out opponents of Calvin. Calvin spent his final years, promoting the Reformation in Geneva and throughout Europe.
Calvin tirelessly wrote polemics and apologia. He also exchanged cordial and supportive letters with many reformers, including Philipp Melanchthon and Heinrich Bullinger. In addition, he wrote commentaries on most books of the Bible as well as treatises and confessional documents and regularly gave sermons throughout the week in Geneva. The Augustinian tradition influenced and led Calvin to expound the doctrine of predestination and the absolute sovereignty of God in salvation.
Calvin's writing and preaching provided the seeds for the branch of Protestantism that bears his name. His views live on chiefly in Presbyterian and Reformed denominations, which have spread throughout the world. Calvin's thought exerted considerable influence over major figures and entire movements, such as Puritanism, and some scholars argue that his ideas contributed to the rise of capitalism, individualism, and representative democracy in the west.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 9, 2017
[febbraio 2011]
Va bene che l'intento è quello indicato in quarta di copertina: riproporre "un testo antico e vicino, che permette di riflettere sul senso profondo delle nostre credenze, sulle particolarità tutte italiane del sentimento religioso"... quindi contro l'ostensione della sindone e contro gli "ideologi contemporanei" che nutrono "credenze sfatate da secoli"... Ma l'unico motivo (insufficiente) per prendere in mano questo libretto sarebbe appunto questo breve testo dell'editore, visto che il resto è semplicemente una brutta ripresa del testo di Calvino tradotto in italiano da Monda in una raccolta (Bur) di testi di Calvino.
Il volumetto Mimesis non ci dice da dove viene la traduzione, non dà nessuna minima informazione sul testo originale, né su altro, taglia le scarne utili note di Monda, e - senza nessuna spiegazione, probabilmente per stare nelle 48 pagine - alla fine taglia pure alcuni passi dell'opera. Come se non bastasse, il testo è pieno di refusi tipici da scanner più correttore, con i soliti effetti divertenti: "in pruno luogo", "pretorio di Filato" (Pilato), fino al bellissimo "stereo di capra"! (mi correggo: probabilmente è proprio questo il motivo più forte per prendere in mano questo libretto)
Per avere un'idea dell'opera di Calvino sulle reliquie, rivolgersi da un'altra parte.
Va bene che l'intento è quello indicato in quarta di copertina: riproporre "un testo antico e vicino, che permette di riflettere sul senso profondo delle nostre credenze, sulle particolarità tutte italiane del sentimento religioso"... quindi contro l'ostensione della sindone e contro gli "ideologi contemporanei" che nutrono "credenze sfatate da secoli"... Ma l'unico motivo (insufficiente) per prendere in mano questo libretto sarebbe appunto questo breve testo dell'editore, visto che il resto è semplicemente una brutta ripresa del testo di Calvino tradotto in italiano da Monda in una raccolta (Bur) di testi di Calvino.
Il volumetto Mimesis non ci dice da dove viene la traduzione, non dà nessuna minima informazione sul testo originale, né su altro, taglia le scarne utili note di Monda, e - senza nessuna spiegazione, probabilmente per stare nelle 48 pagine - alla fine taglia pure alcuni passi dell'opera. Come se non bastasse, il testo è pieno di refusi tipici da scanner più correttore, con i soliti effetti divertenti: "in pruno luogo", "pretorio di Filato" (Pilato), fino al bellissimo "stereo di capra"! (mi correggo: probabilmente è proprio questo il motivo più forte per prendere in mano questo libretto)
Per avere un'idea dell'opera di Calvino sulle reliquie, rivolgersi da un'altra parte.
March 28, 2025
From what I’ve read, this is by far Calvin at his most outraged and polemical. His quips against and shots at the Roman church are almost laugh out loud funny
November 24, 2015
This was one of the best reads I've had in a while. John Calvin is brilliant in his criticism and dry humor concerning relics and their elevation into idols.
June 28, 2020
Crucial work!
Every Reformed believer would greatly benefit from this tome regarding relics and idolatry. I highly recommend this book for the enrichment of one’s knowledge of history of the church.
Every Reformed believer would greatly benefit from this tome regarding relics and idolatry. I highly recommend this book for the enrichment of one’s knowledge of history of the church.
January 18, 2021
It's a rating aout of contest.
Is Calvin, my favourite forever and ever.
Is mostly a pamphlet, not an essay or a monography.
Easy and quick to read, if you already know Calvin's doctrine.
Is Calvin, my favourite forever and ever.
Is mostly a pamphlet, not an essay or a monography.
Easy and quick to read, if you already know Calvin's doctrine.
January 22, 2014
In a few words, Erasmus said it first.
The humanist more jocularly laid the grounds for several of the arguments, as to turning attention from the saints to their rags (Calvin calling it more abruptly "trash," and "leaving thus the principal to follow the accessory" (54)), and portraying the proliferation of fragments composing more than the original unit. They discerned precisely what the power-hungry Nazi didn't on Indiana Jones' last crusade (65), "Our Lord must have had a splendid service on that occasion; for there would be as little propriety in drinking from such a costly vessel without having the rest of a similar description . . ." Nonetheless, this is presented--briefly, by means of a "limit[ed] . . . little volume"--in a penetratingly methodical manner all Calvin's own.
