Robert McCune Kingdon (1927–2010)
Autor(a) de Sex, marriage, and family in John Calvin's Geneva. v. 1, Courtship, engagement, and marriage
About the Author
Obras de Robert McCune Kingdon
Sex, marriage, and family in John Calvin's Geneva. v. 1, Courtship, engagement, and marriage (2005) 77 cópias
Transition and revolution; problems and issues of European Renaissance and Reformation history (1974) 11 cópias
Geneva and the Consolidation of the French Protestant Movement, 1564-1572: A Contribution to the History of… (1967) 10 cópias
Jacob Burckhardt and the Renaissance: 100 Years After 1 exemplar(es)
Transition and Revolution 1 exemplar(es)
Associated Works
Editing Texts from the Age of Erasmus (Conference on Editorial Problems) (1996) — Contribuinte — 9 cópias
Adaptations of Calvinism in Reformation Europe: Essays in Honour of Brian G. Armstrong (2007) — Contribuinte — 4 cópias
The Execution of Justice in England and A True, Sincere, and Modest Defense of English Catholics (1965) — Editor, algumas edições — 2 cópias
Etiquetado
Conhecimento Comum
- Nome de batismo
- Kingdon, Robert McCune
- Data de nascimento
- 1927-12-29
- Data de falecimento
- 2010-12-03
- Sexo
- male
- Nacionalidade
- USA
- Local de nascimento
- Chicago, Illinois, USA
- Local de falecimento
- Madison, Wisconsin, USA
- Educação
- Columbia University (M.A.|1950|Ph.D|1955)
Oberlin College (B.A.|1949) - Ocupação
- Professor
- Organizações
- University of Wisconsin
Membros
Resenhas
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Estatísticas
- Obras
- 12
- Also by
- 3
- Membros
- 201
- Popularidade
- #109,507
- Avaliação
- 4.0
- Resenhas
- 1
- ISBNs
- 11
- Idiomas
- 1
A Review of Robert M. KingdonâÂÂs Adultery and Divorce in CalvinâÂÂs Geneva
In twenty-first century American society, divorce is no big deal. For almost every marriage that lasts until death, one ends in divorce court. From where did this modern concept of divorce come? In Adultery and Divorce in CalvinâÂÂs Geneva, Robert Kingdon seeks to answer such a question, arguing that the cases he has selected from the records of the Consistory of Geneva illustrate how this institution provided a level of social control over GenevaâÂÂs population, regardless of class and gender. Consequently, he clearly demonstrates that its members not only condemned adultery, but also gradually introduced a modern notion of divorce. He ultimately fails to persuade for several reasons, namely, he makes distracting contradictory claims, he constructs portions of his argument on speculation, and, most importantly, he uses evidence that seemingly conflicts with his assertions of the ConsistoryâÂÂs goals of social and gender equality.
In a âÂÂmicrohistoryâÂ? analysis of selected divorce proceedings in Geneva, Switzerland during the period of John CalvinâÂÂs leadership, Kingdon aims to accomplish two goals. First, he proposes to make a contribution to the history of divorce by examining in varying detail nine adultery cases, most of which culminated with the marriage being resolved by a divorce. His strength is demonstrating how these experiences affected the men and women involved. Second, he hopes to show the importance of early modern institutions of social discipline, in this case, the Consistory of Geneva. To do this, Kingdon relies on a recent transcription of the registers of the Consistory, a project that he has supervised. He hopes his work, which relies almost entirely on these sources, will exhibit the importance of such projects. To that end, he seeks to illuminate the history of divorce and to provide a glimpse at the various ways such bodies of social control operated in this period.
