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John Calvin: A Life Worth Knowing
David W. Hall
It is
admittedly difficult for most contemporaries to relate to John
Calvin or to his times. He lived a half millennium ago
chronologically (b. 1509), but in terms of experience and culture he
may seem closer to the Paleolithic period than to a coming decade.
Thus, it is understandable that in order for folks to relate to him,
he must be personalized and contextualized. That is a fair challenge
for an author, and this small work seeks to ease that burden and
close that gap. We obviously believe that if we can build such
bridges to the past then this Genevan theologian can serve as a
helpful exemplar for leaders in many different fields.
Europe was a
quilt of various tribes, family alliances, and fiefdoms in Calvin’s
day. The most centralized power was the Roman Catholic Church which
sought to hold Christendom together. The city of Geneva, which
became important as the primary staging area of Calvin’s action, was
not removed from these greater trends. Whether priests or governors
realized it, a Reformation was about to commence in the early
decades of the sixteenth century, and human society would
irrevocably change through the decisive leadership of men like a
once-quaint academic.
Calvin stood at the beginning of modernity, and his ideas and
actions would change history forever. Others—today, though, mainly
forgotten voices—have previously recognized the influence of Calvin. The highly respected nineteenth-century Harvard
historian George Bancroft was one of many who earlier asserted
that Calvin’s ideas
buttressed liberty’s cause. He and others noted the influence of
this thought on the development of various freedoms in Western
Europe and America. Writing in the middle of the nineteenth century, Bancroft
extolled Calvin as “the
foremost of modern republican legislators,” who was responsible for
elevating the culture of Geneva into “the impregnable fortress of
popular liberty, the fertile seed-plot of democracy.” Why, Bancroft even credited the “free
institutions of America” as derived “chiefly from Calvinism through
the medium of Puritanism.” Moreover, he traced the living legacy of
Calvin among the Plymouth pilgrims, the
Huguenot settlers of South Carolina, and the Dutch colonists in
Manhattan, concluding: “He that will not honor the memory and
respect the influence of Calvin knows but little of the origin of American liberty.”
Bancroft
esteemed Calvin as one of
the premier republican pioneers, at one point writing, “The fanatic
for Calvinism was a fanatic for liberty; and, in the moral warfare
for freedom, his creed was his most faithful counselor and his
never-failing support. The Puritans . . . planted . . . the undying
principles of democratic liberty.” During the nineteenth century, fairly widespread appreciation of the
societal impact of Calvin was not limited
solely to American scholars. The world-renowned German historian
Leopold von Ranke, for example, reached
the similar conclusion that “John Calvin was
virtually the founder of America.”
Calvin’s Life
Little is known
about his mother Jeanne la France of Cambrai (due to her early
death), and his father was quite a dominant presence in Calvin’s
early life and education.
John Calvin
was born on July 10, 1509, in Noyon, a small town in Picardy, France, the middle son in a
family with five children—three sons and two daughters. His father,
Gerard, was an administrative assistant in the nearby cathedral
complex, and his mother died when Calvin was
only five. His first biographer, his friend and colleague Professor Theodore
Beza, later described him as “of middle stature, sallow features,
and whose piercing eye and animated looks announced a mind of no
common sagacity.”
Calvin’s father enrolled him in the University of Paris in
1521, intending for him to enter the priesthood. While at that
University, Calvin studied rhetoric, logic and arts—common topics for the day—and
received a classical education. He was also
influenced by the work of the leading Roman Catholic progressive
John Major—a
towering intellect—and Peter of Spain. The major theological assumptions during his education at the
University of Paris included a hearty concurrence with Augustine on
man’s nature, a pessimistic view of humanity flowing from the Fall
and original sin, and rejection of salvation by human merit. According to one historian, “Calvin ’s powers
of reasoning and analysis may be traced to his rigorous training”
under such Parisian masters. He also could not avoid the deluge of
intellectual currents swirling through Paris at the time.
His instruction included training in three classic languages: Latin,
Greek (learned from Melchior Wolmar at Orleans, to whom Calvin dedicated his
commentary on 2 Corinthians), and Hebrew. Calvin’s “humanist” education included enrollments at key education institutions at Paris, Orleans, Bourges, Basle, and familiarization with other learning
centers of the day. He was exposed to the thought of Erasmus, Le Fevre, Wolmar, and Francois Rabelais, a veritable Who’s Who of Western European education for his day. Calvin would later
complete the equivalent of a master’s degree at the University of
Paris, which ranked with or surpassed Cambridge and Oxford at the
time. A free market of new ideas and Protestantism (originally
thought of as “Lutheranism”) surged in Paris while Calvin was a student.
His education was a bold new one that sought to appreciate the
classics of the past and also accorded less reverence to the
traditions of Roman Catholicism. Calvin was a modern scholar who
understood the role of criticism in arriving at truth. His first
published work, a commentary on Seneca’s De Clementia (1532),
affirmed the radical notion that “[T]he prince is not above the
laws, but the laws above the prince.” Later, his published works would concentrate on a wide array of
theological subjects.
Calvin’s father played a dominant role in his early education at
Paris, and Gerard eventually persuaded him to train for the legal
profession, which he considered a surer path to wealth than the
priesthood. Since France was a monarchy, and the king was above the
law, it was too much cognitive dissonance to house a law school in
Paris—as if the king might ever be subject to a constitution; thus,
France’s leading law school was located in Orleans and not Paris.
From 1528 to 1533, Calvin studied law in Bourges and Orleans, a preparation that would assist him in later endeavors, including
laying the foundation for subsequent political ideas. He was later
licensed to practice law, and his legal training ultimately aided
him as he mentored Geneva’s developing republic.
Whether the
guiding hand was his father’s or that of Providence, he was exposed
to the best teachers of the day. His education would serve him well
all his life, and the exposure to master teachers was of great
value.
If it had
been left up to his wishes, John Calvin would have continued to
pursue a comfortable academic career. He did not intend either to
serve as a pastor or to work in Geneva, but God had other plans for
him.
