Page "Menno Simons" Paragraph 13

Girolimon ( 1995 ) compares the teachings of Menno Simons with those of Protestant reformer John Calvin ( 1509 – 64 ), focusing on the issue of excommunication.

This theological analysis stresses sharp contrasts between the two leaders on four basic principles: on procedures leading to excommunication, on the severity of sanctions on the excommunicant, on the restoration of a repentant individual, and on civil punishment.

Calvin and Menno, each a leader of distinct wings of the Reformation, both believed this extreme form of discipline to be essential to the function of the church in society, agreeing on the basic grounds for excommunication as expressed in the New Testament.

Menno, however, envisioned the application of reprimand as a process administered by the entire church body against any sin ; Calvin reserved excommunication for especially severe transgressions as identified by the Company of Pastors and the Consistory.

Among other disagreements, Calvin approved civil punishment for certain forms of unorthodoxy while Menno advocated strict church / state separation.

They differed most profoundly in their views on why church discipline was necessary.

Simons saw human perfectibility as attainable after conversion, while Calvin stressed an Augustinian theology of human depravity.