To accomplish these two purposes, Kingdon first provides a brief glimpse at the structure of Genevan society during the Protestant Reformation. A prominent city in Switzerland, Geneva was the home of one of early ProtestantismâÂÂs most influential leaders, John Calvin. This was almost not the case, though. After a brief stint in Geneva, Calvin was run out of town in 1538 âÂÂfor pushing for changes that went beyond those acceptable to the faction then in power.âÂ? As often happens, however, this leadership bloc failed to hold on to their control. Thus, three years later, Calvin was accepted an invitation to return to Geneva with the provision that âÂÂhe must be permitted to do something to establish âÂÂdiscipline,â to control behavior throughout the city, to see to it that Genevans lived a truly Christian life.âÂ? He planned on securing this social discipline by instituting a hierarchical system of local councils. Moving from the bottom to the top, this hierarchy consisted of the General Council, the Council of Two Hundred, the Council of Sixty, and the Small Council. The Small Council had several groups that facilitated their operation. One such group, selected by the Small Council, was the Consistory of Geneva, which included pastors from the cityâÂÂs different parishes and citizen elders. Ideally, such a membership allowed the Consistory not only to provide social discipline over a variety of issues, including those of adultery and divorce, but also to represent all of GenevaâÂÂs social classes.
In cases involving marital differences, especially adultery or requests for divorce, the Consistory conducted an initial inquiry and then made a formal report to the Small Council, which had the final say in such matters. It is to these investigations, recorded in the registries of the Consistory, that Kingdon turns after establishing the context of social discipline in Geneva. He chooses nine specific instances in which adultery was the primary crime of the accused. Though the offense was technically the same, the circumstances in each case varied drastically. Some of the defendants, to use a modern term, were accused of blasphemy or prostitution in addition to adultery. In a few instances, the Small Council surprisingly did not heed the wishes of the townâÂÂs most prestigious citizen, namely, Calvin. In many of the suits, the requested divorce was granted, though only for reasons of adultery or desertion. Other times, the request was denied and marital reconciliation was the verdict. Moreover, Kingdon illustrates the various sentences that could be imposed on the guiltyâÂÂfrom public humiliations to imprisonment to death. Based on these nine lawsuits, he makes it clear that the Consistory always had one goal in mind, that is, to provide social discipline for the entire community. In so doing, they condemned adultery and gradually introduced a modern conception of divorce. In short, Adultery and Divorce in CalvinâÂÂs Geneva compellingly traces the history of divorce in this Protestant city, while also showing the usefulness of sources such as the registries of the Consistory of Geneva.
As interesting as his study is, Kingdon fails to argue his thesis persuasively for several reasons. First, he makes several seemingly contradictory claims. For example, while explaining the institutional matrices of Geneva, he introduces the âÂÂchildren of Geneva,âÂ? a group of citizens that opposed much of CalvinâÂÂs leadership. After being driven from Geneva in 1555, many of these âÂÂchildren of GenevaâÂ? moved to the nearby city of Bern, where they complained about two specific issues. One of these was the power of excommunication wielded by the ConsistoryâÂÂa political issue. Their other grievance, the brand of predestination proclaimed by the Calvinist ministers in Geneva, was theological in nature. Later, however, Kingdon claims that they were not concerned with religious convictions: âÂÂHis [Pierre AmeauxâÂÂa member of this faction] attack on Calvin on religious grounds would not have been shared by most of its members. The main reasons they opposed with increasing vehemence the ReformerâÂÂs growing influence had nothing to do with religion.âÂ? Kingdon continues, âÂÂMost of them were willing to accept without qualification the theology that Calvin had developed.âÂ? It seems as if the theological concept of predestination, the doctrine by which CalvinâÂÂs religious system is most often remembered, is overlooked in this later discussion of the âÂÂchildren of Geneva.âÂ? One wonders how âÂÂthe American expert of CalvinâÂÂs GenevaâÂ? could make such a mistake.
