French theologian John Calvin, 1509-1564, was, after
Martin Luther, the guiding spirit of the Protestant
Reformation. If Luther sounded the trumpet for reform, Calvin orchestrated the
score by which the Reformation became a part of Western civilization. Calvin
studied in Paris, probably from 1521 to 1526, where he was introduced to
humanistic scholarship and to appeals for reform of the church. He then studied
law at his father's bidding from about 1525 to 1530. When his father died in
1531, Calvin turned immediately to his first love - study of the classics and
theology. Between 1526 and 1531, he experienced a distinctly Protestant
conversion. "God," he wrote much later, "at last turned my course in another
direction by the secret rein of his providence." Calvin's first published work
was a commentary on Seneca's De Clementia (1532). A profusion of
influential commentaries on books of the Bible followed. His position in France
became precarious when in 1533 his friend Nicholas Cop, rector of the
University of Paris, gave a public address supporting reform.
Eventually
Calvin was forced to flee in 1535 to Basel, Switzerland. There he produced a
small book about his new reformed beliefs. It was designed to offer a brief
summary of essential Christian belief and to defend French Protestants, who
were then undergoing serious persecution, as true heirs of the early church.
This first edition of Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion
(1536) contained only six brief sections. By the last edition (1559), it had
grown to 79 full chapters. The Institutes presents with unmatched clarity a
vision of God in his majesty, of Christ as prophet, priest, and king, of the
Holy Spirit as the giver of faith, of the Bible as the final authority, and of
the church as the holy people of God. Its doctrine of Predestination is
Calvin's deduction from his belief in human sinfulness and God's sovereign
mercy in Christ. After the publication of the Institutes, Calvin fully intended
to devote his life to further study. On a trip to Strasbourg in July 1536,
however, he was forced to detour through Geneva where he hoped to stay only one
night. The fiery Guillaume Farel, who had laboured long for the reform of that
city, had other plans. Threatening Calvin with a curse from God, Farel
persuaded him to remain.
The next 2 years were difficult, Calvin's rigorous
plans for reform of church and city clashing with Geneva's long-standing moral
indifference. In 1538, Calvin and Farel were expelled from the city. Calvin
proceeded to Strasbourg where he spent the most enjoyable years of his life as
pastor of the city's French congregation. While in Strasbourg, Calvin produced
an influential commentary on the Book of Romans, oversaw the preparation of a
liturgy and a psalm book that he would use later in Geneva, and married the
widow Idelette de Bure. When friends of Calvin gained control of the Geneva
council in 1541, they asked him to return, and he reluctantly agreed. During
the next 14 years his reforms met stiff resistance. Some Genevans then, and
many critics later, considered Calvin's morality absurdly severe, with its
banning of plays and its attempt to introduce religious pamphlets and psalm
singing into Geneva's taverns. Others have admired the courage of his
conviction that all of life should glorify God. Finally, the libertines
blundered in 1553 by offering backhanded support to the heretic Michael
Servetus. Servetus was condemned to death by burning, and by 1555 the city
belonged to Calvin.
The Presbyterian church order that he instituted
established a principle of lay involvement that had great impact throughout
Europe. During Calvin's last years, Geneva was home to many religious refugees
who carried away the desire to implement a Genevan reform in their own
countries. His personal letters and published works reached from the British
Isles to the Baltic. The Geneva Academy, founded in 1559, extended the circle
of his influence. His lucid use of French promoted that language much as
Luther's work spread the influence of German. By the time he died, Calvin, in
spite of a reserved personality, had generated profound love among his friends
and intense scorn from his enemies. His influence, which spread throughout the
Western world, was felt especially in Scotland through the work of
John Knox.
Useful
Links
http://www.johncalvin.com/ complete list
of writings
http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/REFORM/CALVIN.HTM
history and links
http://www.ccel.org/c/calvin/ more
writings - library.
http://history.hanover.edu/early/calvin.html
Institutes of Christian Religion
http://www.ccel.org/c/calvin/comment3/comm_index.htm
Calvin's commentaries.
http://www.reformed.org/books/institutes/
Institutes.