John Calvin-Life,Legacy and Theology

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JOHN CALVIN : LIFE, LEGACY AND THEOLOGY - PROF. M. M. NINAN A second public disputation in June, 1535, was a major triumph for the reformers, after which Farel pressed hard his victory, inspiring an outbreak of image-smashing, gaining the pulpit of the cathedral, and persuading the CounciI of Two Hundred to suppress the Mass. This latter decision, taken on August I0, I535, marks Geneva’s formal adherence to the Reformation. If that crucial step had been taken, the city’s general security, however, remained more troubled and perilous than ever. Still beleaguered by the Duke of Savoy, she sought new aid from Bern. This aid was forthcoming at a strategic moment in January, I 536, when Bern, taking advantage of the Duke’s retreat from Geneva’s environs because of a French threat to Savoy (the imminence of war between Francis I and Charles over Milan now cast its shadow), declared war on Savoy and proceeded to occupy Geneva and its countryside. Ambitious Bern now attempted to impose her suzerainty on her ally, but Geneva refused to submit and at length secured, in a treaty in August, 1536, Bern’s acknowledgment of her independence. Meanwhile, a general assembly of citizens in the cathedral of Geneva on May 21 had ratified the reform measures which the councils had already inaugurated, and had affirmed their will “to live according to the Gospel and the Word of God.” The political and religious revolution had been achieved. It had been achieved, but it had not yet been fully secured and consolidated. The fortunes of war, the resurgence of the Catholic cause, the weakness or failure of Protestant leadership could certainly have reopened the issue and altered the course of these recent events. That such did not occur was due in part at least to the arrival in Geneva of a young French scholar who was a recent convert to Protestantism: John Calvin" A Reformation Debate: Sadoleto's Letter to the Genevans, and Calvin's Reply, With an Appendix on the Justification Controversy - Introduction by Olin, John C.
JOHN CALVIN : LIFE, LEGACY AND THEOLOGY - PROF. M. M. NINAN "God by a sudden conversion subdued and brought my mind to a teachable frame, which was more hardened in such matters than might have been expected from one at my early period of life. Having thus received some taste and knowledge of true godliness, I was immediately inflamed with so intense a desire to make progress therein, that although I did not altogether leave off other studies, yet I pursued them with less ardour." In the second account, Calvin wrote of a long process of inner turmoil, followed by spiritual and psychological anguish: "Being exceedingly alarmed at the misery into which I had fallen, and much more at that which threatened me in view of eternal death, I, duty bound, made it my first business to betake myself to your way, condemning my past life, not without groans and tears. And now, O Lord, what remains to a wretch like me, but instead of defence, earnestly to supplicate you not to judge that fearful abandonment of your Word according to its deserts, from which in your wondrous goodness you have at last delivered me". Scholars have argued about the precise interpretation of these accounts, but most agree that his conversion corresponded with his break from the Roman Catholic Church. The Calvin biographer Bruce Gordon has stressed that "the two accounts are not antithetical, revealing some inconsistency in Calvin's memory, but rather [are] two different ways of expressing the same reality." During these years he was also exposed to Renaissance humanism, influenced by Erasmus and Jacques Lefèvre d’Étaples, which constituted the radical student movement of the time. This movement, which antedates the Reformation, aimed to reform church and society on the model of both classical and Christian antiquity, to be established by a return to the Bible studied in its original languages. It left an indelible mark on Calvin. Under its influence he studied Greek and Hebrew as well as Latin, the three languages of ancient Christian discourse, in preparation for serious study of the Scriptures. It also intensified his interest in the classics; his first publication (1532) was a commentary on Seneca’s essay on clemency. Evidently conversion is never an instantaneous process but a long and ongoing process. There may be definable final point, but is always the result of an on going process, even if it is not an always identifiable. At this time the heat of persecution obliged the evangelical congregations to assemble in the greatest secrecy. To these Calvin preached with zeal and energy, concluding always with the words of St. Paul, "If God be for us, who can be against us ?" 15
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