John Calvin (1509-1564)

Continental Reformer

Summary

• Born 10 July 1509 in Noyon, Picardie, France.
• 1525-29 - Trained as a humanist lawyer but converted and broke from the Church of Rome in the 1520s.
• 1533 - Fled to Basil, Switzerland after a violent uprising against Protestants in France.
• 1536 published the first edition of his Institutes of the Christian Religion (Institutio Christianae Religionis)
• 1537 - Invited by William Farel to help reform the church in Geneva. The city council resisted their ideas for reform and both were expelled.
• Martin Bucer invited Calvin to Strasbourg where he became minister of a church of French refugees (1538-41)
• 1540 - Married Idelette de Bure
• 1541 - Invited back to Geneva to lead the church, introducing new forms of church government and liturgy, and spent his final years promoting the Reformation both within Geneva and throughout Europe.  In addition to the Institutes he wrote commentaries on most of the books of the Bible.
• 1558 - Final edition of the Institutes published.
• Died 27 May 1564.

Church Society articles on Calvin

Calvin the Theologian. Churchman article by J. I. Packer.

The Theology of John Calvin. Part One: The Christian's Conflict with the World. Churchman article by Adrian Hallett.

The Theology of John Calvin. Part Two: The Christian's Conflict with the Flesh. Churchman article by Adrian Hallett.

The Theology of John Calvin. Part Three: The Christian's Conflict with the Devil. Churchman article by Adrian Hallett.

John Calvin. Churchman article by W. G. Johnson.

Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion. Churchman article by Gervase Duffield.

Calvin the Biblical Expositor. Churchman article by T H L Parker.

A Spiritual Banquet: John Calvin on the Lord's Supper.

Churchman article. Matthew Mason

The Geneva of John Calvin. Churchman article by Philip E. Hughes.

The Universes of Calvin and Hobbes: Towards an Understanding of Calvin's Anthropology and his Political Thought. Churchman article. Stephen Chavura