John Calvin: A Brief History

John Calvin was born on July 10, 1509, in the French cathedral city of Noyon, about seventy miles (112 kilometers) northeast of Paris. At some point in the early 1520s (probably 1523), the young Calvin was sent up to the University of Paris. After a thorough grounding in Latin grammar at the hands of Mathurin Cordier, Calvin entered the Collège de Montaigu. After completing his rigorous education in the arts, Calvin moved to the University of Orléans to study civil law, probably at some point in 1528.

Calvin returned to Paris in 1531 to continue his studies, and became increasingly sym- pathetic to the reforming ideas then gaining a hearing in the city. The university and city authorities, however, were intensely hostile to Luther’s ideas. On November 2, 1533, Calvin was obliged to leave Paris suddenly. The rector of the University of Paris, Nicolas Cop (1501–40), had delivered a university address in which he openly supported Luther’s doc- trine of justification by faith. The Parliament at Paris immediately took action against Cop. A copy of Cop’s address exists in Calvin’s handwriting, suggesting that he may have com- posed the address. Calvin fled Paris, fearful for his safety.

By 1534 Calvin had become an enthusiastic supporter of the principles of the Reforma- tion. During the following year, he settled down in the Swiss city of Basel, safe from any French threat. Making the best use of his enforced leisure, he published a book destined to exercise a decisive effect upon the Reformation: the Institutes of the Christian Religion. First published in May 1536, this work was a systematic and lucid exposition of the main points of the Christian faith. It attracted considerable attention to its author, who revised and expanded the work considerably during the remainder of his life. The first edition of the book had six chapters; the final edition, published in 1559 (and translated by Calvin into his native French in 1560), had eighty. It is generally regarded as one of the most influential works to emerge from the Reformation.