The maist perfyt schoole of Chryst' : a study of a metaphor for the church in the rhetoric of John Calvin

The word-centered character of Calvinist piety is widely recognized by church historians. Often, this word-centered piety is attributed to Calvinism's roots in Renaissance humanism. I believe another source for Calvinism's character is found in Calvin's own rhetoric: the School of God. The School of God is a metaphor for the church that Calvin frequently used in his sermons and prose. It is an exceptional metaphor in the rhetoric of Calvin because it has no direct precedent in Scripture or the patristic writings, as did the rest of Calvin's metaphors for the church. In this study, I examine the School of God in the context of Calvin's sixteenth-century audience, Calvin's own character and personality, and his evolving theory of metaphor. I argue that Calvin used the School of God because it had rhetorical power to appeal to the ambitions and ease the anxieties of his sixteenth-century audience. Furthermore, I argue that the School of God appealed to Calvin's own ambitions and anxieties. My investigation of his metaphorical theory, both before and after his conversion, shows that Calvin recognized the rhetorical power of metaphor. I argue that, ultimately, Calvin's theological concept of accommodation served as the justification and the model for his rhetorical use of the School of God as a teacher and reformer in the new Protestant church. He used the metaphor as a rhetorical device to shape a Protestant, word-centered piety in his followers.