BIOGRAPHY
John Calvin was born in France, but spent most of his adult life in Geneva,
Switzerland. Following studies in theology at Paris and law at Orléans,
Calvin joined the Protestant reform movement. Forced to flee France, he
eventually settled in Geneva where he sought to reform the city.
THE
INSTITUTES
His major work, the Institutes of the Christian Religion, was originally
addressed to King Francis I of France in defense of the French Protestants.
The following segment
of this famous work expresses a very different view of the natural
place of humans and human reason from that of the optimistic Pico.
Calvin argues that natural human reason is seriously impaired by sin.
Contrary to Plato
he argues that evil acts are not simply the result of ignorance, but follow
from a sinful will and a fallen reason. Only by God's continual illumination,
a gift of grace, can human reason be restored.
(Click here for Calvin reading.)
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| The major leaders of the Reformation with Luther in the center (Calvin is second from the left). | Martin Luther's objection to the Selling of Indulgences eventually led to the Reformation. |
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| The Inquisition followed the Reformation as a part of the Roman Catholic's Counter-Reformation. |
From Forrest Baird, Human Thought and Action (University Press of America, © 1992)