Calvin’s only
autobiographical account of his spiritual
conversion appears in the 1557 Preface to his Commentary on
Psalms. He did not wear his conversion on his sleeve but took many
opportunities to practice what he preached. From Calvin’s own testimony, he rarely saw himself as breaking
new ground, and he described the Book of Psalms as “An Anatomy of
all the parts of the Soul.” No sterile scholastic, as often
maligned, he claimed that “there is not an emotion of which any one
can be conscious that is not here [in the Psalms] represented as in
a mirror.” All the “lurking places” of the heart were illumined in
these devotional poems.
He prefaces
his spiritual testimony by stating his appreciation for other
Reformed teachers of the time, particularly praising Martin Bucer and Wolfgang Musculus.
He was happy to acknowledge his indebtedness to others, once
praising Luther in this fashion: “It was a great
miracle of God that Luther and those who worked with him at the
beginning in restoring the pure truth were able to emerge from it
little by little.” Although Calvin would differ significantly with Luther on several
issues, he retained a lifelong admiration for his work and saw
himself as building on a shared foundation. Calvin stated that, should Doctor Martin call him a devil,
he would “nevertheless hold him in such honor [and] acknowledge him
to be a distinguished servant of God.” While exiled in Strasbourg (1538-1541), Calvin also forged a strong relationship with Luther’s understudy, Philip
Melanchthon.
In his clearest spiritual autobiography, Calvin likened himself to
David, as one who had been taken from a pastoral venue and thrust
into a position of public responsibility. He reviewed for his
readers how his father had destined him for the priesthood, but when
Gerard considered the legal profession more lucrative, he enrolled
young Calvin in legal studies. Calvin reflected on his early
education, noting even there that divine providence was guiding him,
despite his earthly father’s urgings toward law for ignoble reasons.
John Calvin's religious upbringing (he later called it
“superstitious”), was not abandoned easily. Even though he was
plunged into a profound spiritual abyss, according to his own
account, Calvin was found by God, who used a sudden conversion to
“subdue and bring my mind to a teachable frame, which was more
hardened in such matters than might have been expected from one at
my early period in life.” Apparently Calvin continued traditional Roman Catholic practices until
his conversion in 1533-1534.
After this “sudden conversion,” the Parisian student found himself
“inflamed with an intense desire,” and he fervently pursued
Protestant teachings. After a year of diligent study (so intense
perhaps because Protestantism was new and also because Calvin studied under some of the finest teachers in the pristine
movement), he was surprised that numerous people began to treat him
like an expert on these matters. He humbly viewed himself as
unpolished, bashful, retiring, and preferring seclusion. Yet, like
the author of the Psalms, he sensed that he was inevitably being
thrust into the role of a public leader. Instead of successfully
living in scholarly quiescence, all his retreats became public
debating forums. He wrote: “In short, while my one great object was
to live in seclusion without being known, God so led me about
through different turnings and changes that he never permitted me to
rest in any place, until in spite of my natural disposition, he
brought me forth to public notice.”
In the early
Sixteenth Century, Paris had become a hotbed of reform movements
that had been particularly influenced by the Italian reformers
Savanarola and Peter Martyr (see below). However, in the fall of 1533, French
monarch Francis I cracked down on the burgeoning Protestantism,
which was causing considerable commotion in Paris.
The immediate
cause of this crackdown was the installation of Nicholas Cop, a
Protestant sympathizer, to lead the university. Some theorize that
Calvin, perhaps, lent his literary expertise to help
draft Cop’s inaugural address. True or not, Calvin himself believed it necessary to leave Paris
immediately after its delivery. His escape from Paris was none too
soon, as police seized his personal papers within hours of his
departure.
Although not
as dramatic as Luther’s, Calvin's conversion was nonetheless absolute: he left Paris a
committed Protestant in 1533. One recent scholar (Alister McGrath)
emphasizes its suddenness, the term Calvin himself preferred. Calvin severed his relationship entirely with the Roman Catholic Church by
spring 1534. Later he would rendezvous with his mentor Nicholas Cop, the ousted
rector of the University of Paris, in Basle, where both made their
Protestant sympathies public. Much of the 1534-1535 period was
devoted to searching for an environment where the Reformation would
be welcomed. Calvin had contacts with Geneva as early as 1535. While in Basle, he
observed the development of the Reformation, monitoring both the
ongoing debates and the resulting attacks on Protestants. After 1536, Calvin no longer considered
himself a Parisian.
Calvin recounts how he left his native France and wandered in
Germany in search of obscurity (at various times, Calvin had to resort to using aliases, including Charles
d’Es-perville, Martianus Lucanius, Carolus Passelius, Alcuin,
Depercan, and Calpurnius), only to settle temporarily in Basle. It was at Basle that he learned
of numerous deaths of French Protestants burnt alive, which provoked
passionate disapproval from Calvin and the other German-speaking
Protestants, “whose indignation was kindled against such tyranny.”
Calvin developed an
antipathy to state tyranny from an early age.
Calvin wanted to avoid the fray. His own spiritual
pilgrimage indicates that he resolved to devote himself to quiet
scholarly obscurity, until William Farel detained him in Geneva, “not so much by counsel and exhortation as
by a dreadful imprecation, which I felt to be as if God had from
heaven laid his mighty hand upon me to arrest me.” The myths about Farel’s imprecation are numerous. Even
though the exact words are lost, it is clear that Farel applied some
fiery threats to Calvin’s conscience.
Since the direct highway to Strasbourg was dangerous, Calvin sought
another path, intending to spend no more than a single night in
Geneva. He expected Geneva to be relatively safe in 1536, crediting
the partial triumph of Protestantism there largely to Peter Viret—a
fellow reformer who would remain a close friend for years. Although
the conflicts in Geneva were by no means over—“the city was divided
into unholy and dangerous factions”—Calvin nevertheless thought it
safer than the Strasbourg route. While Calvin expected only a short
stay in Geneva, someone conveyed his itinerary to William Farel,
whom Calvin described as burning “with an extraordinary zeal to
advance the gospel.” Farel then “strained every nerve to detain”
Calvin. After Calvin initially rejected Farel’s
summons, Farel resorted to calling down curses on Calvin’s plans for a life of
tranquil academic pursuits. These curses terrorized Calvin to the
point that he acceded to Farel’s demand, despite his natural timidity and reticence.
