John Calvin

The Protestant Reformation was a pivotal time of European history that occurred during the 16th century. The Protestant Reformation was comprised of people called “reformers” that challenged papal authority and questioned the Catholic Church’s ability to define Christian practice (“The Reformation”). The Protestant Reformation was revolutionary due to the fact that the reformers preached against everything the Catholic Church had been teaching. Some famous reformers are John Calvin and Martin Luther. However, Martin Luther-- to some--- is named the most successful and influential reformer of the 16th century. Martin Luther was tremendously effective and influential due to how resourceful he was, and his teachings spread across Europe swiftly.

The Protestant Reformation began during the Renaissance time period, it was the attempt to reform the Roman Catholic church. It led to the creation of Protestant churches. This reformation began after multiple church leaders started demanding individuals to supply them with such large quantities of goods, food, and money that individuals did not have much left to provide to their own family. Several believed if they did not contribute and present the church with what they asked, they would be denied entrance to heaven once they passed away. People saw how the church thrived while those who contributed were ravenous and penniless. Martin Luther, a monk, noticed several inaccuracies between what the Roman Catholic Church practiced and the Bible as he studied the Bible. He decided to speak out by creating the 95 Theses, and nailing it on the entrance of a catholic church. Protestants who had similar view as Luther’s began Luther-ism. John Calvin, had very similar views as Luther and was even inspired by him to reform the Catholic Church as well. I most admire Martin Luther because of how he spoke up and protested against the Roman Catholic church when he knew it could put him in danger, but I am most similar to John Calvin because of how he believes in predestination and how faith is revealed by living a righteous life.

Calvin answered these objections in two ways. First, he conserved that God’s will was the “highest rule of righteousness,” and therefore anything that God wills—such as predestination—“must be considered righteous,” or just, irrespective of how it appeared to us. For Calvin, God’s will had “its own equity. Here Calvin upheld the justice of God but asserted that it was simply “unknown” to us on some level. Thus, God’s justice was eventually hidden and mysterious. With Paul (Rom. 9.20), Calvin affirmed that it was simply not our place to question God. He rejected that God was lawless, and also rejected that God had must given us an account of his justice, or that we were fit to “pronounce judgment [on God]…according to our own understanding. It was absurd to accuse God because of our own lack of understanding. Since predestination yields the glory of God, it must be just: “whatever deserves praise must be just. Calvin’s second response was that since all people, including the sinner, are “vitiated by sin,” and so

1.John Calvin- Martin Luther’s follower as a Protestant theologian, and the biggest figure in the second generation of the Protestant Reformation.

John Calvin, a Genevan, modified Martin Luther’s ideas of the Reformation to create the faith of Calvinism, and later wrote the Latin tome Institutes of the Christian Religion in 1536.

John Calvin of Geneva: religious leader that elaborated Luther’s ideas and founded Calvinism (dominant ideo. of New England Puritans)

John Calvin: Believed a reformation was needed so much he had ideas that affected the New World’s future

A famous American business man named Donald Trump once said, “You have to think anyway, so why not think big?”, and that’s exactly what Protestant Reformation leader John Calvin did. The Protestant Reformation era was a remarkable time in Christianity from big thinkers. These people were greatly involved in the Protestant Reformation, and Calvin was one of them. John Calvin was a leader because he was willing to make difficult decisions, motivated others, and impacted history.

John Calvin was a famous Theologian that was involved in an active role of the Reformation. He published a work that contained many of his teachings while trying to escape the uprising of the French protestants. During the Reformation, he studied by reading scriptures to gain more knowledge of God and his ways. He was able to publish more commentaries of different books of the Bible from studying and learning more information that could help others. He stated that God has a plan for all people, and that anyone who preached his name would be saved.

Calvin was able to accumulate, record a new doctrine, and piece together a tangible theology for what became the new defining faith within Europe; his personal branch of Protestantism, Calvinism. According to the text, “no reformer prior to to Calvin had expounded on the doctrines, organization's, history, and practices of Christianity in such a systematic, logical, and coherent manner” (Hunt, Martin, Rosenwein, Smith 453). Calvinism focuses on five main ideologies; total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and perseverance of the saints. However, probably the most controversial doctrine Calvin introduced was predestination; “Calvin argued that God had ordained every man, woman, and child to salvation or damnation, even before the creation.

John Calvin, the founder of Calvinism, believed in absolute dominance of God in salvation of the human soul from death and eternal sentence. He wrote many commentaries on most books in the Bible and created a lot of controversy. Calvin helped reform the church in Geneva. His spent his final years promoting reformation throughout

At an early age, John Calvin found his calling to God to the chagrin of his father, who wanted him to be a lawyer. This calling to God helped Calvin bring about changes to the church. Even though Calvin traveled to some isolated spots in Europe preaching his sermons, the changes occurred all throughout Europe and then into the Americas. All these changes began humbly in France in the early 1500's.

Martin Luther and John Calvin were both leaders in the Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther was a monk, or priest, in the Augustinian friars’ order and his ideals were that Catholicism were corrupting the New Testament beliefs and people were saved by faith alone not by buying their way into heaven. John Calvin studied law “but in 1533 he experienced a religious crisis, as a result of which he converted from Catholicism to Protestantism. Calvin believed that God had specifically selected him to reform the church” (McKay et al., 2015, pg. 448). “The cornerstone of Calvin’s theology was his belief in the absolute sovereignty and omnipotence of God and the total weakness of humanity” (McKay et al., 2015, pg. 448).

had such a big influence in the time which he lived from 1509 to 1564. John Calvin

Although Martin Luther impacts history greatly, people must remember what role John Calvin has to offer as well. Born in France in 1509, John Calvin is raised as a Roman Catholic by his family. His family is so devoted to the Roman Catholic Church that his dad aspires for his son to become a priest (John Calvin- Calvin College 1). John Calvin later reads Luther’s works and converts to the ‘faith of the Reformation.’ He strongly believes that salvation is achieved through faith and predestination (Cowie 44). In 1537, John Calvin publishes, Institutes of the Christian Religion. In this book, John Calvin states his beliefs on Christianity. He proposes that God has been veiled by the devotion of the people to the Virgin Mary and the saints. He also insists in his book that predestination is how God determines who goes to hell and who goes to heaven. John Calvin writes, “We call predestination, God’s eternal degree, by which He determined that He willed to become of each man.