“It is most absurd, therefore, to maintain, as some do, that religion was devised by the cunning and craft of a few individuals, as a means of keeping the body of the people in due subjection, while there was nothing which those very individuals, while teaching others to worship God, less believed than the existence of a God. I readily acknowledge, that designing men have introduced a vast number of fictions into religion, with the view of inspiring the populace with reverence or striking them with terror, and thereby rendering them more obsequious; but they never could have succeeded in this, had the minds of men not been previously imbued with that uniform belief in God, from which, as from its seed, the religious propensity springs. And it is altogether incredible that those who, in the matter of religion, cunningly imposed on their ruder neighbours, were altogether devoid of a knowledge of God. For though in old times there were some, and in the present day not a few are found who deny the being of a God, yet, whether they will or not, they occasionally feel the truth which they are desirous not to know. We do not read of any man who broke out into more unbridled and audacious contempt of the Deity than C. Caligula, and yet none showed greater dread when any indication of divine wrath was manifested. Thus, however unwilling, he shook with terror before the God whom he professedly studied to condemn.”

John Calvin — The Institutes of Christian Religion Book i. Chapter iii. Part ii.

“It often happens with ‘egalitarians’ that a hole, a special escape hatch from the drab uniformity of life, is created — for themselves.”

– Murray Rothbard in Messianic Communism in the Protestant Reformation (an exerpt from Economic Thought Before Adam Smith)

• I was converted under the preaching of John Preston
• I pastored a newly established congregational church in New England
• I helped establish Harvard College
• Cotton Mather called me “Pastor Evangelicus”

Puritan Two

• I was appointed to the Westminster Assembly, and was the only one who was a member of all three of its major committees
• I was the only member of the Westminster Assembly to become a bishop after the restoration
• I died of kidney stones

Puritan Three

• I immigrated to New England, and enrolled at Harvard
• I had a pastorate in Massachusetts for over 57 years
• I was a doctor, wrote poetry, and interested in botany
• I wrote metrical paraphrases of many Psalms
• My grandson was one of Yale’s earliest presidents

• I was expelled from Oxford
• I was born in the same decade as the original publication of the KJV
• I was one of the youngest members of the Westminster Assembly, but not very active in it
• I was beheaded for treason at the age of 33
• 15 volumes of his sermons were published

Puritan Two:

• I was a preacher at Gray’s Inn
• I never married
• John Cotton was converted under my preaching
• I helped Thomas Goodwin in his theology
• My last sermon was on John 14:2

Puritan Three

• I was born in Hetford, England
• I’m said to have memorized the entire New Testament and the book of Psalms
• I catechised John Owen
• I preached during the Great Plague

Puritan Four

• I got my BA at 19, but my Doctorate at 40
• I was one of three clerks at Westminster Assembly
• I counseled Christopher Love before his execution for treason
• I was ejected from the Church of England pulpits in 1662

Take a guess.. If you get one, you will be congratulated and get an honorable mention on this blog

Calvin is slandered by his enemies (see a previous blog post), but even people who like him tend to pigeon-hole him into something he is not. Calvin was not a one-track theologian with nothing on his mind but predestination. He was not a cold, heartless exegete. He had a soft pastoral heart and a friendly, temperate disposition in many ways. One by one, Stauffer shows Calvin as a Husband, Father, Pastor, and Friend.  To me, the most enlightening of these was “Friend”. The book really shows through primary sources how Calvin came along side people, cared for them, and was fiercely loyal to them.  And it was not just one or two friendships that he nurtured, instead Calvin sought a handful of friendships and really himself poured into them.

The section on Calvin as “Pastor” is also very good, showing the way he cared for his people and also his humble approach, even upholding the church leadership which overthrew his own, because he felt it was still a valid church. Calvin’s pastoral heart really shines forth and refutes the idea which relegates Calvin to some sort of cold-hearted dictator. The portrayals of his sympathy and care for human suffering really dispels a lot of common misconceptions.

We also get a good glimpse into Calvin’s married life, and how he cared for his children. Their time was not an easy one, and Calvin’s faith and humanness really comes out as they go through various difficulties, including the plague.

There are two other areas that come out in this book, which aren’t part of the subtitle but seemed prominent to me. First of all, there is a great portrayal of Calvin as a Bachelor (as my previous blog post covered) and second Calvin as a Matchmaker. Calvin’s desire to encourage good matches for his friends really comes out here.

Teasing:

“We know that in the course of the Frankfort Conference of 1539, at which representatives of the two confessions had gathered for discussion, during a meal Melanchthon made fun of Calvin, who had been rather pensive, by saying ‘he was dreaming of getting married’. This pleasantry was perhaps not without basis.” (p.34)

On Celibacy and A Different Take On Being Dedicated More Completely To The Lord:

“‘I am inclined to be hostile to the celibate even though I am not married and don’t know if I ever will be. If I should take a wife, it would be in order to dedicate myself more completely to the Lord, being greatly freed from many worries.” (p.33)

On What He Was Looking For

“on May 19, 1539, Calvin revealed in a letter to his friend Farel that he was looking for a wife. ‘Remember well what I am looking for in her. I am not of the crazy breed of lovers, who, striken by the beauty of a woman, love even her faults. The only beauty which captivates me is that of a chaste, kind, modest, thrifty, patient woman, who I might finally hope would be attentive to my health’. “

Discouragement

” ‘I fear that if you want to attend my wedding, you may not come until much later. I have not yet found a wife, and I am asking myself whether I should search any more’ “

Who He Eventually Found

“Farel wrote Fabri telling him about the marriage of Calvin with an ‘upright and honest’ and ‘even pretty’ woman…He married Idelette de Bure, the widow of an Anabaptist citizen of Liege who had returned to the Reformed faith shortly before his death.”

“Although the Reformation manifested itself in various ways in different areas of Europe, it shared a number of common denominators. The feudal nobility and the Roman Catholic church hierarchy suffered a loss of power and prestige, which benefited the bourgeois middle class and the monarchs of Europe’s emerging nation states. Regions such as The Netherlands, which were formerly under Spanish or German domination, gained independence, and even in areas where Catholicism prevailed, religious independence gelled through the wide dissemination of Christian literature and Bible translations in the vernacular instead of Latin. Education was stimulated through the establishment of numerous schools and became accessible to the new new middle classes. This, in turn, cultivated a spirit of individualism and critical thinking.

This spirit of individualism which Protestantism fostered was to have long-ranging effects on Western culture. It was a catalyst in the development of democratic forms of governments which further undermined the medieval political and ecclesiastical hierarchies. This opened the door to the elimination of religious restrictions on trade and banking, removing a large obstacle to the development of modern capitalism.”

from The Fall of Christendom and the Rise of the Church by Peter Pikkert, p200-2001

Here is the description:

2009 is the 500th anniversary of John Calvin‘s birth. Since 1509, John Calvin has been one of the most influential and insightful figures in the history of the church. He was a man of effective action and profound thought. But Calvin‘s significance is not limited to the past. His reforming work and biblical teaching are arguably more needed today than they were in the sixteenth century. Vital reforms which he championed are being abandoned in the life and doctrine of many churches in our time. Our conference examined the ways in which John Calvin‘s life and theology can help the church of the twenty-first century rediscover the biblical path of faithfulness and fruitfulness.