John Calvin
On the 10th of July 1509, a boy named Jehan Cauvin was born in the town of Noyon within the province of Picardy. His father Gérard Cauvin worked as a cathedral notary and registrar to the ecclesiastical court. The family intended for all three sons to enter the priesthood. Young Calvin showed early promise by age 12 when he became employed by the bishop as a clerk. He received the tonsure which cut his hair to symbolize dedication to the Church. He also won the patronage of an influential family known as the Montmors. Through their assistance he attended the Collège de la Marche in Paris where he learned Latin from Mathurin Cordier. In 1525 or 1526 his father withdrew him from philosophy studies to enroll him at the University of Orléans to study law. Contemporary biographers Theodore Beza and Nicolas Colladon stated that Gérard believed Calvin would earn more money as a lawyer than as a priest. After a few years of quiet study he entered the University of Bourges in 1529. There he studied under Andreas Alciati who was a humanist lawyer.
Calvin described his religious conversion as a sudden change of mind brought about by God. He wrote in his Commentary on the Book of Psalms that God subdued his mind to a teachable frame. This transformation occurred around late 1530 according to scholar T. H. L. Parker. By 1532 Calvin received his licentiate in law and published his first book a commentary on Seneca's De Clementia. During October 1533 tensions rose at the university between reformers and conservative faculty members. One reformer named Nicolas Cop gave an inaugural address on the 1st of November 1533 calling for church renewal. The faculty denounced it as heretical forcing Cop to flee to Basel. Calvin remained on the move sheltering with friend Louis du Tillet in Angoulême. He took refuge in Noyon and Orléans before fleeing France during the Affair of the Placards in mid-October 1534. In January 1535 Calvin joined Cop in Basel where he would publish his first major theological work.
In August 1536 Calvin set off for Strasbourg after being forced out of Geneva. He ministered to 400, 500 members in churches including Saint-Nicolas Church and the Sainte-Madeleine Church. He preached or lectured every day with two sermons on Sunday. Communion was celebrated monthly and congregational singing of psalms was encouraged. Calvin worked on the second edition of Institutes which expanded from six chapters to seventeen by 1539. Friends urged him to marry but he wrote that he did not know if he would ever take a wife. An August wedding date planned for March 1540 never occurred. Instead that same month he married Idelette de Bure who was a widow with two children from her first marriage. On the 28th of July 1542 Idelette gave birth to a son named Jacques who survived only briefly. Idelette fell ill in 1545 and died on the 29th of March 1549. Calvin expressed sorrow in a letter stating she was the best friend of his life.
On the 20th of November 1541 the council of Geneva passed the Ordonnances ecclésiastiques defining four orders of ministerial function. These included pastors to preach doctors to instruct elders to provide discipline and deacons to care for the poor. They also called for creation of the Consistoire an ecclesiastical court composed of elders and ministers. Originally the court had power to mete out sentences with excommunication as its most severe penalty. The government contested this power and on the 19th of March 1543 decided all sentencing would be carried out by the government. Around 1546 uncoordinated forces coalesced into a group Calvin referred to as libertines. Pierre Ameaux a maker of playing cards attacked Calvin calling him a Picard. In February 1552 Ami Perrin became first syndic marking Calvin's lowest point of authority. On the 24th of July 1553 Calvin asked the council to allow him to resign but his request was refused. The libertines controlled the council yet lacked enough power to banish him from the city.
Michael Servetus appeared in Geneva on the 13th of August 1553 as a fugitive from ecclesiastical authorities. He published The Restoration of Christianity which denied original sin and presented a view of the Trinity regarded as heretical by both Catholics and Protestants. Calvin alerted the Inquisition in Spain about this publication leading to an arrest order. Servetus stopped in Geneva visiting d'Espeville where he was recognized and arrested. Calvin's secretary Nicholas de la Fontaine composed a list of accusations submitted before the court. The prosecutor was Philibert Berthelier while sessions were led by Pierre Tissot. On the 20th of October replies from Zurich Basel Bern and Schaffhausen were read condemning Servetus as a heretic. The following day he was sentenced to burning at the stake. On the 27th of October Servetus was burnt alive at the Plateau of Champel at the edge of Geneva. Some scholars claim Calvin and other ministers asked that he be beheaded instead of burnt knowing burning was the only legal recourse.