If also more frenetically in this treatise, all were agreed that excess of superstition led to idolatry. Calvin reflexively dismisses any defense of the practice on pious grounds, saying those who claim one may "keep them as precious objects, without worshipping them," are belied "because experience proves that this is never the case." J. Reuben Clark echoed this with his too little, too late depiction in On the Way to Immortality and Eternal Life, 254, 259-260: "From the commandments at Sinai, down through all the generations of Israel's history, there is no variant to God's commandment that images should not be worshipped, that idolatry was born of Satan, and that man should worship God only. . . . The foregoing [1563 declaration] set out the official view of the Roman Church on saints, martyrs, relics, and images. But the whole history of the worship of martyrs and saints, their relics, and the images thereof, show that the common worshipper regarded all these in a far different light from that shown in the official view. . . ., [which] came after more than twelve full centuries of customs, practice, and doctrinal discussions and controversies. The earlier practices do not square with the official dogma, nor do present-day practices and concepts, as any one knows who has seen the overflowing emotion of the humble worshippers moaning in an ecstasy, an almost transporting delirium, of joy as they have caressed images of the Virgin and the saints. The worshipping of martyrs and saints, their relics and images is so real among the great mass of those using them, that the philosophic explanation completely fails to meet the situation."
A portion of Calvin's admonition (58) is truly timeless in application: "I have merely mentioned this subject, to give people an opportunity of thinking it over, and of being upon their guard. It happens sometimes that we carelessly approve of a thing without taking the necessary time to examine what it really is, and we are thus deceived for want of warning; but when we are warned, we begin to think, and become quite astonished at our believing so easily such an improbability." Much is rightly made of credulity diverting zeal from its proper channels when it runs into manmade philosophy.
The humanist more jocularly laid the grounds for several of the arguments, as to turning attention from the saints to their rags (Calvin calling it more abruptly "trash," and "leaving thus the principal to follow the accessory" (54)), and portraying the proliferation of fragments composing more than the original unit. They discerned precisely what the power-hungry Nazi didn't on Indiana Jones' last crusade (65), "Our Lord must have had a splendid service on that occasion; for there would be as little propriety in drinking from such a costly vessel without having the rest of a similar description . . ." Nonetheless, this is presented--briefly, by means of a "limit[ed] . . . little volume"--in a penetratingly methodical manner all Calvin's own.
If also more frenetically in this treatise, all were agreed that excess of superstition led to idolatry. Calvin reflexively dismisses any defense of the practice on pious grounds, saying those who claim one may "keep them as precious objects, without worshipping them," are belied "because experience proves that this is never the case." J. Reuben Clark echoed this with his too little, too late depiction in On the Way to Immortality and Eternal Life, 254, 259-260: "From the commandments at Sinai, down through all the generations of Israel's history, there is no variant to God's commandment that images should not be worshipped, that idolatry was born of Satan, and that man should worship God only. . . . The foregoing [1563 declaration] set out the official view of the Roman Church on saints, martyrs, relics, and images. But the whole history of the worship of martyrs and saints, their relics, and the images thereof, show that the common worshipper regarded all these in a far different light from that shown in the official view. . . ., [which] came after more than twelve full centuries of customs, practice, and doctrinal discussions and controversies. The earlier practices do not square with the official dogma, nor do present-day practices and concepts, as any one knows who has seen the overflowing emotion of the humble worshippers moaning in an ecstasy, an almost transporting delirium, of joy as they have caressed images of the Virgin and the saints. The worshipping of martyrs and saints, their relics and images is so real among the great mass of those using them, that the philosophic explanation completely fails to meet the situation."
A portion of Calvin's admonition (58) is truly timeless in application: "I have merely mentioned this subject, to give people an opportunity of thinking it over, and of being upon their guard. It happens sometimes that we carelessly approve of a thing without taking the necessary time to examine what it really is, and we are thus deceived for want of warning; but when we are warned, we begin to think, and become quite astonished at our believing so easily such an improbability." Much is rightly made of credulity diverting zeal from its proper channels when it runs into manmade philosophy.
November 18, 2014
Who knew Calvin could be so witty? He essentially calls for a catalogue to be made of the relics extant in his day, with the result that we should find so many duplicate Apostles, cloaks, and other religious artifacts that it would be instantly obvious that there was some fraud going on. A really, really enjoyable read, if only for the exposing of the ridiculous objects that superstitious people of the day chose to worship and revere.
March 29, 2017
This book is worth reading for the introductory essay alone (which comprises roughly two thirds of the book) by its translator, Count Valerian Krasinski. This essay traces the history of the Church's compromise with pagan culture.
Calvin's Treatise forms a critique of the abuses of the Roman Catholic Church with relics. These abuses are subjected to ridicule by Calvin's characteristic dry humour.
One does wonder whether it was necessary to bind the two treatises together- Krasinki's work was certainly substantial enough to stand on it's own.
Calvin's Treatise forms a critique of the abuses of the Roman Catholic Church with relics. These abuses are subjected to ridicule by Calvin's characteristic dry humour.
One does wonder whether it was necessary to bind the two treatises together- Krasinki's work was certainly substantial enough to stand on it's own.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews