Calvin. History and Reception of a Reformation Week 1. Calvin's Life Sequence 5. Calvin's Time in Strasbourg (1538-1541) Welcome to this sequence, where we will focus on Calvin's time in Strasbourg, between 1538 and 1541. As we saw, Calvin was forced to leave Geneva in the spring of 1538. From there, he traveled to Strasbourg. What was Strasbourg at that time in history? It was a city of the Empire, a free city, much larger than Geneva, with more than double the population. In fact, with 22,000 people, Strasbourg was among the largest cities in the Empire. Strasbourg was a city in which humanism had flourished. Early in the century, it was home to Sebastian Brant. It was also a hub for intellectuals. In the 1520s, people like Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples, Guillaume Farel, and many others, spent time in Strasbourg. Strasbourg had been reformed, at least in part, since 1524; it fully adopted the Reformation in the years 1529-1530. From 1536 on, Strasbourg was firmly entrenched within the Lutheran sphere, having signed the Augsburg Confession of faith authored by Melanchthon. Still today, this Confession constitutes one of foundational texts of the Lutheran faith. All of this naturally contributed to Calvin's attraction for Strasbourg; yet what drew him to the city, above all, was the presence of a very strong personality, that of
theologian Martin Bucer. Bucer was a former member of the Dominican Order. As a student in Heidelberg, he heard Martin Luther speak in 1518, and this convinced him to join the Lutheran Reformation. Was Bucer a Lutheran, then, or should he rather be considered a Bucerian? This is a worthwhile question but one that is outside the scope of this course. Calvin, then, came to Strasbourg to place himself under the guidance of Martin Bucer. In all likelihood, Calvin's years in Strasbourg were the happiest of his entire life. In the words of Bernard Cottret, "it was in Strasbourg that Calvin truly became Calvin." In Strasbourg, Calvin was given the responsibility of running the French-speaking parish. He became pastor to a few hundred people, mainly refugees from the kingdom of France. In Strasbourg, Calvin continued to develop and spread his teaching. He published biblical commentaries, as well as a new and entirely revised version of the
"Institutes of the Christian Religion." Upon publishing this new version of the "Institutes" -- which was in Latin -- in 1539, Calvin immediately started to work on producing a French version of his book. During his time in Strasbourg, Calvin also became a married man. In 1540, he married Idelette de Bure, a woman roughly his age (she was 31 at the time) and the widow of an Anabaptist who had died of the plague. A year earlier, in a letter to his friend Guillaume Farel, Calvin had already evoked the possibility of marriage with these famous words: "I am not one of those foolish lovers who, smitten by a woman's beauty, embrace even her faults. The only beauty which attracts me is that of a woman who is chaste,
considerate, modest, economical, patient and attentive to her husband's health." The historian Bernard Cottret points out that this quote combines the elements of both a job description -- a "want ad" for a future spouse, with a specific list of qualifications -- and
a proper wedding announcement. Calvin's marriage was a happy one, but it was soon undermined by illness. Calvin would write: "From the very beginning, the Lord moderated our joy." When Idelette de Bure, having followed Calvin to Geneva, died in 1549 at the age of 40, he wrote, in a phrase succinctly indicative of his feelings for her:
"She has been my best friend." That said, Calvin also counted among his wife's qualities the fact that she never disturbed him in his pastoral or theological activities. What were Calvin's true feelings for his wife? This is something we know very little about, and although it has been the subject of many novels, it is not of much worth
from a historical point of view. Calvin's years in Strasbourg also give us the opportunity to discuss an important element of his thought, of his doctrine (in the etymological sense of the word, that of a "teaching"):
Calvin's ecclesiology -- his vision of the Church. Let's go back to Geneva for a while. In March 1539, the Council of Geneva received a letter -- delivered in person by express carrier -- from a certain Jacopo Sadoleto, bishop of Carpentras. Sadoleto, a man with humanist leanings, was close to pope Paul III, who had in fact recently made him a cardinal. He would perform important duties in the Council of Trent, even though he did not take part in every session. So Sadoleto sent a letter to the Council of Geneva. In it, he exhorted Genevans to return to the Roman Catholic Church. The Council confirmed receipt of the letter and promised a reply, but such a reply was something it lacked the intellectual and theological means to produce. It charged some local pastors with writing a response, but none of the pastors who had remained in Geneva were up to the task of countering the arguments put forward
by the cardinal. One of the pastors then suggested they call on -- you've guessed it -- John Calvin himself. The Council accepted this suggestion and sent Calvin Sadoleto's letter. Calvin wrote a reply to Sadoleto. What was at stake in this polemic? Sadoleto's intent was to show that the Church was rooted in Tradition and that this Tradition originated in the Holy Spirit itself.