Thus, Calvin
the reluctant and shy reformer began his work in Geneva with the
unostentatious title of Lecturer on the Holy Scriptures in the
Church of Geneva. That city and the world would not be the same
thereafter.
The psychological self-portrait seen in his commentary on the Psalms
is contrary to the malicious profiles compiled later by biased or
hostile critics. Calvin’s disciple and
eventual biographer, Theodore Beza, noted the following traits of
Calvin : he was modest, temperate, thin (he
normally ate only one daily meal, because of an intestinal ailment),
possessed an astonishing memory, was unusually attentive, and of
clear judgment and counsel. Beza recorded
how he “despised mere eloquence, and was sparing in the use of
words. No theologian of this period wrote more purely. . . . With
regard to his manners, although nature had formed him for gravity,
yet . . . there was no man who was more pleasant.” Moreover, Beza was not surprised that “one endowed with so great and
so many virtues should have had numerous enemies.” His disciple even
had the foresight to deny that Calvin “reigned at Geneva, both in church and state, so as
to supplant the ordinary tribunals”—an
early hint about Calvin's belief in separation
of jurisdictions.
But even with
such a promising beginning, Calvin would learn—as many other leaders
have—that success is seldom easy or rapid. Calvin would soon suffer
a setback that would have terminated lesser leaders, but his
consuming passion for eternal truths kept him persevering. His
genuine spirituality would be needed to sustain him through
difficulties as soon as his short-lived honeymoon in Geneva was
over.
Calvin
settled in Geneva in July 1536. By the fall of 1536, Genevans
initiated their new political culture with a large public debate and
the presentation of a Confession of Faith by Calvin. The four syndics (chief assemblymen) elected in February 1537 were
all Farel sympathizers, and reorganization
progressed steadily until a 1538 electoral backlash.
By this time, the combined powers of certain patrician families,
residual Catholic sympathies, and internal political pressure within
Geneva led to Calvin and Farel’s
exile to Strasbourg. New elections took effect in early 1538 in Geneva, and the new
officials were less zealous for the Reformation; indeed, some openly
opposed the combined efforts of Calvin and
Farel. Following the change of administrations, Calvin and many Genevans
found themselves at odds with certain factions and leaders within
Geneva. Due to the extraordinary infighting among the citizens at
the time, Calvin and Farel (pastoring the churches of St. Pierre and St.
Gervais respectively) declined to offer communion to the feuding
citizenry, lest they heap judgment on themselves. In return, the City Council exiled them for insubordination two days
later, on April 18, 1538—less than two years after Calvin’s arrival. Some leaders would have considered this a crushing blow.
Beza’s biography, however, viewed this exile to Strasbourg as part
of “Divine providence,” enabling Calvin to train for greater
effectiveness while employing his gifts to strengthen another city.
It also allowed for the “overthrowing [of] those seditious persons .
. . to purge the city of Geneva of much pollution.” Accordingly,
“Satan was disappointed” and “saw Calvin received elsewhere, and, as a
substitute for the Genevan Church, another Church forthwith
erected.”
After this initial brush with defeat, Calvin once again
resolved to retreat from the public eye, only later to be urged to
return to Geneva by the esteemed Martin Bucer in tones similar to Farel’s
earlier summons. Calvin's humility, which is often
under appreciated, is evident from many parts of the written record.
He refers in the conclusion of his only autobiographical explanation
of his conversion to his wishing to “avoid[ing] celebrity” while
inexorably being pushed to the fore of “Imperial assemblies, where,
willing or unwilling, I was under the necessity of appearing before
the eyes of many.”
His three years in Strasbourg, however, would be essential for his
future (see below). Calvin's exile ended in 1541 when he
returned to Geneva “contrary to [his] desire and inclination.” What
motivated him to return to the place where he had been so rudely
treated only a few years earlier? “The welfare of this church . . .
lay so near my heart,” he stated, “that for its sake I would not
have hesitated to lay down my life.” Competing with his natural
diffidence, the weight of “solemn and conscientious duty” was
greater than his personal comfort. Still, it was with considerable
grief, tears, anxiety, and distress (not to mention “a remarkable
act of social pragmatism and religious realism”)
that he returned to Geneva.
Calvin's biographer sheds light on his trepidation about returning
to Geneva in 1541. After “the Lord had determined to take pity on
the Church of Geneva,” all four of the anti-Calvin chief elected officials had either been removed,
executed for civil crimes, or condemned. The city “being thus rid of
its filth and froth,” wrote Beza, “began to
long for its Farel and its Calvin.” Beza explained that, since
neither Farel (now in Neuchatel) nor Calvin wanted to return, it took arm-twisting from Zurich
to convince them to return. Beza also noted Calvin’s aversion to conflict and his sense
that his ministry in the Church of Strasbourg was going well as
reasons not to return. Moreover, Martin Bucer and others initially declared that they had great objections to
losing his services in Strasbourg.
One of Calvin’s demands before returning to Geneva in September of
1541 was that a collegial governing body of pastors and church
elders from the area be established. When it came time to replace ineffective centralized structures,
rather than opting for an institution that strengthened his own
hand, this visionary reformer lobbied for decentralized authority
lodged with many officers. He also insisted that the church be free
from political interference—separation of jurisdictions helped to
solidify the integrity of the church, too—and his 1541 Ecclesiastical Ordinances specifically required such a
separation.
These clues
indicate that moving Geneva into the Protestant column did not come
easily, quickly, or without repeated accusations against the
reformers.
Calvin's sojourn in Strasbourg from 1538 to 1541, however, proved
providential, as he later claimed. It was in Strasbourg, a city that
had already traveled further down the path of Reformation than had
Geneva, that Calvin saw the full potential of reformed religion and
politics. Under the powerful example of such leading educators of
the Reformation as Johann Sturm (1507-1589) and Martin Bucer, Calvin received sound
mentoring there. He accompanied Bucer on diplomatic missions, taught
in Sturm's
freshly minted Academy that became a model for
Geneva’s own, and observed a harmonious relationship between church
and state. Calvin also pastored 400-500 French Protestant
refugees. Just prior to returning to Geneva, he became a citizen of Strasbourg
and met a widow, Idelette De Bure, who became his wife. Calvin's only son with Idelette (Jacques, born on July 28,
1542) died in infancy, and he inherited Idelette’s two daughters by
a previous marriage, becoming solely responsible to care for them
after her death in 1549.
