Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
JOHN CALVIN : LIFE, LEGACY AND THEOLOGY -<br />
PROF. M. M. NINAN<br />
Bucer found in <strong>Calvin</strong> a young man who needed to be coached back to wholeness in his ministry.<br />
The problems in Geneva revealed a young man, maybe a hothead, but they were not unforgivable.<br />
Left to fester, however, <strong>and</strong> they would limit severely <strong>Calvin</strong>’s future work. Bucer took it upon himself<br />
to invite <strong>Calvin</strong> to Strasbourg to continue working on his publications. The two shared a love of books<br />
<strong>and</strong> theology, <strong>and</strong> already <strong>Calvin</strong>’s writing style was showing the lucid brevity he would be known for.<br />
<strong>Calvin</strong> agreed <strong>and</strong> came to live in Strasbourg, drawn both to Bucer <strong>and</strong> the libraries there. When he<br />
arrived he was lodged in a home that shared a garden with Bucer <strong>and</strong> his family.<br />
This relationship to Bucer is, it seems, part of the story in <strong>Calvin</strong> recovering from his setback.<br />
<strong>Calvin</strong> not only conversed with Bucer on theology <strong>and</strong> worked on both an expansion of the Institutes<br />
but also his Romans commentary, he also ate frequently at the Bucer table <strong>and</strong> witnessed for the first<br />
time the intimate life of a Protestant family. <strong>Calvin</strong> later would remark how much he learned about life,<br />
family, <strong>and</strong> leadership by living so closely to his mentor.<br />
Martin Bucer who was the chief Pastor of the Strasbourfg Church was happy to have such scholars<br />
<strong>and</strong> immediately contacted them <strong>and</strong> invited them to his church. Thus <strong>Calvin</strong> found refuge for the<br />
next three years in the German Protestant city of Strasbourg. Strasbourg was the capital city of the<br />
Gr<strong>and</strong> Est region, formerly Alsace, in northeastern France. It's also the formal seat of the European<br />
Parliament <strong>and</strong> sits near the German border, with culture <strong>and</strong> architecture blending German <strong>and</strong><br />
French influences.<br />
37<br />