See the original post to see what this is about.
Leithart says that the Bible speaks not only of spiritual things, but also hair, blood, sweat, entrails, menstruation, and genital emissions. Theologians on the other hand (except for perhaps Augustine) rarely make any mention of these. It’s a blanket statement intended to shock, of course, but is it true nonetheless? Are theologians from another planet? Let’s find out…
In this round: John Calvin (1509-1564)
According to Google Books, these words occur X number of times in his printed works:
- hair – 336
- sweat – 95*
- entrails – 19
- menstruation – 6
- genital emissions – 40
Wow, high numbers for Jean, but this is actually misleading. Apparently people who dig Calvin like to publish books, because there were 10x the amount of different editions in Google books as there were for most of the other theologians I looked into. So a lot of these references are redundant. Nevertheless, he does seem to have addressed everything on the list at least more than once.
Hair is mentioned often as he believes it important that men not wear it long, lest they project effeminancy. However, he certainly acknowledges that this is a cultural thing that changes with the times:
For long hair was not always regarded as a disgraceful thing in men. Historical works relate that long ago, i.e. in the earliest times, men wore long hair in every country. Thus the poets are in the habit of speaking about the ancients and applying to them the well-worn epitet ‘unshorn’.
John Calvin, Commentary on I Corinthians 11:14
He’s not afraid to use somewhat colorful language when describing sin:
For we know that men are so attached to their gold and silver that it grieves them to be torn from what thy so much love: no less than if you tore away their entrails.
John Calvin, Commentary on Ezekiel 7:19
Nor does he shy away from using these words in discussing some of the prophetic passages where they appear as imagery.
The prophet seems to be alluding to menstruation women who try to hid their uncleanness as much as they can; but heir efforts do not work, for nature must have its course. In short, the prophet intimates that the Jews had become so filthy that their uncleanness could be seen on their skirts.
John, Calvin, Commentary on Lamentation 1:9
And he doesn’t fall back on spiritual language when taking on critics of Christianity either:
He [Menno] argues that a man who ejaculates semen is said to be unclean, and he foolishly implies that an unclean flow has no relevance to women. By this reasoning, women would no have that innate uncleanness which only men were given circumcision to prevent.
John Calvin, Polemic against Menno
That sounds more like the real physical world Calvin is living in, and not an imaginary one. I was surprised to not find much in the way of anti-Platonism or anti-Gnosticism though. Apparently he had other favorite topics. (I’ve yet to ever read anything major by Calvin yet. Only excerpts.)
