John Calvin, is considered alongside Martin Luther, to be among the most significant figures in the Protestant Reformation. He was a major formulator of the theological beliefs and doctrine of the protestant churches, and the author of the most famous, and important, religious books ever published.
Martin Luther may have begun the reformation movement, but it was John Calvin who was the guiding spirit, developing the beliefs, doctrines and finalising the rigorous plans for the overhaul of the church.
John Calvin was born in 1509 and spent his earliest years under the care of a Noble Family. He joined the priesthood and studied theology at the University of Paris. However his father pressurised him to study law and he eventually gave in.
Studying at the Universities of Paris, Orleans and Bourges, Calvin was not only exposed to some of the Greatest minds of the times, but was introduced to the ideals behind the push for reformation.
John Calvin started the Protestant Reformation in ...
English: Jean Calvin at fifty-three years old (htt...
English: 375 years of Protestant Reformation at th...Soon after his Fathers death in 1531, Calvin experienced a deeply moving protestant conversion, and further understood the ideology of the protestant movement. He began to make acquaintances with those who also supported the reformation of the church, and when close friend Nicholas Cop announced his support of Martin Luther both were forced to flee the country for fear of persecution by the Church Authorities in Paris.
For the next 3 years Calvin roamed from place to place preaching to the people about the benefits of the reform. By 1934 John was a prominent member of the Protestant Reformation movement and many towns and cities sought his Guidance as they prepared to follow the protestant Movement.
It was in 1936, however that Calvin was decisively thrust into the forefront of the Protestant Reformation Movement after the publication of his Christianae Religionis Institutio or...