John Calvin: Protestant Reformation

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

There have been many works of literature written over time that would be classified as ‘religious’, but only a portion of these pieces are graced with the approval of the Catholic Church. In 1536, John Calvin published his Institutes of the Christian Religion, which both criticizes and reforms various aspects of the practices that make up the Christian religion. St. Teresa of Avila also published a religious piece in regards to Christian meditation practices in 1588. Rather than reforming the religion, in Interior Castle, St. Teresa illustrates how Christians can reach a final destination of a union with God through seven stages of spiritual development. Although Calvin and St. Teresa have both written religious pieces of literature; Calvin’s

John Calvin was born July 10th, 1509, in Noyon, Picardy. He was raised up in a staunch Roman Catholic family. Early in his life, Calvin’s father was employed by the local bishop as an administrator at the town’s cathedral. With this newly acquired job, John Calvin’s father wanted Calvin to be a priest. Due to the fact that his family had close ties with the bishop and his noble family, Calvin’s classmates in Noyon were aristocratic and culturally influential in his childhood.

John Calvin just like Martin Luther believed in predestination that a person’s fate is determined before his or her birth. He was also a huge figure in the development of Christian theology and Calvinism. Calvin believed in the idea of protestionism and went to convince other people to support his reformation. As Calvin moved on with his idea of Calvinism it affected many countries such as Bohemia, Hungary, the Netherlands, Scotland, England and the thirteen American colonies in America. As he increased his political power he became head of his national church rather than following papacy of the church.

When Calvin arrived in Geneva, William Farel saw in Calvin the leader that Geneva needed “and he urged the young scholar to go no farther but to stay in the city and help establish the work there” (Shelley, 2008, 256) . Calvin's patronage from Geneva helped with the growth and development of the French Protestant movement in the 1550s. Calvin trained French Protestant pastors at the Geneva Academy, and helped to smuggle them back into France to establish and develop local congregations. It was also during this time he wrote Institutes of the Christian Religion, in 1536, that put into words the

The Protestant Reformation was a major 16th century European movement aimed initially at reforming the beliefs and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. The Reformation in western and central Europe officially began in 1517 with Martin Luther and his 95 Theses. This was a debate over the Christian religion. At the time there was a difference in power. Roman Catholicism stands with the Pope as central and appointed by God. Luther’s arguments referred to a direct relationship with God and using the local vernacular to speak to the people. Luther’s arguments remove the absolute power from the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church in general. The revenue from the taxes paid to the Church would be reduced with Luther’s ideas, in part because of

John Calvin was born on July 10, 1509 at Noyon, in Picardy, which is the northern providence of France, located 60 miles northeast of Paris. If you do the math, next July of 2009 the Christendom would celebrate the 500th anniversary of the birth of Calvin, which many Bible conferences around the world are already preparing for next year. Calvin entered the University

John Calvin lived in France during the time of the Protestant Reformation. During this time he signed the manufacture of a Christian hypothesis turned into Calvinism around 1500's. Calvinism is a Protestant theological organization has

John Calvin was born on July 10, 1509 in Noyon, France. In those days the most important man in Noyon was a bishop whom Calvin's father was a secretary to. It was a factor that made his father decided that Calvin would get a religious education. At fourteen his father sent him to the University of Paris to be trained to be a priest by studying theology. He received a thorough conservative training in Catholic faith at this university. His fathers' affairs with the bishop fell out, again playing a part in Calvin's life. His father now felt that law would be more to his liking and he sent Calvin to the University of Orleans and Bourges.

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

In Chapter 17 of Book I of Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion, Calvin expounds upon how when it comes to Calvin’s view of providence, “nothing is more profitable than the knowledge of this

During the Protestant Reformation, there was one man who was in control of it all. Born in Noyon, Picardy, France on July 10, 1509, Jon Calvin was known as the most important figure in the second generation of the Protestant Reformation. Calvin played a huge part in the spread of Protestantism and Christianity throughout Scotland, England and the Netherlands. Although this might have been good for his reputation throughout the Christian community, he did a few questionable things that lead those of other religions to hate him and what he stood for.

John Calvin was a timid man who indeed left an influence on church history during the Age of Reformation. He took on the task of reforming Geneva. Geneva was a city in disorder because of “its recent rejection of the Duke of Savoy and the pope in Rome had left public affairs in shambles, torn by dangerous factions” (Shelley p256). “William Farel had been preaching in Geneva for four years, but Geneva’s Protestantism rested chiefly on political hostility to the bishop, not doctrinal convictions” (Shelley p256). The city of Geneva needed someone to step forward and reshape the city’s religious institutions in reference to biblical law. Farel believed that Calvin was the best figure to take on such a task.

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.

Not everyone in Geneva was quick to adapt to Protestantism and “the condition of the church in Geneva was very unstable and disorganized when Calvin arrived.” Under Calvin’s leadership, “Geneva became a Christian republic on the model set out in his Institutes of the Christian Religion.” He took Luther’s doctrine of salvation to its logical end, he believed that salvation could not be obtained through good works and that salvation was not certain for anybody. He developed the doctrine of predestination, arguing “that God had ordained every man, woman, and child to salvation or damnation – even before the creation of the world.” He believed that God only saved a small group of people, called the “elect.” Some were completely terrified by the idea of predestination, but others were inspired. An exemplary life could be a sign that a person had been chosen for salvation, whether they participated in good works or