Learning to Be a Leader: 1536–1541
He who through faith is righteous shall live.
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alvin traveled with a friend from Basel to Ferarra, Italy, to
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the Duke of Ferarra’s court (his friend was well connected). Little is known of his stay there. In April 1536, a religious scandal related to matters of reform broke out. Arrests were made, but Calvin had already made his exit. He went back to Basel for a brief time, then traveled to France. By the time he got there in early June, King Francis I had issued a decree that allowed exiles to come back to the country upon the condition of reconciling with the Catholic Church within six months.
Calvin took this time to settle some legal affairs related to his parents’ estate, but he remained less than three months. By August, he and a party that included some of his family headed toward Strasbourg, a city known for it openness to the new evangelical faith of the Lutherans and other like-minded religious reformers. Because of troop movements along the way, Calvin never made it. Instead, he found himself in Geneva, and as recounted in chapter one, it was there that William Farel convinced Calvin to stay and help with the work of reforming the church.
Within the short span of a few years, Calvin would find himself called to ministry in Geneva, kicked out of the city, and then called back. These years saw the production of important works from Calvin—mature beyond his years and training—meant to educate Christians and organize the church. Calvin’s interpretation and application of these writings also exhibited his sometimes uncompromising personality, which would be the source of his expulsion from Geneva. His intellect had been trained in the university; the leadership he first exhibited in Geneva, however, was underdeveloped for the task at hand. He would not be the first person of brilliance to fail at his first real job.
REFORM IN GENEVA Farel had been at the task of reform before Calvin arrived. As so often is the case during this time in history, religious change came through those who ruled. In Saxony, where Luther lived, a JOHN CALVIN
single ruler named Frederick reigned. With Frederick’s support, Luther embarked on the task of changing the structure, worship, and theology of the church in Saxony.
The situation in Geneva mirrors that of many cities that moved in favor of religious reform. For hundreds of years, the city had been ruled by a bishop-prince, usually from the house of Savoy, a nearby French principality. (Geneva was and is a French-speaking city, located in modern-day Switzerland.) In the early sixteenth century, Geneva began to chafe under Savoyard rule (to learn more about these monarchs, enter the keywords “‘house of savoy’ italy” into any Internet search engine and browse the sites listed). Consequently, there arose a faction who wanted to make the city and its surrounding territory an independent republic.
In trying to throw off Savoyard control, those in favor of Genevan independence had good reason to want to weaken the control and authority of the bishop. Thus, at least in part, the adoption of evangelical attitudes was as political as it was religious. Although those involved in the spread of Reformation ideas may have been especially concerned with the religious aspect of reform, they contributed through their work to the fall of the Catholic Church in Geneva, not just as a religious institution but as a political institution as well, for the bishop was both a religious and a political authority figure. As one scholar of the Reformation in Geneva says, “The overthrow of the Bishop meant that Geneva’s rulers had made an irrevocable break with the old faith.”11
Geneva gained freedom (with the help of its ally, Berne, a city that had already adopted the Reformation) in early 1536. The ultimate political authority now lay with the councils. These councils had existed for many years, but their authority had always been tempered by the bishop-prince of Savoy. Now Geneva ruled itself through its system of councils. In other words, Calvin walked into a city that had just freed itself from the rule of a religious figure and an outsider. Those who looked after Geneva’s interests would have no
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interest in once again turning control of the city over to a religious figure and an outsider. The council meant to control both city and church.
Again, religious reform had been helpful to the political needs of those who sought Genevan independence. That reform would now proceed, but under the watchful eye of the council.
Hence, Calvin walked into a highly volatile situation. There
GENEVAN COUNCILS
For the purpose of simplicity, this text always refers to “the council” when it speaks of Calvin’s relationship to the ruling authority of Geneva. In fact, however, Geneva had three councils. They were interrelated, but they each had distinctive roles to play in governing Geneva.
Usually, when the word council is used in the text, it means the Little Council (sometimes referred to as the Small Council or the Senate). This is the group before which Calvin most often appeared, and it is the group that saw to the day-to-day running of Geneva. It consisted of 25 members, 4 of whom served as syndics (administrative heads).
In addition, there was the Council of Sixty. It was composed of the Little Council (with 25 members) and another 35 councilors. The Council of Sixty dealt primarily with diplomatic issues.
The 35 additional councilors added to the Little Council to make up the Council of Sixty were drawn from the Council of Two Hundred. This council approved legislation drawn up by the Little Council, and it also elected members to that council.
The General Assembly consisted of all eligible voters in Geneva. All male citizens could vote and hold seats on any of the three councils. Bourgeois were people, not citizens, who had been granted special status by the Small Council or who had bought that position. They could vote as part of the General Assembly and hold seats on the Council of Two Hundred and the Council of Sixty. Finally, there were habitants, who could neither vote nor hold public office, except for pastor or lecturer. They could be easily dismissed from their positions and exiled by the Little Council.