Second, portions of KingdonâÂÂs thesis are constructed on speculation. One example of such speculation occurs in his treatment of the Pierre Ameaux case. Imagining why the marriage of Pierre and Benoite âÂÂturned sour,âÂ? he devotes nearly a page to speculative reconstructing, such as the following: âÂÂThe very real affection that often develops between a husband and a wife after an arranged marriage simply did not develop between Pierre and Benoite. He found her mad. He was deeply hurt that her madness took the form of expressions of affection for other men.âÂ? In the next paragraph, he supposes, âÂÂBenoite, to be sure, did not decide as quickly and decisively as Pierre that their marriage must end. But in the end it became intolerable to her as wellâ¦.In addition she must have wondered whether he had developed any attachment for her children. She clearly felt he could not be trusted to administer for their benefit the substantial properties from her first marriage that he now managed on their behalf.âÂ? While all these claims might be true, KingdonâÂÂs use of the sources does not prove they are. On the contrary, this section appears to be complete speculation. It seems almost as likely that PierreâÂÂs penchant to abuse his wife, also noted in the registry, forced her to look elsewhere for affection. Perhaps he so tormented her mentally that she began to make the blasphemous claims recorded by the Consistory. As the evidence is presented, however, it is difficult, if not impossible, to tell.
Another example of his tendency toward speculation is seen in his examination of the Antoine Calvin and Anne Le Fert case. After the divorce is finalized, Antoine seems to have had trouble with some of their children. âÂÂBut they were so young,âÂ? Kingdon explains, âÂÂthat they must inevitably have been upset and bewildered by the divorce and the abrupt departure of their mother. As they grew older they may well have resented the forceful steps that had been taken to drive their mother away. This is the most obvious explanation for the âÂÂdisobedienceâÂ? of his two sons from his first marriage.âÂ? Armed with this âÂÂobvious explanation,âÂ? Kingdon decries the devastating effects divorce has on children, especially young children. While such claims are likely true, the problem again is that Kingdon does not demonstrate with the evidence that they are true. Instead, he makes a logical leap based on speculation and presentism. While this leap may tend to make his argument seem more convincing, it also shows the limitations of his official sources, which seem to lack a personal quality.
The third flaw in KingdonâÂÂs study is also the most serious one. His evidence seemingly conflicts with his assertion that the ConsistoryâÂÂs goal was social and gender equality. Even though he argues that the Consistory âÂÂconsistently worked toward social equality,âÂ? his examples only consist of men and women from GenevaâÂÂs upper classes. One could reasonably assume that members of the lower classes were also committing adultery. Were they being brought before the Consistory? Were they requesting divorces? If so, where are they in the Consistory records? It is certainly plausible that Kingdon simply chose not to look at cases that primarily involved lower class citizens, though such instances could only strengthen his argument. It seems more likely, however, to surmise that such records do not exist for at least two reasons. On the one hand, lower class citizens were likely unable to afford such litigation. The Consistory, on the other hand, was likely more concerned about the upper classes. Additionally, Kingdon demonstrates that the severity of the crime of adultery was worse when the alleged sexual partner was of a lower social standing than the accused woman, which brings the second weakness of his argument into focus for he also claims that the Consistory âÂÂworked toward equality between the sexes.âÂ? Again, nearly every case he studies betrays this conclusion. In all but one instance, the trial of Jacques Lenepveux, the person accused of adultery is the wife. Under closer investigation, even this case does not really demonstrate equality across gender lines. Lenepveux is accused of adultery, but not by his wifeâÂÂor any other woman for that matter. From the evidence Kingdon presents, it appears that Lenepveux is accused by other men in town. Granted, he does receive the death penalty, illustrating that perhaps the penalties for such offenses crossed gender boundaries. Even this is not clear, though. Lenepveux was a newcomer to Genevan society. The accusations against him arose within a week of his arrival in the city. Did the citizenry, especially the bourgeoisie of which Lenepveux sought to be a part, consider this outsider one of them? If gender is socially constructed, then was he really a âÂÂmanâÂ? in their eyes? Perhaps Kingdon would have been less likely to run to this isolated case as an example of gender equality if he had asked such questions.
In conclusion, Adultery and Divorce in CalvinâÂÂs Geneva seems to fulfill the authorâÂÂs two purposes of writing. It does contribute to a fuller comprehension of the historical development of a modern conception of divorce. It also demonstrates the usefulness of such records as the recently transcribed registries of the Consistory of Geneva. Moreover, it includes several intriguing accounts of life experiences in sixteenth-century Europe. In the end, however, Kingdon fails to argue convincingly that the Consistory of Geneva aimed at social and gender equality as it provided social discipline to GenevaâÂÂs population.
… (mais)