Calvins theologisches Leitmotiv "cognitio Dei et nostri" in der Institutio von 1536

Abstract

The first sentence and fundamental notion of Calvin’s 1536 Institutes „cognitio Dei et nostri“ has, except for Gerhard Ebeling, not been a key feature investigation. Ebeling though, being Lutheran himself, interpreted this sentence in a Lutheran way. However, the summa sacrae doctrinae of which Calvin speaks in this context is a well defined doctrinal structure. Calvin thinks in gradual terms: The part De Deo includes statements about God in general and the part on cognitio nostri includes statements about man and God in particular. Calvin teaches a process of acknowledgement and knowledge: Creation, Fall of man, Law and Gospel follow one another; the Law also incorporates salvation. Calvin thinks in a pastoral way; knowledge of God and of ourselves (i.e. not self-knowledge nor knowledge of man) functions always in an alternating dynamic manner: God — we — God etc. This means that Calvin reflects on God and man in terms of a relationship, in which man is always addressed personally.