When Idelette
died in 1549, Calvin faced an unparalleled grief. His letters to
Farel and Viret reveal both his faith in God and his love for her.
This was a grief observed, and those watching developed admiration.
He paid high tribute to Idelette after her death, extolling her as
one who was an excellent companion either in exile, sorrow, or
death.
In Calvin’s
case, his abiding confidence in the providence of God fueled his
passions even during exile and defeat. By using his time well during
his Strasbourg residency, he not only added to his portfolio of
experience, but he was also used of the Lord in that period. When it
came to an end, he was more prepared—precisely because of this
providential detour—to lead the Reformation from Geneva. Calvin is a
superb historical example of a leader who rose . . . then fell . . .
but he also recovered from his defeats and learned to use the time
as well as he could in the interim.
In 1541, after a three-year absence from Geneva and following the
demise of some of their political opponents, Calvin and
Farel returned triumphantly to Geneva in what one historian called a miracle “beyond human conception.” The chief official of Geneva, "Syndic" Louis Dufour,
delivered an invitation co-signed by all three elected Councils of
Geneva imploring Calvin to return to Geneva; Dufour even traveled to
Strasbourg to woo the exiled Calvin (who, at that time, was participating in a colloquy at Worms). The citizens of Lac Leman urged him to resume his unfinished work,
and the council forwarded moving expenses and an honorarium. In
addition, they promised to pay Calvin a salary
higher than the syndics’ own if he returned! Later, in 1543, they
also provided him with a home near St. Peter’s Church.
Calvin's and Farel’s first priority
upon their re-engagement was the establishment of the protocols in
Calvin’s Ecclesiastical Ordinances, a procedural
manual which prescribed how the area churches would supervise the
morals and teaching of its own pastors without hindrance from any
other authorities. The priority that Calvin assigned to this work
shows how important it was for him that the church be free to carry
out its own affairs, unimpeded by the state. The sovereignty of the
ministerial council (Consistory) "Consistory" to monitor the faith and practice of the church was codified in
these 1541 Ordinances. Obviously, this arrangement marked a
departure from the traditional union of church and state under Roman
Catholic auspices. The Genevan innovation also differed from the
then current practices in Bern and Lausanne, both of which were also
Protestant. With the publication of the Ordinances, “Geneva
created a unique Christian commonwealth whereby church and state
cooperated in preserving religion as the key to their new identity.
Geneva was not the first city to develop a radically Reformed
theology and polity. Much of Calvin's
theological thinking was indebted to his early contact with Martin
Bucer and his residence in Strasbourg.” Strasbourg may have been “the New Jerusalem” and the cradle of the
Reformation’s new understanding on government, but Geneva, with its
innovative reforms and political distillation of Protestant theology
under Calvin’s guidance, would eventually surpass Strasbourg and
become known as the “Protestant Rome.”
Of interest to historians, both sympathetic and unsympathetic to
Calvin, whatever Calvin was doing during this time transformed
Geneva into a visible and bustling forum for economic development.
With a growing intellectual ferment, evidenced by the founding of
Calvin's Academy (See below), and the
presence of modern financial institutions (e.g., the presence of a
Medici bank), Geneva became an ideal center for perfecting and
exporting reform.
Despite the
rise of commerce, however, the story of Calvin’s leadership and
impact on the region was not primarily economic. The translation of
the Reformed faith into practice is witnessed by the creation of
tell-tale social structures that emerged from the leadership of
Farel and Calvin. A
hospital was launched in 1535, and a fund for French refugees (Bourse
Francaise) was established by church deacons in 1541. Calvin's Academy was founded in 1558. Eventually, thousands of refugees (mainly
French, English, and Italian) came to Geneva for shelter; and many
later returned to their own lands with fresh ideas about the
relationship of citizens to government.
Historian
William Naphy views the rise of a
competent class of elders and senators as instrumental in
establishing Calvinism as a lasting political force in Geneva and
Europe. Leading their procession, he writes, “stood Calvin
, a figure increasingly famous throughout Europe; as Calvin increased in importance, Geneva gained
international prominence. This new-found fame may well have aided
Geneva in fending off the intentions of neighbouring states desirous
of controlling the city.” Moreover, as the electoral base stabilized in Geneva after the
1540s, along with solidarity among its church leaders, Calvin was able to expand the role of the Genevan ministers
both at home and abroad. He was also sufficiently popular and
insulated enough from internal opposition to devote the final decade
of his life to implementing his social and political views. The
longevity of Calvin’s influence is decidedly different after the
return from his exile. What made that influence enduring was, to the
surprise of many planners, a private, charitable institution—the
church.
While
Calvin’s work has lasting influence in many sectors, it is important
to recognize an oft-ignored truism about his work: his reforms began
in the church and only then radiated outward. As a leader, Calvin
practiced what he preached. A consistency of ideals, both in church
and state, permeated his thought and action. He was prudent enough
to realize that the best way to reform the culture was an indirect
one, i.e., to first reform the church.
When Calvin returned to St. Peter’s Cathedral in 1541, he
unceremoniously but symbolically resumed his pulpit activity by
expounding the Scriptures at the exact verse where he left off prior
to his exile. Several days earlier, Calvin had
consulted with the Small Council, the real
political powerhouse of the day, and encouraged them to make
important reforms. They were so willing to help him in the
Reformation of Geneva that they not only approved his proposals to
revise the protocols for church order, but they also appointed him
to a committee to design a constitution for the Republic of Geneva. The drafts of the constitution indicate that Calvin paid close attention to the minute details of administrative
matters and municipal functions, and he made some suggestions for
judicial reform. (See “Calvin as Legislator” below for more on
his role in revising the Genevan constitution.) Philip Schaff recorded that he was awarded a cask of old wine as
payment for his efforts in revising the city constitution, and that
“[m]any of his regulations continued in legal force down to the
eighteenth century.” His legal
training at Orleans would prove valuable over the course of his
life. Occasionally, he was thus called on to divert some of his
attention away from church matters in order to assist in this
constitutional role or other civic matters.