Calvin developed his theology primarily through Institutes of the Christian Religion which spanned nearly his entire career. The first edition from 1536 consisted of only six chapters. The final edition appeared in 1559 consisting of four books of eighty chapters. Book one covered God the Creator while book two focused on Redeemer in Christ. Book three discussed receiving Grace through Holy Spirit and book four addressed Society of Christ or Church. He argued human wisdom consists of knowledge of God and of ourselves. Calvin wrote For anyone to arrive at God the Creator he needs Scripture as his Guide and Teacher. He defined faith as firm and certain knowledge of God in Christ. Near end of book three he described predestination stating All are not created on equal terms but some are preordained to eternal life others to eternal damnation. He confessed this decree was dreadful indeed yet maintained it remained central to his doctrine.
Calvin favored a combination of democracy and aristocracy known as mixed government. He proposed dividing political power among several institutions like aristocracy lower estates or magistrates in system of checks and balances. State and church were separate though they had to cooperate for benefit of people. Christian magistrates ensured church could fulfill duties in freedom. In extreme cases rulers who rose up against God lost divine right and must be deposed. Calvin thought agriculture and traditional crafts were normal human activities. With regard to trade and financial world he allowed charging modest interest rates on loans unlike Luther who strictly opposed usury. Everybody was obliged to work while loafing and begging were rejected. The idea that economic success was visible sign of God's grace played only minor role in Calvin's thinking. It became more important in later secularized forms of Calvinism starting point of Max Weber theory about rise of capitalism.
After Calvin died on the 27th of May 1564 aged 54 the Geneva city council gradually gained control over areas previously in ecclesiastical domain. By 1585 Geneva had become merely symbol of reform movement rather than its wellspring. Calvin warned against describing him as idol or Geneva as new Jerusalem. His program reached French-speaking provinces of Netherlands where Heidelberg Catechism formulated in 1563. Belgic Confession adopted in first synod of Dutch Reformed Church in 1571. Leading divines settled in England and Scotland including John Knox. During English Civil War Calvinistic Puritans produced Westminster Confession standard for Presbyterians. Reformed ideas quickly adopted in two-thirds of Hungary occupied by Ottoman Empire. A Reformed Constitutional Synod held in 1567 in Debrecen adopted Second Helvetic Confession. Movement continued spread to North America South Africa and Korea establishing distinct character beyond borders of origin.
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Common questions
When and where was John Calvin born?
John Calvin was born on the 10th of July 1509 in the town of Noyon within the province of Picardy. His father Gérard Cauvin worked as a cathedral notary and registrar to the ecclesiastical court.
What caused John Calvin's religious conversion?
John Calvin described his religious conversion as a sudden change of mind brought about by God around late 1530 according to scholar T. H. L. Parker. He wrote that God subdued his mind to a teachable frame during this transformation.
Who did John Calvin marry and when did they wed?
John Calvin married Idelette de Bure who was a widow with two children from her first marriage in March 1540. She died on the 29th of March 1549 after falling ill in 1545.
Why was Michael Servetus executed in Geneva?
Michael Servetus was sentenced to burning at the stake for heresy because he published The Restoration of Christianity which denied original sin and presented a view of the Trinity regarded as heretical by both Catholics and Protestants. He was burnt alive on the 27th of October 1553 at the Plateau of Champel at the edge of Geneva.
How many books and chapters were in the final edition of Institutes of the Christian Religion?
The final edition of Institutes of the Christian Religion appeared in 1559 consisting of four books of eighty chapters. Book one covered God the Creator while book two focused on Redeemer in Christ, book three discussed receiving Grace through Holy Spirit, and book four addressed Society of Christ or Church.