Reading John Calvin Online

If one can, it is best to read the Institutes in the languages Calvin wrote them in: Latin and French. His Latin is precise. The French edition is a masterpiece in its own right. In a previous post, I compared the wording of the 1560 French edition with that of the 1559 Latin edition and discussed a number of salient differences. In this post, I describe how anyone can obtain the Latin and French editions online, print them out, and begin an intellectual adventure of the first order. I exemplify again why it is important to compare the Latin and the French, and why we are in dire need of a translation of Calvin for the 21^st century.

For the Latin (Ioannis Calvini institution christianae religionis curavit A. Tholuck [1834]), go here, print, and continue on. While you’re at it, make a monetary contribution to CCEL: a great cause! Tholuck’s edition contains the definitive 1559 Latin edition of the Institutes. The super serious student of Calvin, of course, will depend on the edition found in the Corpus Reformatorum, available here, Tomes II-IV.

For the French (Institution de la Religion Chrestienne par Jehan Calvin [1560]), print the table of contents of Books I and II here, III and IV here, then the text itself, beginning with page 271, here. The standard critical edition is not available online: Jean Calvin, Institution de la religion chrestienne. Edition critique avec introduction, notes et variantes publiée par Jean-Daniel Benoit. Paris: J. Vrin, 1957. The serious student of Calvin will not do without the critical edition.

If Latin is a language you know, read a sentence thereof. Here is an example from Book 1, Chapter 1:

Nam ut in homine reperitur quidam miseriarum omnium mundus, ac ex quo spoliati sumus divino ornatu, pudenda nuditas immensam probrorum congeriem detegit, propriae infelicitatis conscientia unumquemque pungi necesse est, ut in aliquam saltem Dei notitiam veniat.

Compare it to the French:

Car comme on trouve en l‘homme un monde de toutes miseres, depuis que nous avons esté despouillez des ornemens du ciel, nostre nudité descouvre avec grand honte un si grand tas de tout opprobre, que nous en sommes tous confus: d'autre costé, il est necessaire que la conscience nous poigne en particulier de nostre mal-heureté : pour approcher au moins a quelque cognoissance de Dieu.

The English translation of Beveridge – of the Latin - available here, goes like this:

For as there exists in man something like a world of misery, and ever since we were stript of the divine attire our naked shame discloses an immense series of disgraceful properties every man, being stung by the consciousness of his own unhappiness, in this way necessarily obtains at least some knowledge of God.

The French diverges from the Latin in a number of salient details. It expatiates such that a complex text is rendered even more complex. The English of Beveridge, on the other hand, is a drab paraphrase of the Latin (in this case as often, I don’t think Battles marks a significant improvement). According to the Latin, knowledge of the fact that we are lost in a world of misery; that we, though born to be gods and kings, are deprived of any outward sign that we are; that we are naked, and nothing more, such that our orefices - pudenda, “shameful parts” – declare to all the world who we really are and the horrible deeds we have committed, this knowledge stings us with an overwhelming sense of our own unhappiness. As T. S. Eliot said, “We are the hollow men. We are the stuffed men. Leaning together. Headpiece filled with straw.” But that kind of self-awareness, says Calvin, conditions us to attain at least some knowledge of God.

Here is an attempt to capture the rhetorical force of the Latin.

Since we find ourselves in a world of pain; since we have been stripped of the outward signs of divinity; since our naked orefices betray the immense series of infamous acts for which we are responsible, each of us must, stung by consciousness of his own unhappiness, attain at least some knowledge of God.  

Here is an attempt to capture the force of the French:

Since we find ourselves in a world of pain; since we have been stripped of the outward signs of divinity, our nakedness exposes with great honesty such a degree of infamy for which we are responsible that we are completely undone. On the other hand, it is essential that the conscience of each one of us sting us with a sense of our own unhappiness, such that we attain at least some knowledge of God.  

I realize it may be necessary to read and reread the above translations in order to make sense of them. English as most people use it today is shorn of hypotaxis. But half of Calvin is lost in translation if his argumentation is rendered in accord with current paratactic convention.

UPDATE: Justin Taylor of Reformation21 provides a succint guide to English translations of the Institutes, and links to this series of posts for the Latin and the French.  

Comments

[dave b]

thanks for the posts on Calvin's institutes.

are you aware of the initiative of Princeton Theological Sem to help people to read through the institutes in a year? You can either read portions online or, and this is my preference, subscribe the podcast of the reading for the day! it's a great idea even if not in the original languages :-)....baby steps.

here is the link:
http://www2.ptsem.edu/ConEd/Calvin/

[JohnFH]

Dave,

I am aware of the initiative. I don't like the fact that past portions and discussions thereon are not archived, but otherwise, it's a sweet project, and I've become a subscriber.

[Jean-Sebastien]

Hi again,
For your translation, it is good but I have a few remarks:
- notre nudite descouvre avec grand honte.
Here descouvre is old french and means decouvrir, if I translate now, it will be "our nakedness/nudity discover with great shame such a degree of infamy...
Here the idea of Calvin is to convey that nudity is a state that come after being stripped and that this state allow us to discover that a degree of infamy is present.
- il est necessaire que la conscience nous poigne en particulier de nostre mal-heureté : pour approcher au moins a quelque cognoissance de Dieu.
Here if I take necessaire, the meaning is linked with approcher, if I translate literally, I will say "it is necessary that our conscience grips us (poigne is literally grab by the wrist) in particular in our desolation/unhappiness, in order to attain at least some knowledge of God.
The meaning of "en particulier de notre ..." is that our conscience drive us towards our confusion to aim at our state of desesperation, in order that to approach/come to some knowledge of God.
Hope it's help.

Js

[JohnFH]

Js,

Very interesting. But are you sure that poigne means "grips" here? The Latin pungi which would seem to parallel means "sting."

I have to admit that both my French, Italian, and Latin are stronger than my Old French, so I approach the latter through the prism of the former.