John Calvin 's Influence On Church History During The Age Of Reformation

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

This reform was an attempt to defend Calvinism, (predestination) views against the new liberal ideas created by the Enlightens views. .Threatened by the spread of Unitarian ideas, a younger generation attempted to reshape New England Puritanism.

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.

Calvinism is a form of protestant that was formed during the reformation. Weber argues that it is the Calvinist’s beliefs that helped bring about social change and modern capitalism. For example one of Calvinists

In 1536, John Calvin was a French lawyer and theologian who lived in Geneva, Switzerland. He published a book titled Institutes of the Christian Religion. Originally published his work in Latin but subsequently translated into different European languages. The Institutes outlined Calvin’s basic philosophies on “predestination” as a precondition for salvation. Calvin, like many Christian reformers during the Reformation, was most fascinated in discovering the true way to heaven. As he fought to comprehend the word of God, Calvin came to a logical spat regarding salvation. By Calvin’s ideas, since God was

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.

Martin Luther and Jean Calvin were the two of the most influential reformers during the Protestant Reformation. Luther began the Protestant Reformation by nailing his 95 Theses to the Wittenberg Chapel in 1517 in response to the corruption and abuses of the Catholic Church. In Switzerland, Calvin also had new ideas about religion, the main being predestination (the belief that people's fates (whether they go to Heaven or Hell) are predetermined when they are born). Their reforms and ideas definitely laid the foundation for capitalism, free government/democracy, religious tolerance, and individualism, but I do not believe that the reformers (people like Luther and Calvin) had the direct intention of doing these things.

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

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

John Calvin was a lawyer, but he became dedicated to reforming the church. In the 1520s the people of Geneva revolted against their rulers and Calvin was invited to build a Reformed Church of Geneva. He rearranged the organization of the church governing system and the social organization of the church and the city. He organized based entirely on biblical principles. He imposed a strict moral code derived from the scriptures.

German sociologist and historian Max Weber describes this spirit as “that attitude which seeks profit rationally and systematically in the manner which we have illustrated by the example of Benjamin Franklin [i.e. that time is money, credit is money, and money can beget money]” (Weber). Weber goes on to describe the Calvinistic ‘calling’ as a cause of capitalistic spirit, which was essentially a vocation which a Calvinist is called by God to do. The calling is connected to the gifts that God had given each human being for the good of society. Weber also asserts that because of the Calvinist belief in predestination, there was an uncertainty of purpose among Calvinists, as they felt deeply troubled as to whether they would be saved or not and actively sought signs as to what God’s plan for them was. Eventually, these Calvinists sought God’s approval based upon the commercial profit and monetary gain that came as a result of their calling (Weber). It was the hard work which came as a result of this that gave birth to capitalist spirit. Undoubtedly, Calvinistic economic theory had a huge impact on modern forms of capitalism. The Anglican church, while having some effect on the economy of England at the time, had no profound influence on economics outside of the immediate time period. The only event worth noting is the dissolution of the Benedictine monasteries by Henry VIII in 1536. He destroyed the monasteries in

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).

During the period of time that Samuel and his wife begin to follow Miller and his movement, Powers most clearly shows Samuel’s Calvinistic mindset. When arguing over the question of whether or not the Clare’s pursuit of profit was moral, Samuel gives the reader their biggest glimpse into his views related to predestination and God’s gifts to his chosen followers: “If they had been committing some wrong, Samuel assured her, they could not have stayed in the business so long. Prosperity only proved how fully they satisfied the wishes of both God and men” (89). Weber believed that through their pursuit of eternal life, the Calvinists created a business model of hard work and moral superiority, all things that Samuel brings to J. Clare and Sons.

One last thing Calvin is known for is his theology. This is put together in a