This is the fourth article in a 5-part series on Trevin Wax’s selection of . We’ll be exploring each of them to show why Trevin and others find these characters so influential. The first publications are from , , Y .
John Calvin was a short French man who spent his life in a city that did not always appreciate him. He was attacked almost immediately in his role in Geneva, lost his job during a fight over the sacraments, was nurtured and brought back by Martin Bucer, and only forcibly returned to Geneva to finish the reform there. He also wrote what was to modern times the most widely published and read book of theology in English translation: The Institution of the Christian Religion.
In fact, his role in the reform was so pivotal that his name became synonymous with the movement, even though he was not its founder or most influential voice until late in his life. The name ‘Calvinist’ was taken with great pride particularly by English speakers, while opponents of Reformed ideas always wrote against ‘Calvinists’.
But what established Calvin as the Reformation’s most influential theologian above others?
Calvin but not Luther?
When Trevin Wax first released his list of the five theologians, it was the choice of Calvin over Luther that was most contentious. I agree with his choice (as do many scholars, not all of them Reformed) and therefore only a few words are needed to explain why Luther is not above Calvin.
The debate boils down to how one defines the importance of a theological figure. With Luther, no one could doubt his reforming influence. One could easily point out that without Luther there would be no Calvin; in fact, there would be no Protestantism. His stance before the Holy Roman Emperor is iconic, almost a microcosm of the reform itself.
Even so, Luther’s influence was curtailed by a number of factors, one of which is that today very few Protestants share his theological position on various issues beyond the doctrines of grace, justification, and law. His doctrine on the sacraments is unique to the expression of the Lutheran faith and is a bone of contention between Lutherans and many other Protestant denominations. Furthermore, his views on baptism would leave many out of his definition of the sacraments, and he held an abnormally high view of Mary among the Reformers.
If we take the words “most influential” as “the person who most influenced the start of the reformation,” then it is clear that Luther would lead. However, this would be a bad definition; in fact, that would mean that only Luther fits this definition, which no one can dispute.
Instead, the meaning that the words “most influential” should have is in the broadest sense, to refer to those who shaped the most people over the centuries. Which figure sold the most books, sparked the most movements beyond its immediate context, and even influenced the most hostile ideas? against his theology? (Not all influence is positive, of course.)
On this definition, many historians would perforce choose Calvin over Luther, but again, not in a way that sees Luther as less important to Reformation and evangelical history. However, given the international influence of Calvinism—both in the Reformation and today in places like Korea—many would place Calvin above Luther. But not without feeling a sense of disgust at not being able to include the two of them on the list.
Another important factor is that the other dominant theology of evangelicalism, Arminianism, spawned from a rejection of certain points of Reformed theology and has always seen Calvinism as its main opponent. Wesleyan, Baptist, and Congregational churches that embrace Arminianism will always be against Calvin and rarely against Luther. The spectrum of Calvinism in these groups is enormous and weighs heavily on the decision as to Calvin’s influence.
So, in these terms, Calvin’s choice over Luther is not based solely on being a “fan” of Calvin, but on a broader view of theological influences within evangelicalism. Calvin’s influence on both his followers and his enemies is unmatched since the early generations of the Reformation, at least insofar as Calvin’s name became synonymous with later developments within Reformed thought.
But if we had expanded the list to 10 instead of 5, there would be no doubt that Luther would easily make the list. For now, I’ll stick with Calvino.
Calvin and Guinevere
Despite his later influence on Protestants and Evangelicals, Calvin was an outsider for much of his life. For one thing, he was the youngest of the first generation of Reformers, almost to the point that many people consider him part of the second generation. By the time of his conversion, the reform was already over a decade old and the reform movement—as we would later call it—was already underway with Zwingli and Bullinger in Zurich, as well as other Swiss cities.