One of the procedural safeguards of the 1543 civic reform—a hallmark
of Calvinistic ethos—was that the various branches of local
government (councils) could no longer act unilaterally; henceforth,
at least two councils were required to approve measures before
ratification. This early mechanism, which prevented consolidation of all
governmental power into a single body of leaders, predated
Montesquieu’s separation of powers
"separation of powers" doctrine by two centuries, a Calvinistic
contribution that is not always recognized. The driving rationale
for this was a simple but scriptural idea: even the best of leaders
could think blindly and selfishly, so they needed a format for
mutual correction and accountability. This kind of thinking, already
incorporated into Geneva’s ecclesiastical sphere (imbedded in the
1541 Ecclesiastical Ordinances) and essentially derived from
biblical sources, anticipated many later instances of political
federalism. The structure of Genevan presbyterianism began to
influence Genevan politics; in turn, that also furthered the
separation of powers and provided protection from oligarchy. The
result was a far more open and stable society than previously, and
Calvin’s orientation toward the practical is obvious in these areas.
Recalling once again that this was a pre-information age, it would
also be a challenge to find ways to convey his ideas. The earliest
and broadest method of disseminating Calvin’s thought to those
around him was through preaching, a decidedly oral medium. This
method that would surely be discounted by most cultural critics
today proved to be greatly beneficial to the Reformation. Calvin
spoke to the masses in clear and forceful language, and with
regularity he instructed and reached the leading minds of his day.
Contrary to
the stereotype that Calvin was a dry or uninteresting Puritan, his
sermons actually attracted large and consistent audiences. By the
mid-1550s, one eyewitness reported that most Genevans, “even the
hypocrites,” heard these Calvinistic sermons. Preaching might be thought of as the mass communication of the time,
and Genevans received a considerable portion of their information
from regular sermons. During most of Calvin's tenure, sermons were
preached daily from all four of Geneva’s churches. Stressing
simplicity and clarity, Calvin's preaching was ideally designed to
persuade the masses and to shape their expectations. In one such
exhortation just before a citywide election, Calvin warned about civic
dangers threatening the city and called on the listeners to “think
carefully and to take God as our president and governor in our
elections, and to make our choice with a pure conscience without
regard to anything except the honor and glory of God in the security
and defense of this republic.” His preaching was pervasive, and one of Theodore Beza’s 1561 letters
to William Farel claimed that over one thousand people heard
Calvin's lectures on a
daily basis—quite a mass communication accomplishment for the day.
Calvin worked
at reforming on numerous fronts, though not with a coercive and
dictatorial spirit but by discourse, persuasion, and forceful
rhetoric. One modern study recognizes the role that Calvin’s
preaching played in interpreting his significance. William Naphy
provides examples of how Calvin confronted even the elected
officials in his congregation and concludes that Calvin’s preaching
was at times direct, confrontational, and “politically informed.”
One 1552 sermon so irritated the Council that they inquired just why
it was that he spoke of the Senators and other civil rulers in a
particular sermon as “arguing against God,” “mocking him,”
“rejecting all the Holy Scriptures [to] vomit forth their
blasphemies as supreme decrees,” and as “gargoyle monkeys [who] have
become so proud.” Calvin’s rhetoric was certainly not so academic or technical as to
elude his audience.
Calvin
preached regularly in Geneva and Strasbourg, and his sermons provide
rich amplification of his thought, which might otherwise be
considered arid if his leadership were evaluated apart from these
homilies. The theologian of action was just that: active and
practical but always rooted in theological truth. Thousands
regularly listened to him expound such notions, and Genevans could
scarcely avoid exposure to Calvin’s thoughts. This leader knew the
value of communication that was practical in orientation. One can be
academically correct in many different fields, but if he does not
distill the information for the masses, his work will be less
effective.
Although
Calvin enjoyed preaching extempore, his adherents quickly
realized the value of recording his expositions. In 1549, mainly at
the encouragement of French refugees in Geneva, a recording
secretary was appointed to take down Calvin’s sermons. These
sermons, which were later either lost or sold by the pound for scrap
paper following the French Revolution, eventually yielded 44 volumes
in manuscript form—a prolific achievement considering Calvin had so
many other duties.
During his
final residence in Geneva, Calvin regularly preached expositions in
the three Sunday services. By 1549, these messages were so popular
that they were increased to daily expositions. Calvin’s rotation
allowed him to preach twice on Sunday and every day in alternating
weeks. On average, Calvin thus prepared 20 sermons per month,
normally drawing on New Testament texts on Sunday mornings, Old
Testament texts during the week, and the Psalms on Sunday
afternoons. His fertile mind could not be limited only to writing.
Calvin preached 200 sermons on Deuteronomy, 159 on Job, 110 on 1
Corinthians, and 43 on Galatians—intellectual achievements in their
own right. By these free and spirited orations, the common man was
enlightened and equipped to carry the ideas of reform for a long
time. Optimizing one medium would only inspire him to employ other
means of mass communication as well.
One of
Calvin’s most enduring contributions to society—a contribution that
also secured the longevity of many of the Calvinistic reforms—was
the establishment of the Academy in Geneva. One
explanation for why Calvinism cast such a long-lasting shadow is
that a great leader knows the value of inculcating and spreading the
wealth of truth. Through his Academy, Calvin also succeeded where
others had failed. Worth noting, none of the other major Protestant
Reformers are credited with founding a university that would last
for centuries, even becoming a sought-after property by some
surprising suitors (see below).
Although Genevans had sought for two centuries to establish a
university, initially receiving authorization as early as 1365 from
Pope Charles IV, only after Calvin's settlement did a
college finally succeed. With a history of educational misfires, Calvin's relentless attempt
to establish an Academy in the late 1550s surely drew many skeptics.
By the time of Calvin's arrival, city officials yearned for a
premier educational institution, but most Genevans in 1536 thought
this was a target too ambitious. Regardless of the unsuccessful
starts in education that had occurred between Geneva’s adoption of
the Reformation in 1536 and Calvin's return from his Strasbourg
exile in 1541, it is clear that success in establishing a lasting
university did not occur until Calvin set his
hand to the plow after Geneva became settled in its Protestant
identity in the 1550s. Both his school and its students would
perpetuate the notions expounded in his sermons and writings.
