John Calvin-Life,Legacy and Theology

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JOHN CALVIN : LIFE, LEGACY AND THEOLOGY - PROF. M. M. NINAN strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also.” “Do not repay anyone evil for evil … never avenge yourselves.” The cross itself was the ultimate example of what he taught. After years as a minister, writer and leader in Geneva and then Strassburg, Calvin returned to Geneva and resumed efforts to make the city a model Christian community, in part through tight restrictions on individual and social behavior and by the scrutiny (and punishment) of citizens by church and civil authorities. Thus Calvin’s name is often connected with grim moral austerity and denial of pleasure. John Calvin allowed no art other than music, and even that could not involve instruments. The Libertines : Spirituels or Patriots Calvin encountered bitter opposition to his work in Geneva. Around 1546, the uncoordinated forces coalesced into an identifiable group whom he referred to as the libertines, but who preferred to be called either Spirituels or Patriots. According to Calvin, these were people who felt that after being liberated through grace, they were exempted from both ecclesiastical and civil law. The group consisted of wealthy, politically powerful, and interrelated families of Geneva. At the end of January 1546, Pierre Ameaux, a maker of playing cards who had already been in conflict with the Consistory, attacked Calvin by calling him a "Picard", an epithet denoting anti-French sentiment, and accused him of false doctrine. Ameaux was punished by the council and forced to make expiation by parading through the city and begging God for forgiveness. A few months later Ami Perrin, the man who had brought Calvin to Geneva, moved into open opposition. Perrin had married Françoise Favre, daughter of François Favre, a well-established Genevan merchant. Both Perrin's wife and father-in-law had previous conflicts with the Consistory. The court noted that many of Geneva's notables, including Perrin, had breached a law against dancing. Initially, Perrin ignored the court when he was summoned, but after receiving a letter from Calvin, he appeared before the Consistory. ===================================> Ami Perrin, (died 1561), Swiss opponent of the religious Reformer John Calvin at Geneva and leader of the anti-Calvinist Libertines. A member of a prominent Genevese family, Perrin was associated with the city’s anti-Savoyard party Huguenots (Eidguenots) and commanded a company outfitted against the Duke of Savoy in 1529. Between 1544 and 1555 he stood as one of the most powerful figures in Geneva, serving many times as the city’s intercantonal and foreign emissary. He was instrumental in bringing Calvin into Geneva through Farel. Perrin early embraced the Reformation and championed the cause of Geneva’s seminal Reformer, Guillaume Farel. Consequently, he opposed the growth of the Calvinist theocracy, siding with 50
JOHN CALVIN : LIFE, LEGACY AND THEOLOGY - PROF. M. M. NINAN and eventually leading an established party of moderation, the Libertines. In May 1555 an armed rising of his Libertines was resisted by the city’s government, and he was condemned to death. He managed to escape to Bern, where, with a few supporters (Fugitifs), he continued a futile opposition in exile. The story doesn't end there: +++++++ When fellow reformer John Eckius, who disagreed with him on various points, got sick in Geneva, Calvin wrote this about him: “One says that Eckius will recover: The world still does not deserve to be delivered of this wild beast.” ++++++ For having disagreed with him on some points of doctrine, Sebastian Castillo, rector of a boys school in Geneva and an old friend of Calvin, was fired from his position and expelled from the city. For accusing the Calvinist doctrine of being absurd, Jérôme-Hermès Bolsec was sent to prison for weeks and then banished from Geneva. +++++++ For criticizing Calvin at a banquet, Pierre Ameaux, a city official, was forced to make expiation by parading through the city squares in a hair-shirt and begging God for forgiveness. These are the words of the official sentence: “He is condemned to go around the city in penitential clothing, bareheaded, carrying a torch in his hand. When arriving before the tribunal, he must kneel, confess having evilly and maliciously spoken vile words, and manifest his repentance; then, he must beg for mercy before God and the justice of man. He is condemned to pay all the expenses. This sentence should be publically announced." ++++++++++++++ For having accused Calvin of Miguel Servet, condemned to burn for disagreeing with Calvin being a heretic, Jacques Gruet was tortured and beheaded in 1547. +++++++++++++ Galiffé, who delved into the records of that time.describing that within a short period of Calvin’s rule , “One counts 30 executions of men and 28 of women, subdivided by method of death: 13 persons hanged, 10 beheaded, 55 quartered, 35 burned alive after being tortured.” +++++++++++++++ 51
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