For all but the last five years of his life, John Calvin was a habitant in the city of Geneva.
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were factions within the city; some were pro-independence, whereas others favored Savoy influence. Some favored religious reform, but others did not. Even among the ones who favored reform, there was disagreement over how to proceed.
By January 1537, Calvin had been installed by the city council as a Reader in Holy Scripture. Later, he was appointed pastor. It should be noted that Calvin was installed not by ecclesiastical authority but by the civil authority.
He went about his tasks of preaching and teaching from the Bible. In January 1537, Calvin and Farel presented articles for the organization of the church in Geneva to the city council. These guidelines called for the celebration of the Lord’s Supper every month (Calvin thought it best celebrated every Sunday, but he recognized that this might be too much, given the tradition of lay people participating in the sacred meal only once per year); Genevans were to subscribe to a confession of faith that had been drawn up earlier by Calvin and Farel; the church should have congregational singing (psalms); and a catechism was to be drawn up to teach the children the fundamentals of the faith.
There were other provisions. One of the most important was the notion of excommunication, which literally means “outside the communion.” For those who lived in open sin, the articles provided that they should not be able to participate in the Lord’s Supper, though they should still come to the preaching so they might learn to mend their ways.
The councils approved these articles, except for the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. Instead, the sacred meal would be offered once per quarter (every three months) in each parish church. Thus, the path toward continuing reform in the church of Geneva appeared to be straight and clear.
CONFLICT OVER REFORM Things did not, however, go smoothly. Over the course of 1537, it became apparent that getting everyone in Geneva to subscribe to the new articles for the organization of the church would be
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difficult. Calvin and Farel brought the matter to the attention of the council a number of times.
Things got even worse for Calvin. A man named Pierre Caroli accused Calvin of heresy, meaning that he accused Calvin of teaching things at odds with what was understood to be true Christian tradition. Though found innocent of the charge of Arianism (a heresy that taught that Christ is not fully God), it made plain that there were people in the city willing to see Calvin put to the test, so to speak.
By 1538, the city of Berne, which had helped Geneva gain independence, began to try to enforce a type of uniformity in religious practice. Calvin and Farel wanted to wait until an assembly of reformed ministers met in Zurich to talk through some of these practices, but the Bernese insisted their rules be followed (for example, that only unleavened bread should be used in the Lord’s Supper). Furthermore, new elections had been held in Geneva that February, and some of the new political leaders stood against Calvin.
In April 1538, the council demanded that the ministers follow Bernese instructions for celebrating the Lord’s Supper, including the use of unleavened bread, for the Easter services. Calvin himself was not opposed to this practice as such, but he thought the issue needed more discussion. He refused to have his hand forced in this manner. Calvin preached the Easter sermon, but he refused to celebrate communion. This flew directly in the face of council orders. He and Farel found themselves, that very week after Easter, exiled from the city.
By this time, the assembly at Zurich had gathered. The ministers there, in fact, sided with Calvin and Farel, though Calvin found himself reprimanded for the way he handled the affair. They thought he should have proceeded more gently with those who disagreed with him. The assembly urged a delegation from Berne to intervene on behalf of Calvin and Farel and have them reinstated as ministers in Geneva. The council, however, refused. Consequently, once again, Calvin took to the road—he was homeless.
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AT HOME IN STRASBOURG After a brief stay in Basel, the Protestant leadership in Strasbourg invited Calvin to come minister to the French refugees in that city. Sitting near the southeastern border of France, Strasbourg took in many who fled the persecution of Francis I.
At first, Calvin refused, thinking that he and Farel should minister together. Several of the evangelical leaders of the Swiss cities, however, did not think Calvin and Farel made a good pair of leaders; perhaps together they made each other too hot-headed at times. Farel accepted a call to minister in the city of Neuchâtel, leaving Calvin to decide what his own fate should be.
By September 1538, Calvin had made his decision and arrived in Strasbourg. There he worked as a pastor to the French while also lecturing on theology. In addition, he practiced law on occasion. He preached or lectured every day, and he gained valuable experience shepherding the French, ministering to them in sickness, overseeing the worship and preaching, and teaching.
There were sad times; people he cared for very much died during this period. He also saw some of his friends from earlier days return to the Catholic Church and renounce the evangelical faith. He once again had to defend his doctrinal position, for Pierre Caroli, who had dogged him in Geneva, reappeared in Strasbourg and brought forward questions about Calvin’s orthodoxy.
Despite these troubles, Calvin seemed satisfied with his life in Strasbourg. He was happy enough with his situation there that he applied for and received citizenship, something he had never pursued in Geneva. Moreover, at the urging of his friends and colleagues, Calvin married. Idelette de Bure, a widow with two children, joined Calvin’s household in the late summer of 1540.