The Academy, which was adjacent to St. Peter’s Cathedral, featured
two levels of curricula: one for the public education of Geneva’s
youth (the college or schola privata) and the other a
seminary to train ministers (schola publica). One should hardly discount the impact that came from the public
education of young people, especially in a day when education was
normally reserved only for aristocratic scions or for members of
Catholic societies. Begun in 1558, with Calvin and Beza chairing the theological faculty, the Academy
building was dedicated on June 5, 1559, with 600 people in
attendance at the dedication in the Cathedral. Calvin collected
money for the school himself, and many expatriates donated to help
its formation. The public school, which had seven grades, enrolled
280 students during its inaugural year, and the Academy’s seminary
expanded to 162 students in just three years. By Calvin's death in 1564, there were 1,200 students in the
college and 300 in the seminary. Both schools, as historians have
observed, were tuition-free and “forerunners of modern public
education.” Few European institutions have seen such rapid growth.
Moreover, the
Academy provided excellent education for internationals. This
Academy always had a large number of immigrant
students. By 1691, French students constituted 40% of the student
body, while French-speaking Swiss were 25%. Only 8.3% of students
were Genevan. Enrollment crested near the time of Beza’s death, with over 60 graduates per year, and then
declined to about 50 per year by 1665 and continually downward to
about 20 per year throughout most of the eighteenth century.
A recent
study points out that many of the French immigrants who supported
the Bourse Francais (see below chapter 14) were also the main
financial contributors to Calvin's Academy. Thus, an immigrant constituency may have had more
lasting impact than previous studies have recognized. In itself, that is also a hint of the mode in which Calvin was happy
to cooperate with others, who were not necessarily long-standing
citizens of Geneva.
To
accommodate the flood of students, the Academy planned to add—in what would become characteristic of the
Calvinistic view of Christian influence in all areas of
life—departments of law and medicine. Henry Baird chronicled that Beza requested prayer for the new medical
department as early as 1567, by which time the law school was
established. Following the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre (1572), Francis Hotman—one
of the leading constitutional lawyers on the continents—taught at the Genevan law school. In addition to him, Denis
Godefroy, who influenced Johannes Althusius, also was on the law
faculty and was one of two Academy professors to become First Syndic
(akin to a mayor) in Geneva while teaching. The presence of these
two legal giants Hotman (from 1573-1578) and Godefroy gave Calvin’s
Academy one of the earliest Swiss legal faculties. The medical
school, attempted shortly after Calvin's death, was not successfully established until the
1700s.
From 1560 onward, the Genevan Academy also doubled as the
ministerial training ground for France and other international
centers. According to William Bouwsma, Calvin's Academy emphasized
the trilingual approach (think “classical” model) fostered by
Erasmus: “Its students were first thoroughly grounded in Latin
grammar and rhetoric by the study of Virgil, Cicero, and other
classical authors, and in the fourth year they began Greek. They
learned history from Livy and Xenophon and dialectic from the
arguments of Cicero rather than from medieval textbooks. . . .
Calvin's ideal for both
pastors and secular rulers resembled Quintilian’s generally educated
orator, the ideal of humanist educators everywhere.” This training prepared numerous students for professional service,
including vocations in law, medicine, politics, and education, as
well as the ministry.
Calvin’s
Academy became the standard bearer for education in all major
fields. Three days each week, professors in Hebrew, Greek, and the
Arts would give two hour-long lectures in a morning and an afternoon
session; the alternating days would have a one-hour lecture. In time, scholars from Paris and Lausanne flocked to this excellent
educational center. Those original students would graduate and lend their hands to
drafting influential confessions of faith, serving as political
advisors in Scotland, Germany, France, Holland, and England, and
teaching at other leading universities. After education at Calvin's Academy, for example, Thomas
Bodley returned to Oxford and established the Bodleian Library,
perhaps the finest research library in the world. His action
followed Calvin’s educational mission.
Moreover, the
Academy exported missionaries. The Genevan church
sent over 100 missionaries to France, Brazil, Italy, Holland, and
England before 1562. Many of these, including pastors from Geneva and Lausanne, went
underground, hid in safe houses, and reappeared in French cities to
minister from time to time. Geneva became an energy source for reform, acting at times like the
best of resistance "resistance" movements. Its influence in
Europe, England and Scotland was enormous.
As intimated in the chapter above on Calvin’s writing career,
publishing was an opportunity to take intellectual property and
convert it into action treatises for international audiences. The
printing industry in Geneva during Calvin's rise to prominence is a
story itself, one that proved crucial for the longevity of Calvin’s
work. One recent study states: “No description of the international
efforts of the Reform can omit to mention the contributions of the
printer and scholar Robert Estienne, the printer and martyrologist
Jean Crespin . . . or for that matter the lifelong and deliberate
use of publication as a weapon on the part of Calvin and Theodore de
Beze.” Robert Estienne printed French editions by
Calvin’s disciples Beza, Hotman, and Viret from Geneva. Jean Crispin, a groomsman at Beza’s secret marriage, published popular devotional material; moreover, a wide array of
educational material was produced for the burgeoning Academy. Bibles and theological texts flew off Genevan printing
presses.
Perhaps the
largest single printing venture of the sixteenth century, Beza’s French translation of the Psalms into metrical
form, went to press in Geneva’s old town. This "Huguenot" Psalter, which became the international songbook
of expansionistic Calvinism, went through numerous editions (27,400 copies were printed in 1562
alone). Stanford Reid notes that to a greater degree than “all the
fine theological reasoning, both the catechism and the Psalter
entered into the very warp and weft of the humblest members’ lives.
For this the credit must largely go to the first pastor of Geneva.”
Hymns and songs powerfully lodged distinct ideas in the popular
mind, especially aided by reading the Bible in the common language
and sermons that were understood by the masses. The singing of these
Psalms afforded these Protestants the occasion to confess their
beliefs, and some anti-Protestants even went so far as to view the
singing of Psalms as a subversive act "resistance" !
