Gender Equality and Gender Hierarchy in Calvin's Theology
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Abstract
The theology of John Calvin (1509-64) reveals a view of women that has long puzzled his readers. On one hand, he praises and blames women as responsible actors equal to men, and, on the other hand, he praises and blames women as inferior creatures with a well-defined and restricted role to play. It is the aim of this report to uncover the apparent contradiction between gender equality and gender hierarchy in Calvin's thought and to offer an explanatory interpretation of it based on his distinction between cognitio dei (knowledge of God) and cognitio hominis (knowledge of humankind). When one considers his affirmation of the radical equality of women and men from the perspective of cognitio dei, it appears that Calvin helped launch a spiritual reformation for women. When one considers his confirmation of Christianity's view of the innate inferiority of women to men from the perspective of cognitio hominis, however, it appears that Calvin contributed only to a carefully limited reformation for women: a spiritual reformation that had little effect on social and political reality. It is not Calvin's theology but the work of writers such as Christine de Pizan (1364-1429) and Marguerite d'Angouleme, Queen of Navarre (1492-1549), that points the way to a full reformation for women; for these women affirm the equality of women and men before both God and humankind.'