Although it doesn’t look like the portrait of a revolutionary, the painting hanging in the student lounge of the Presbyterian College in Montreal is the subject of not infrequent commentary, mostly of the affectionately jocular kind. John Calvin, as he must have appeared within minutes of completing The Institutes, is bowed over and haggard, hound dog eyes starring languidly off into the shadows. From his bonnet to his beard, Calvin bears more resemblance to cracking concrete than to someone leading the clerical charge in a changing world.
The same could be said for the picture of Stéphane Dion painted by the Quebec press during his campaign for Liberal Party leader and later, for prime minister. But Dion’s story, like Calvin’s, reveals a defiantly countercultural character. Globe and Mail columnist Jeffery Simpson noticed this and portrayed Dion as a Christ figure in 2006, going so far as to call him a political Presbyterian in his article. Should Presbyterians be proud of the reference or consider it a call to change?
The answer may depend on your opinion of Dion. But the point is that the continued presence of the word Presbyterian in the Canadian vocabulary signifies an opportunity and a responsibility to remind ourselves and others of the pre-eminence of the Word in our common context. Presbyterian and indeed Reformed reverence for the Reformation may have made the historic happening into a petrified point of pride rather than a rite of passage for every generation of Christ’s disciples.
As part of the Reformed tradition, Presbyterians have inherited the Calvinist handle, for better or worse. Ministry opportunities in Quebec and France have shown me that within former Christendom, Calvinists are infamous for their apathy. If we are not saved by our works, then why bother doing anything good? On the other hand, Calvinism and the Protestant work ethic have been convicted, rightly or wrongly, of all the busybody crimes of capitalism, including environmental destruction and sweat shop injustice. A recent conversation with a Bulgarian university student in Paris showed me that Canada’s Presbyterian roots have made a lasting impression—she was convinced that in contrast to the glorification of suffering she finds in her Orthodox tradition, the Protestant work ethic was responsible for our (relatively) comfortable position during the current economic crisis.
If the reverse of Simpson’s article is also true, then Presbyterians in Canada are liberals, extending salvation to all creation and looking beyond personal morality to see freedom in Christ as inclusive of social justice. But what Simpson meant when he called Dion a Presbyterian was that he was “unadorned, slightly severe, utterly determined, without pretence, searching for self improvement” and “anchored in convictions”. In short, Dion is the political incarnation of the Protestant work ethic, period. The lack of humanity in the description is disturbing and corresponds to the press’ accusation that Dion does not communicate well. We are, after all, meant to incarnate Jesus, the Christ, not only as he was at his woodworking bench, but in his daily life and ministry with all kinds of people.
Contrary to the spirit of the Reformation, Calvinists have been known to use the sovereignty of God as a justification for indifference and inaction rather than as the impetus for obedience. Calvin was part of a movement to interpret and articulate the freedom of Christ for his generation. Rather than endorse the silence often justified by his name, Calvin would more likely encourage conversations and even campaigns that would dare to propose repentance and faith in Christ’s incarnation, death and resurrection as core elements of the authentic humanity—reconciliation with God and others. If Presbyterians can learn to publically communicate the source of their liberal ethics, they can also offer a vision for environmental and social reconciliation in Canada.
Perhaps Presbyterian pride at Simpson’s description of Dion should be checked by a small shudder, as Calvin would probably shudder to hear about his eponymous theology. If our denomination has come to be equated with a static character, however admirable, then we fall short of representing Jesus’ dynamic and articulate ministry. For a sense of what is truly and particularly Presbyterian, one could consider the portrait of another John that hangs next to Calvin’s on the wall of PC, Montreal. It has been posited by author Arthur Herman that Knox’s reformation in Scotland put that country in a position to prosper and bless the entire world at the dawn of the modern era. John Knox was so certain that his words would have an impact that a guard with a drawn sword was stationed in front of his pulpit at St. Giles Cathedral every time he preached!