The ability to defend the views of Calvin rapidly in print
magnified the lasting impact of his thought. The number of books published in Geneva rose from three volumes in 1536 to 28 in 1554 and to 48 by 1561. The number
of volumes printed in Geneva the five years prior to his death was a
stunning average of 38 volumes per year (a ten-fold increase in 25
years). The average dropped to 20 per year after his death. By 1563, there were at least 34 presses, many manned by immigrants. Shortly after Calvin's death, one contemporary
wrote: “The printed works flooding into the country could not be
stopped by legal prohibition. The more edicts issued by the courts,
the more the booklets and papers increased.”
The content
of publications in Calvin’s day was also taken seriously, and
efforts were made to ensure that truth was committed to ink. In
1560, a commission on printing was established to coordinate the
efforts of the various publishers within Geneva’s walls. This
three-member commission included Beza and
Jean Bude. The area ministerial association (the Company of Pastors)
"Company of Pastors" had a strong voice in what was printed, and
every manuscript published in Geneva first had to survive Beza’s scrutiny. Not unpredictably, of the 48 Genevan publications in 1561, thirteen
were by Calvin, seven by Beza, and five by Viret. Of the 36 works
published in 1562, over one-third (thirteen) were by Calvin. This leader’s ideas thus received a literary microphone.
Geneva also
developed an extensive and efficient literary distribution system. A
childhood friend of Calvin , Laurent de
Normandie (who later became mayor of Noyon), developed a network of
distributors who took Genevan Calvinist publications into France and
other parts of Europe. Many of the books were designed to be small
for quick hiding, if need be, within clothing. Thousands of contraband books were spread throughout Europe during
Calvin's time, and several distributors of
literature became Protestant martyrs.
So successful was Calvin’s city at spreading the message that all
books printed in Geneva were banned in France beginning in 1551.
Calvin's Institutes (along with at least nine of his
other writings) had been officially banned in France since 1542, but
that could not halt the circulation of his books. As a result,
Geneva was identified as a subversive center because of its
publishing; and the 1551 Edict of Chateaubriand forbade, among other
things, importing or circulating Genevan books. Distributing such works for sale could incur secular punishment.
However, many books still filtered across porous European borders.
Some shrewd printers, unwilling to be thwarted by state censorship,
cleverly responded by employing typeset fonts that were commonly
used by French printers and published under fictitious addresses. This new medium and its energized distribution pipeline allowed
Calvin's message to transcend Geneva’s
geographical limitations.
Silk, wine,
books, and political and religious ideas became the main exports of
Geneva as a result of Calvin’s action. Ultimately, thousands of
refugees fled to Geneva, a city that was becoming an international
host for freedom of movement, publishing, assembly, and ideas.
Moreover, once Geneva’s democratic transformation was completed, she
did not turn back.
The final
five years of Calvin’s life were gratifying, especially when
contrasted with the valiant struggles in his early years. In the
1560s, he was permitted to watch the establishment and growth of the
Academy, the astronomical rise in publishing, pastors being trained
and sent into various locales, the stabilization of the city of
Geneva, and the maturation of the church’s presbytery. In addition,
he began to be a sought-after advisor, and his work would outlast
him.
The final
years of his life were also characterized by chronic physical
illness and an almost compulsive drive to write as much as possible.
The final edition of the Institutes was completed in 1559,
and most of Calvin’s writings in his final five years were
commentaries on biblical books and treatises on particular topics.
As his life’s curtain began to drop, the continuation of his work
would have the support of well-conceived measures in Geneva and
wisely-selected and trained disciples. Calvin had succeeded as much
as any other person to that point in history in finding ways to
establish and multiply the ideas that fired the soul.
Indeed, his
own personal motto, “Here, Lord, I present my heart promptly and
sincerely,” with an icon of a heart aflame, was apt. His burning
passion could not be extinguished, and his theology of action—once
committed to writing—reached more people after his death than it did
at the zenith of his popularity. His ideas were multiplied.
On April 25, 1564, sensing the nearness of death, Calvin filed his final will. In it he pled his unworthiness (“Woe is
me; my ardor and zeal have been so careless and languid, that I
confess I have failed innumerable times”)
and thanked God for mercy. He appointed his brother, Anthony (whose
reputation for divorcing an earlier wife due to adultery had been
maliciously used to malign Calvin himself), to be his heir, and in
his will he bequeathed equal amounts to the Boys’ School, the poor
refugees, and his stepdaughters. He also left part of his meager
estate to his nephews and their children. To vindicate Calvin
against charges of greed, Beza reiterated what Calvin had stated earlier: “If some will not be persuaded while I am
alive, my death, at all events will show that I have not been a
money-making man.” When his will was notarized and brought to the attention of the
Senate, members of that council visited the declining Calvin to hear his final farewell personally.
Calvin's importance and relationship to the city leaders
may be gleaned from his Farewell Address to the Members of the Little Council. The members of this council had gone to his home to hear his advice
and to express their appreciation for the “services he has performed
for the Seigneurie and for that of which he has faithfully acquitted
himself in his duty.” A contemporary recorded his sentiments from
April 27, 1564. In that chronicle, the dying Calvin first thanked
these leaders for their support, cooperation, and friendship.
Although they had engaged in numerous struggles, still their
relationship was cordial. Even though he wished to accomplish more,
Calvin humbly suggested that God might
have “used him in the little he did.” He urged the senators to honor
God and to keep “hidden under the wings of God in whom all our
confidence must be. And as much as we are hanging by a thread,
nevertheless he will continue, as in the past, to keep us as we have
already experienced that he saved us in several ways.”
He concluded by encouraging each one to “walk according to his
station and use faithfully that which God gave him in order to
uphold this Republic. Regarding civil or criminal trials, one should
reject all favor, hate, errors, commendations.” He also advised
leaders not to aspire to privilege as if rank was a benefit for
governors. “And if one is tempted to deviate from this,” Calvin added, “one should resist and
be constant, considering the One who established us, asking him to
conduct us by his Holy Spirit, and he will not desert us.”
