Lest there be any confusion of my view of the man, John Calvin was a fallible person, a man of his times. He had moral shortcomings and sins, but he did not kick cats and steal candy from children while he walked the streets of Geneva, nor was a "dictator."
The goal of going through particular facts is not to defend John Calvin as a Protestant saint. I see the study of any person in church history as an exercise in the love of God and neighbor. How do we love our neighbors in the study of church history? We do so with our words: If we bear false witness against our neighbors, even if they've been dead for hundreds of years, we are not loving them. I say let the people in church history be exactly who they were, warts and all.
Calvin was the Cruel and Unopposed Dictator of Geneva?
John Calvin Had 58 People Executed in Geneva?
Calvin Beheaded a Child in Geneva?
Calvin's Geneva: A woman was jailed for arranging her hair to an “immoral height"
John Calvin: “It is better to burn a few (Anabaptists) at the stake, than for thousands to burn in hell”
Calvin: Arrested and Imprisoned Jerome Bolsec, Then Wanted Him “Rotting in a Ditch"?
Calvin's Own Step-Daughter and Son-in-Law Were Among Those Condemned for Adultery and Executed in Geneva
Calvin's Geneva: A High Percentage of Illegitimate Children, Abandoned Infants, Forced Marriages, and Sentences of Death
Did Calvin Murder Servetus? by Standford Rives
Calvin: I have exterminated Michael Servetus the Spaniard.
Calvin Killed Servetus? Before Servetus Killed Calvin?
Calvin: We admit therefore, that ecclesiastical pastors are to be heard just like Christ himself
Church and State Government in Calvin's Geneva
Calvin and the Death Penalty For Roman Catholics
Bucer: "Calvin is a true mad dog. The man is wicked, and he judges of people according as he loves or hates them"
Luther: "Oecolampadius, Calvin . . . and the other heretics have in-deviled, through-deviled, over-deviled, corrupt hearts and lying mouths."
Luther's High Regard for John Calvin?
Bucer: "Calvin is a true mad dog. The man is wicked, and he judges of people according as he loves or hates them"
Luther: "Oecolampadius, Calvin . . . and the other heretics have in-deviled, through-deviled, over-deviled, corrupt hearts and lying mouths."
Luther's High Regard for John Calvin?
Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI could use these for some historical inquiry activities since everyone, even the textbooks, believe Calvin was a dictator.
since everyone, even the textbooks, believe Calvin was a dictator
ReplyDeleteThere's good scholarship out there that get it right... unfortunately there's a lot of junk online.
One of the major modern culprits is historian Will Durant. I suspect he's responsible for part of popularizing the view that Calvin was a dictator.
Interesting. I believe I recall that name in revolving around Calvin.
ReplyDeleteAny excerpts of his awful history? I could also show some of the historiography on it.
Any excerpts of his awful history?
ReplyDeleteDurant wrote pop-history. Not all of it is bad, but his work on Calvin does show negative bias. From what I've checked of Durant in regard to Calvin, his work as a historian appears to have primarily consisted in mining secondary sources to present a picture of Calvin.
If you go on the blog sidebar, you'll find I've tagged the entries in which Durant is mentioned. One in particular delves into his bias:
https://beggarsallreformation.blogspot.com/2018/05/calvin-beheading-child-in-geneva.html
Bendiciones, Me gustaría saber qué piensa usted de este artículo,es una parte de mi libro que pienso publicar para celebrar los 503 años de la reforma protestante.
ReplyDeletehttps://conociendolaverdadbiblia.blogspot.com/2020/10/conozca-el-origen-de-la-leyenda-del.html?m=1
Bendiciones, Me gustaría saber qué piensa usted de este artículo,es una parte de mi libro que pienso publicar para celebrar los 503 años de la reforma protestante.
ReplyDeleteUsing Google translate, I was able to go through your link. I'm surprised that this legend is still around! Looks like you thoroughly refuted this legend.
James, would you endorse the following?:
ReplyDeletehttps://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/ref-rev/08-1/8-1_mcgoldrick.pdf
Luther's Doctrine of Predestination, James Edward McGoldrick
Thanks Tommy
I'll take a look at it when I get the chance. I'm not familiar with the author, but I am familiar with the publication.
ReplyDelete