Calvin, Rabelais, and the platonic tradition: cognition of god and the self in renaissance and modernity

Abstract

In Sociology of Religion the massive shift towards secularisation, especially in historically Protestant countries of Europe, or these with Protestant influence, has been found to comprise two shifts: one towards the loss of religion, the other towards highly individualistic esoteric spirituality. The ‘individualisation of faith’, brought about by Protestantism, proclaimed especially by John Calvin, as ‘master theoretician’, is regarded to be a feature of both. Yet, presently, Protestantism and Western Esotericism, define themselves as opposites. At the beginning of this development, in the 16th century Renaissance culture, Platonism, (understood as spiritual philosophy) had a formative influence on both. In this essay, I will look at the origins of this development, at Calvin’s introduction to his theoretical exposition of Christian faith, the ‘Institutes’, and at Francois Rabelais’ references to ‘divination’ – the means of finding out the will of God – as a foremost literary representative of the spiritual tradition that was to become Western Esotericism. I will show, that both are close in their sharing of the Platonic motif that the knowledge of God and of the Self are interconnected – despite their differing reception of it. Thus, ‘common ground’ is identified, that may help to understand the present dynamics between both, in the context of Modernity.