Calvin09

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John Calvin was born in 1509 in Picardy in northern France. He was born into a loyal Roman Catholic faith. When Calvin was 14 he went to Paris to study at the College de Marche in preparation for university study. His studies consisted of seven subjects: grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music. The end of 1523 Calvin transferred to the more famous College Montaigu. While in Paris he changed his name to its Latin form, Ioannis Calvinus, which in French became Jean Calvin. Calvin was raised very Roman catholic but many reform minded friends jeopardized his ideas. In 1528 he moved to Orleans to study civil law. He returned to Paris to study Greek and Hebrew. By 1530 John Calvin was converted into a protestant. From this time forward his influence became dominant, and all who had accepted the Reformed doctrines in France turned to him for counsel and instruction, Calvin moved to Basel, Switzerland, where he was welcomed by the group of scholars and theologians. When Calvin was 28, he moved again, to Geneva, Switzerland, and he stayed in Geneva, with the exception of a brief trip, for the rest of his life. John Calvin and his associates started many theological schools across Geneva. Calvin met and married, in August 1540, Idelette de Bure, the widow of Jean Stordeur of Liege, whom Calvin had converted from Anabaptism. John Calvin had a huge impact on reformation and Calvinism. Calvin’s wrote //__Institutes of the Christian Religion.__// Perhaps the most famous widely read theological book ever. The book mainly concerns the knowledge of God the creator. Calvin is also acknowledged for the idea(s) about predestination. Calvin built his reformed church on the concept that salvation was not a choice, but was rather pre-decided by God from the beginning of time. This means that individuals were " elected " for salvation by God; this "elect" would form the population of the Calvinist church. Calvin came down with fever, asthma, and gout. On the 6th of February, 1564 John Calvin preached his last sermon, having with great difficulty found breath enough to carry him through it. He was carried several times to church, but never again was able to take any part in the service. He refused to receive his stipend, now that he was no longer able to discharge the duties of his office. On the 27th of May 1564, John Calvin died. Overall John Calvin was a supreme impact on the reformation of the Catholic Church.


 * "John Calvin** was a French theologian and reformer whose ideas heavily influenced the theology and governance of the Protestant churches in England, SCOTLAND, FRANCE, and the NETHERLANDS."


 * Born in 1509 in Picardy in northern France.
 * Died in Geneva in 1564.
 * Calvin studied theology in Paris and law in Orleans before returning to Paris in 1531 to study Greek and Hebrew.Calvin studied theology in Paris and law in Orleans before returning to Paris in 1531 to study Greek and Hebrew
 * He converted to PROTESTANTISM by 1530.( "God subdued my soul to docility by a sudden conversion" was how Calvin described this experience.) By 1534 he was the leading figure in the French protastant Community.

"Calvin, John (1509-1564)." __Historical Dictionary of the Elizabethan World.__ Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1999. __History Study Center__. ProQuest LLC. 14 Sept. 2009 [].

Calvin's Fundemental Ideas.

"Calvin based his system upon the Apostles' Creed, and followed its lines. Ethics and theology were handled in the closest connection. His reformation in theology was preeminently a practical affair. Even the doctrine of predestination was developed, not as a speculation, but as a matter of practical concern. By the extraordinary emphasis put upon it, the Genevans were taught to consider it almost the cornerstone of the Christian faith. In opposition to the lax views of sin and grace which the Roman Church inculcated, he revived the Augustinian doctrine in order by it to conquer Rome. In so doing he was one with Zwingli, Œcolampadius, Luther, and Melanchthon. But in his supralapsarian views he stood alone among the Reformers. His views of ecclesiastical authority and discipline are also important. He allowed to the Church a greater authority than any other Reformer. Here, again, the influence of Augustine is seen. He says, "The Church is our mother" ("Institutes," IV. i. 1). Outside of the Church there is no salvation. Her ministry is divinely instituted, and to it believers are bound to pay deference. Her authority is absolute in matters of doctrine; but, when civil cases arise, she hands the offenders over to the State for punishment. State and Church have, therefore, separate and exclusive jurisdiction; yet they exist side by side, and cooperate. They mutually support each other. The ideal government embraced a democracy, an aristocracy, and a king or autocrat. Calvin taught obedience to the powers that be. In this scheme he had in mind the Israelites. He aimed at a theocracy. He bowed before the majesty of the righteous Judge. His fear of God led him to unquestioning submission. In a sense it was his very breath; and so in his system justice is more prominent than love. God as the ruler, rather than as the lover of all in Christ, was the object of his reverence. "

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" In 1537 the city fathers in Geneva elected Calvin to the preaching office. A council operating as the government soon banned Catholicism and all immoral behavior. In 1538 a combination of Libertines (freedom lovers) and Catholics, opposed to the new rules, took control of the council. Calvin was banished and went to Strasbourg, France, where he married Idelette de Bure in 1540. Their only child died in infancy. Things went badly in Geneva after Calvin left. Disgusted with the behavior of the people, the council asked Calvin to return in 1541, promising total cooperation in restoring order. " "Back in Geneva, Calvin went right to work organizing the Reformed church. In 1542 the council approved his new regulations. The ministry was divided into pastors, teachers, lay (nonreligious) elders, and deacons. The pastors governed the Church, and their permission was required to preach in Geneva. To control public behavior, an elected group of pastors and elders were given the right to search people's homes; to banish anyone from the city; to force attendance at weekly sermons; and to ban gambling, drinking, dancing, and immodest dress. Criticism of Calvin or other church officials was forbidden, as were immoral writings and books about Catholicism. Punishment for first offenses was usually a fine. Repeat offenders were banished, and extreme offenses carried the death penalty. From 1541 until Calvin's death fifty-eight people were executed and seventy-six were banished in order to preserve morals and order."

The last years of Calvin's life were spent in elaborating Geneva's laws, writing controversial works against spiritual enemies, and laboring prodigiously on the theology of the //Institutes.// Geneva became a model of discipline, order and cleanliness, the admiration of all who visited there.


 * //__The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, Philip Schaff Vol. II.__//**

The extension of Calvinism to all spheres of human activity was extremely important to a world emerging from an agrarian, medieval economy into a commercial, industrial era. Unlike Luther, who desired a return to primitive simplicity, Calvin accepted the newborn capitalism and encouraged trade and production, at the same time opposing the abuses of exploitation and self-indulgence. Industrialization was stimulated by the concepts of thrift, industry, sobriety, and responsibility that Calvin preached as essential to the achievement of the reign of God on earth. The influence of Calvinism spread throughout the entire Western world, realizing its purest forms through the work of John Knox in Scotland and through the clergymen and laymen of the civil war period in England and the Puritan moralists in New England.