Calvin's farewell to these political leaders was followed
by his Farewell Address to
the Ministers on April 28, 1564. From
his chamber, Calvin reminded them poignantly: “When I first came to
this Church there was almost nothing. We preached and that was all.
We searched out idols and burned them, but there was no reformation.
Everything was in tumult. . . . I lived here through marvelous
battles. I was welcomed with mockery one evening in front of my door
by 50 or 60 rifle shots. Do you think that that could disturb a
poor, timid student as I am, and as I have always been, I confess?”
The farewell address continued to review his Strasbourg exile, the
tensions he faced upon return, and some of his experiences with
various councils. Calvin concluded by predicting that the battles would not lessen in the days
ahead, warning, “You will be busy after God takes me, even though I
am nothing, still I know I prevented three thousand uproars that
there might have been in Geneva. But take courage and strengthen
yourselves, for God will use this Church and will maintain her, and
be sure that God will keep her.”
Calvin humbly
confessed: “I say again that all that I did has no value, and that I
am a miserable creature. But if I could say what I truly wanted to,
that my vices always displeased me, and that the root of the fear of
God was in my heart, and you can say that what I was subjected to
was good, and I pray that you would forgive me of the bad, but if
there is anything good, that you conform yourselves to it and follow
it.”
He denied that he had
written hateful things about others, and he confirmed that the
pastors had elected Beza to be his successor. “Watch
that you help him [Beza],” exhorted the dying Calvin, “for the duty
is large and troublesome, of such a sort that he may be overwhelmed
under the burden. . . . As for him, I know that he has a good will
and will do what he can.” Further, he requested that senators not
change anything in Geneva’s structures and urged them “not to
innovate—we often ask for novelties—not that I desire for myself by
ambition what mine remains, and that we retain it without wanting
better, but because all change is hazardous, and sometimes harmful.”
The advice from this leader is filled with layer upon layer of
wisdom.
Always sensitive to the
calling to lead in many sectors of public life, he concluded with a
plea for his fellow ministers to recall how they would affect
matters outside the walls of the church, too: “Let each one consider
the obligation he has, not only to this Church, but to the city,
which has promised to serve in adversity as well as in prosperity,
and likewise each one should continue in his vocation and not try to
leave it or not practice it. For when one hides to escape the duty,
he will say that he has neither thought about it nor sought this or
that. But one should consider the obligation he has here before
God.”
When Calvin passed away
almost a month after making these comments on May 27, 1564, “the
whole State regretted” the death of “its wisest citizen . . . a
common parent.” He was interred in a common cemetery at Plein
Palais, finally finding the anonymity he craved. That, one historian
wrote, was characteristic of Calvin in life as in death. The widespread notice and sadness at his death should serve to
correct any faulty view that his contemporaries either despised him
or underestimated his importance. He was mourned, and his large
number of friends would keep his memory alive far more than
contemporaries would have predicted.
Chronology for John Calvin
1509 Born in Noyon (July 10)
1521 Enrolled in the College
de Montiagu in Paris
1528-33 Studied law in Bourges and
Orleans
1532 Published De Clementia (first book, a commentary on Seneca)
1533-34 Experienced a sudden
conversion; fled Paris
1534 Resigned his Roman Catholic
Chaplaincy
1534-35 Resided in Basle
1536 Composed first edition of The Institutes of the Christian Religion (March)
1536 Arrived (July) and settled
in Geneva as Pastor
1538-41 Exiled to Strasbourg (April);
pastored Protestant exiles there
1540 Married Idelette de Bure
1541 Returned to Geneva
(September 13); drafted his Ecclesiastical Ordinances
1542 Appointed to a committee to
revise the Genevan Edicts
1542 Birth of Calvin’s son (July
28), Jacques, who lived only two weeks
1542 Published “The Form of
Church Prayers,” an early Reformed liturgy
1543 Received a home near St.
Peter’s from Genevan civic leaders
1543 Published The Bondage
and Liberation of the Will; On the Necessity for Reforming the
Church
1544 Published a Brief
Instruction . . . Against the Anabaptists
1549 Death of Idelette de Bure;
Theodore Beza relocated to Geneva
1550 Published Concerning
Scandals
1558 Founded the Academy of
Geneva (dedication service in June 1559)
1559 Revised and completed final
edition of The Institutes of the Christian Religion
1564 Death of Calvin (May 27)
The above is
excerpted from David W. Hall
A Heart Promptly
Offered:
The Revolutionary Leadership of John Calvin (Cumberland House, 2006).
Click here for a link to purchase the book
Beza idiosyncratically dates his birth at July
27, 1509. See Theodore Beza, Life of John Calvin (contained in John
Calvin , Tracts and Treatises on the
Reformation of the Church [Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans,
1958]), vol. 1, lvii.
Alister McGrath, A Life of John Calvin ( Cambridge,
MA: Basil Blackwell Ltd., 1990), 34. For a recent evaluation
of the place of Calvin, see also Alister McGrath, “Calvin and the Christian
Calling,” First Things 94 (June/July 1999): 31-35.
Beza called
Calvin's
teacher at Orleans, Peter de L’Etoile, “the keenest
jurisconsult of all the doctors of France.” Cited in Douglas
Kelly, The
Emergence of Liberty in the Modern World (Phillipsburg,
NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, 1992), 8.
All citations from Calvin's self-testimony
about his spiritual conversion are taken from Calvin's Commentaries, vol.
4 (rpr. Grand Rapid: Baker Book House, 1979).
Still,
Calvin was more private than Luther, less colorful, in general timid about
autobiography, and there are certainly gaps in our knowledge
about him.
Alister
McGrath, A Life of John Calvin, 73.
Theodore Beza, Life of John Calvin (contained in John Calvin, Tracts and Treatises on the Reformation
of the Church [Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1958], vol.
1), cxxxvi.
Theodore Beza , Life of John
Calvin, cxxxviii.
Henri
Heyer, Guillaume Farel:
An Introduction to His Theology, Blair Reynolds, trans. (Lewiston, NY: The Edwin Mellen
Press, 1990), 59.
Henri
Heyer, Guillaume Farel:
An Introduction to His Theology, 60.
Ronald
S. Wallace, Calvin, Geneva and the Reformation (Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press, 1988), 41.
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