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JOHN CALVIN : LIFE, LEGACY AND THEOLOGY -<br />
PROF. M. M. NINAN<br />
true Church. <strong>Calvin</strong>'s recognition of the need to adapt to local conditions became an important<br />
characteristic of the reformation movement as it spread across Europe.<br />
Due to <strong>Calvin</strong>'s missionary work in France, his programme of reform eventually reached the<br />
French-speaking provinces of the Netherl<strong>and</strong>s. <strong>Calvin</strong>ism was adopted in the Electorate of the<br />
Palatinate under Frederick III, which led to the formulation of the Heidelberg Catechism in 1563.<br />
(https://www.urcna.org/1651/file_retrieve/23908)<br />
Federick III Elector Palatine<br />
Frederick III of Simmern, the Pious, Elector Palatine of the Rhine (February 14, 1515 – October 26,<br />
1576) was a ruler from the house of Wittelsbach, branch Palatinate-Simmern-Sponheim. He was a<br />
son of <strong>John</strong> II of Simmern <strong>and</strong> inherited the Palatinate from the childless Elector Otto-Henry, Elector<br />
Palatine (Ottheinrich) in 1559. He was a devout convert to <strong>Calvin</strong>ism, <strong>and</strong> made the Reformed<br />
confession the official religion of his domain by overseeing the composition <strong>and</strong> promulgation of the<br />
Heidelberg Catechism. His support of <strong>Calvin</strong>ism gave the German Reformed movement a foothold<br />
within the Holy Roman Empire.<br />
Heidelberg Catechism <strong>and</strong> the Belgic Confession<br />
(https://www.crcna.org/welcome/beliefs/confessions/belgic-confession) were adopted as confessional<br />
st<strong>and</strong>ards in the first synod of the Dutch Reformed Church in 1571. Several leading divines, either<br />
<strong>Calvin</strong>ist or those sympathetic to <strong>Calvin</strong>ism, settled in Engl<strong>and</strong> (Martin Bucer, Peter Martyr, <strong>and</strong> Jan<br />
Laski) <strong>and</strong> Scotl<strong>and</strong> (<strong>John</strong> Knox). During the English Civil War, the <strong>Calvin</strong>istic Puritans produced the<br />
Westminster Confession, which became the confessional st<strong>and</strong>ard for Presbyterians in the<br />
English-speaking world. As the Ottoman Empire did not force Muslim conversion on its conquered<br />
western territories, reformed ideas were quickly adopted in the two-thirds of Hungary they occupied<br />
(the Habsburg-ruled third part of Hungary remained Catholic). A Reformed Constitutional Synod was<br />
held in 1567 in Debrecen, the main hub of Hungarian <strong>Calvin</strong>ism, where the Second Helvetic<br />
Confession was adopted as the official confession of Hungarian <strong>Calvin</strong>ists. Having established itself in<br />
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