Question: “Who invented dancing?”

Answer:  “The devil.”

The question was asked by the Rick Heil, lead singer in the band “SonicFlood.”  He told the story at the concert that followed the Crawdads game last Sunday night.  (Linda and I attended the game and the concert with her Sunday School class.)

Rick was introducing a song, “Lord of the Dance,” and he wanted to say that God invented dancing.  But he said that in a previous concert when he asked the question, a girl shouted out, “The devil.”

Where did the idea of dancing as evil come from?  According to Herman Selderhuis’ John Calvin: A Pilgrim’s Life, it may have come from John Calvin.  Calvin banned dancing in Geneva because the way people touch each other when they dance can lead to adultery.  Calvin was right about the potential for sexual attraction being aroused or enhanced on the dance floor, but he failed to take into consideration that banning dancing would only make it more alluring for many.

None of that, however, is the main point of this column.  The point is that categorizing dancing as wrong (in some Christian circles) is just one of the ways John Calvin’s influence has lasted five centuries.  He also banned card playing, and prohibited restaurants in Geneva from opening on Sundays.  (He wasn’t, however, opposed to moderate consumption of wine and beer.)

Calvin’s influence far exceeds the “don’ts.”  Here’s a partial list of ways in which Selderhuis says John Calvin shaped Protestant culture: giving thanks before every meal, Wednesday prayer meetings, monthly communion, local church autonomy, election of pastors by the congregation, and marriage counseling. 

In the Reformed church tradition, Calvin’s influence includes home visitation by pastors, home communion for those unable to attend church, preaching through books of the Bible, Scripture-centered worship, biblically-based hymns, Protestant catechism and confirmation,  and the shared leadership of pastors, elders, and deacons in a body called the Consistory.

But Calvin’s most widespread influence on today’s world may be his contribution to democracy.  Democracy was hardly common or favorably viewed in the sixteenth century.  Calvin does not get sole credit, nor did he fully develop what we know as democracy.  But the seeds of concepts like trusting the people to select their leaders and separating church and state can certainly be found in Calvin’s Geneva.

You may like or dislike Calvin, but you owe much of how you live your life to his legacy.