Essay on John Calvin

Submitted By ksrili
Words: 657
Pages: 3

John Calvin was born on July 10, 1509 in the town of Noyon, France. He was most known for developing the Neo-Christian religion called “Calvinism”. Groups that call themselves "Calvinists" agree with the teachings of Calvin including man's salvation by the grace of God to obeying the teachings of Calvin not only in matters of man's salvation but also in matters relating to how people should worship God. Calvin started off as an influential French Pastor, who later left the Catholic Church in the year 1530 after religious tensions against Protestants. In 1536, he published the first edition of Institutes of the Christian Religion. He wrote this as a defense of what he believed in and a statement of the doctrinal position of the reformers. This was the first expression of his theology. In 1537, Calvin was selected to be a pastor, with the assistance of William Farel. For the first time, Calvin did such pastoral duties such as baptisms, weddings, and church services. Calvin and Farel’s reputation began to suffer when they did not follow Council’s order to serve unleavened bread during communion for the Easter Eucharist. They were both ordered to leave the city of Geneva. When they went to plead their case, the incident was blamed on Calvin. Since then, Calvin was invited to lead a church of French refugees, but turned down the offer because Farel would not be part of this. By 1538, Calvin had taken up his new position in Strasbourg expecting it would be permanent and was granted citizenship of the city. Calvin preached and lectured all day with two sermons on Sunday. In August of 1540, Calvin married Idelette de Bure, a widow with two children. The council from Geneva wanted Calvin back with them and so they convinced him to. During his ministry in Geneva, he preached to over two thousand sermons. Idelette, his wife fell ill and died in 1549. Calvin never remarried. Much later in 1553, Michael Servetus appeared in Geneva, who boldly criticized the doctrine of the trinity. Servetus and Calvin were first brought into contact by a common acquaintance and disliked each other almost immediately. Calvin wrote a letter to Farel on February 13, 1547 noting that if Servetus were to come, he would not assure him safe conduct: "for if he came, as far as my authority goes, I would not let him leave alive.” In 1554, Calvin got his wish and Servetus was considered as a heretic and was burnt alive on a pile of his own books. In 1555, Calvin was interested in reforming his homeland, France. He supported the building of churches by distributing