Patheos Watermark


Religion Library: Presbyterian and Reformed

Vision for Society

Written by: Ted Vial

Reformed Christians tend to be moderately optimistic about the prospects for human life on earth.  The cautious part of this attitude is driven by their belief in a fallen humanity (even the saved remain sinners).  But the optimism is driven by a belief in God's grace, both in assisting the elect to fulfill the law (however imperfectly), and in sending aid to all humans in the form of governments and moral reasoning to make human life on earth sustainable.

John Calvin certainly did not expect a progressive spiral of history leading to some sort of utopia on earth.  Humans would remain in an imperfect and fallen state until the end times.  And he did not spend as much time speculating about those end times as he did on other theological subjects.  He considered the Book of Revelation, the last book in the Christian Bible, which prophecies about events at the end of history, to be canonical, but it is the one book of the New Testament on which he did not write a commentary.

But Calvin's actions in Geneva clearly show that he also did not think human society would necessarily be some sort of dystopia.  The Church in Geneva was run by a consistory, which was a body that included both clergy and lay people (elders).  One of the roles of the consistory was to advise the city council on how to make Geneva as just and godly a city as possible.  Calvin advised the city council to regulate dress, parties, and the use of makeup by women.  The seriousness with which Calvin and William Farel attempted to put into place "godly" standards of behavior for all Genevans is likely one cause for their expulsion from 1538 to 1541.


There have been times in the history of Reformed churches when Reformed Christians have been slightly more optimistic about the prospects to build a good society.  Many of the reforms of the Progressive Era in the United States (1890s to 1920s) were led or undertaken with great participation by Presbyterians.  Such reforms include temperance, women's suffrage, prison reform, and educational reform.  Perhaps the culmination of Presbyterian Progressive energies comes in the presidency of Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924), who entered World War I in part because he believed a victory over Germany could end all wars.  He invested great effort in the founding of the League of Nations.  (He failed in this quest, but the League was a forerunner of the United Nations, founded after World War II.)  He believed that an international body dedicated to dialogue and diplomacy could greatly improve international cooperation.


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