When Calvin arrived in Geneva in 1536, he too was entering a tense theological situation, aggravated by politics. In 1531, just as the Reformed identity was rising in Zurich, armies marched on the city, killed Zwingli on the field of battle, and reimposed Catholicism. With Zwingli’s death gone the possibility of Zurich becoming the Reformed Wittenberg, giving form to all Reformed views exclusively. What was left was a chaotic Swiss region, in need of something to propel them forward and secure their future.
One of the measures that the city of Berne took, for example, was to annex Geneva and move it by force from Catholicism to Protestantism. Geneva was French-speaking (while Berne and Zurich were German-speaking) and for centuries had answered to the Duke of Savoy. Berne had a large army and a passion for reform. The only thing Berne lacked was the ability to send French-speaking pastors to shape the city’s now Protestant church.
First came Calvin and Farel, two French exiles who had embraced humanism in France, then the gospel, and finally ended the Protestant church. The French king had moved aggressively against Protestantism, and Calvin and Farel were forced to flee. Berna had worked with Farel before, so she hired him for Geneva; Farel also knew Calvino through friends, so she eagerly desired his help. After a few nice attempts at divine threats, Calvino agreed.
The brewing problems with these men were numerous: they were both young, the language barrier was significant, Farel was a notorious hothead, Calvino was a nobody and a bit conceited when it came to education, and the city of Geneva was not so happy to have been led to the reform without having asked for it.
So Calvino failed in his first attempt at leadership in Geneva, not entirely because of his own stubbornness, although it didn’t help him much. When he returned to Geneva in 1541, he returned a prudent man, now married, and devoted entirely to writing.
Calvin the younger brother
Within this complex Swiss world, Calvin began to make his case for the Reformed faith. However, even after being restored to Geneva, he was not the leading voice in the regions of Switzerland, let alone Europe immediately. These things would come, but for now he was the younger brother to men like Bucer, Bullinger, and other leaders who had more experience and more influence in other countries.
Calvino never seemed to chafe at these circumstances. His life is marked by his willingness to work with other cities and reformers to bring unity to the Reformed faith. His letters to these men are marked both by his collegiality and his willingness to offer his own perspective. They also reveal his willingness to learn from his fellow reformers in other cities. At no point do we see Calvin attempting to assume a function similar to Luther’s, where all roads lead to his door or where all opinions are presented to him for a verdict.
In that sense, the reform movement was always more like a group of brothers, and if you’ve ever lived with brothers you know how riotous the house can be. They didn’t always get along, and when they did rebuke each other, it wasn’t always kind. Bucer and Bullinger—the two eligible for the most influential voice in early Reformed theology—feuded to such a degree that Bullinger always suspected Bucer of being a Crypto-Lutheran on the sacraments. But in this messy life together, Calvin and others were shaping the central perspective of the Reformed perspective.
Calvin’s influence on theology
Calvino was the younger brother, but he was not insignificant in the family. By the end of his life he became the leading voice in the wider Reformed world, as it began to develop in Scotland, England, France, and the Netherlands. Much of his influence comes down to two main factors: the clarity of his writing and the translation of the Institution into other languages, especially English.
When it comes to Calvin’s writings, he is not perfect and, like any other theologian, there are times when he confuses more than he helps. However, compared to the broad spectrum of Protestant writing, Calvin is the clearest and most lucid of almost all other Protestant voices. Luther, for example, is a lot of fun to read, but he writes like a rabbit runs. He also presents hyperbolas so often that he seems to contradict his own statements (at least at first). Bucer, by contrast, was so talkative and obtuse that people of his day had a wry humor about his inability to stay on topic.
If we look at Calvin’s works we find something different, even after 500 years and in a translation. The humanist training that Calvino received gave him the tools to take the reader to the point where he wanted to take them. And when he made up his point, he always did it so carefully that he rarely had a word out of place. When he gets caught up in abstract or wordy points, he doesn’t stay there for long. He also had a unique patience—heroic in any century, but certainly by today’s standards of care—in editing and recreating his Institutes throughout his entire life.
Most important for English-speaking readers, however, is that Calvin’s writings were the most important theological texts printed in England for the…