A THEOLOGIAN AT WORK This period in Calvin’s life also saw the production of some of Calvin’s best writing. Within three years, a relatively brief period of time, Calvin revised his Institutes of the Christian Religion.
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The 1539 edition represented not only an enlargement over the previous edition, but the book was organized in such a way that it looked more like the definitive 1559 edition in terms of its structure. In the 1536 version, Calvin had, somewhat immodestly perhaps, stated in the title that the book embraced “almost the Whole Sum of Piety, and Whatever is Necessary to Know of the Doctrine of Salvation.” As a small corrective to that view, the 1539 edition of the Institutes added the line,“now corresponding more truly to its title.”
The intended audience of the new Institutes, as well as its approach to the subject, changed. Calvin now presented his work as something to be read by those who would train in theology in order to properly understand the Word of God, which Calvin understood (at least) to be the Word of Christ as testified to by Scripture. What is more, Calvin came to see the Institutes, more than anything else, as a guide for the proper reading of the Bible. The work presented the broad understandings of God, Christ, Holy Spirit, and the church derived from a thorough understanding of the entire Scripture. With that knowledge at hand, one could then approach the individual books of the Bible. Certainly, this new revision of the Institutes presented, as Alister McGrath says, “a new clarity of expression and breadth of vision.”12
In addition, Calvin produced his first biblical commentary (he would eventually write on every book of the New Testament except for Revelation, which he professed not to understand, and on 28 of the 39 books of the Old Testament). The Protestant Reformation has been described by some as a radical appropriation of the Apostle Paul, author of many of the books of the Christian New Testament. Indeed, Martin Luther, considered by many as the first “Protestant,” had a conversion experience centered on his reading of Paul’s Letter to the Romans, especially with regard to 1:17: “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith: as it is written: ‘He who through faith is righteous shall live.’”13 Luther, and the Protestants who followed after him, took this to mean that one’s standing before JOHN CALVIN
God depended upon having faith in God’s promises of salvation rather than on good works. This is not to say these Protestants did not believe Christians should do good works; they did. But it is to say they believed one was justified before God by grace (God’s free gift of salvation through Christ) through faith first, and then good works were enabled by God as the Christian matured in faith.
Many of the leading Protestant thinkers after Luther wrote commentaries on Romans, since Paul’s ideas on grace and faith were so central to the theologies they devised. Calvin was no exception. His first biblical commentary, on Romans, came out in 1540.
Based in part on his humanist training, especially as applied to reading ancient legal texts and commenting upon them, Calvin developed a method of critical interpretation in this commentary that would remain constant throughout the rest of his life. He believed the purpose of a commentary was to explain a biblical passage briefly and clearly. With the burden of theological discussions shifted to the Institutes, Calvin did, in fact, produce commentaries that, compared to those of his contemporaries, were relatively brief and clear, usually sticking to the verse or set of verses under consideration without digressing or having to stop and make a long and convoluted theological argument. As T.H.L. Parker has stated, Calvin’s “greatest quality as a commentator was his self-disciplined subordination to the text.” 14
In 1541, two other important works appeared, both of which have received some credit for their contribution to the French language. One of these was Calvin’s French translation of his Institutes. Both the 1536 and 1539 editions were published in Latin, the common language of scholars and churchmen in the sixteenth century. There was an emerging middle class, especially of businessmen and merchants, however, who were literate in their native tongue but not able to read Latin. Some of Calvin’s writings were directed toward this group of people. Though Calvin understood his Institutes by this time to be a
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book that could be used in theological studies, this translation makes clear that he never intended to limit his audience to theology students. He cultivated a larger constituency.
The second work represented an early attempt by Calvin to mediate conflicts that had begun to erupt among some of the Protestant leaders. Of all the topics hotly debated in the sixteenth century, none (not even the topic of faith) divided groups as much as the Eucharist. In a way, this makes sense. For well over 1,000 years, the celebration of the meal that commemorated Christ’s last supper and the meaning of his death had stood at the center of Christian worship. To change how one viewed that ritual changed how Christians understood themselves, Christ, God, and the church.
A Short Treatise on the Holy Supper of Our Lord Jesus Christ, written first in French and then later translated into Latin, attempted to mediate a conflict that had arisen particularly between the Protestant factions while also stating a positive view of the Supper over against the Catholic Mass. This work showed Calvin at his best: as a mediator who, while holding firm to what he considered essential beliefs, was flexible enough (and charitable enough) to put the best spin on the viewpoints of the two main Protestant factions. He hoped to achieve reconciliation among people who had grown very bitter over this debate, and especially bitter over how their views, they thought, had been misrepresented. He had good intentions; he wanted to help the Protestants reconcile.
Eventually, the subject would make a difficult situation for Calvin, sucking the flexibility and charity out of him. The Protestant movement has been likened to a great ship, and the rock upon which it splintered was competing doctrines of the Eucharist. Calvin himself would become hard in his own opinion, but only after years of attempted mediation.