Therefore, the only way to avoid severing oneself from the Holy Spirit and from the Tradition
was to remain in the Church. Calvin's reply was to show that the Church, prior to rooting itself in tradition, was rooted in the Word of God. But let's go back to Sadoleto. In his letter to the Genevans, he asked the following (highly rhetorical) question: which is more dangerous and which is safer: to join a sect that has just appeared, or to remain in
the Catholic Church, which has been in existence for over 1,500 years? Sadoleto's answer, of course, was that the right choice was to remain in the Catholic Church. To quote him directly: "For the Catholic Church is that which, for all time and in every corner of the Earth, has always
remained one and consenting in Christ, being governed and ruled wholly and exclusively by the
Spirit of Christ, in which there can be no disagreement, insofar as it is bound and joined
in a single Spirit." Sadoleto, without explicitly referring to it, was invoking a definition created almost a millennium earlier, in the 5th century, by Vincent of Lérins, one of the Church Fathers. The Catholic Church, always and everywhere, has followed the same doctrine. Sadoleto also addressed Genevans on a certain number of problematic theological issues: the role of good works, the Eucharist, etc. What was Calvin's reply, on behalf of the Genevans, to cardinal Sadoleto? As we'll see, Calvin's reply was scathing. Dear Sadoleto, he basically wrote, thank you for your concern for the theological and spiritual well-being of the people of Geneva,
but please allow me to inform you that you are entirely wrong in your definition of the Church. Indeed, you have forgotten the Word. You'll find in the study materials for this sequence a longer excerpt from Calvin's response to Sadoleto. You'll see that, in his response, he quotes the gospel of John several times. "My sheep know my voice" -- the word "voice," here, points to the Word. If you want to be a sheep of Christ, you must heed his Word. Calvin respected the Church; in fact, he had a deep respect for it. In his reply to Sadoleto, he referred to the Church as "our mother." (As a side note, this metaphor is found in the 1539 version of the "Institutes," whereas it does not appear in the 1536 edition.) In all likelihood, this is due to the influence of Martin Bucer. The Church is "our mother" -- Calvin thus showed a profound respect for the Church. At the same time, however, the Church -- and this is where Calvin showed himself to be a Reformer in the deepest sense -- cannot subsist independently of the Word. According to Calvin, the Church consists of three basic elements: 1) the teaching, or, in Calvin's words, the doctrine; 2) discipline; and 3) the sacraments. The first and third of these elements were included in the "Institutes of the Christian Religion." For Calvin, the Church is the place where the Word is preached adequately and the sacraments are properly administered. Word of God; sacraments; baptism; Lord's Supper. The Word of God is the constitutive and foundational element of the Church: for Calvin, if the Word of God is absent, if there is no preaching and no reading of Scripture, then there
can be no such thing as the Church. Here we have a paradigm of two opposing viewpoints. For the traditionalists, the Roman Catholics, the Church's foundation was Tradition -- specifically, the apostolic tradition by virtue
of which each of Peter's successors had been named, without interruption, since the first century. On the other side was the Reformation and its proponents, for whom the Word of God constitutes the Church's very foundation. As we've seen, the latter position must not be interpreted as contempt for the Church. If you'd like, it's as if Sadoleto was saying "Church! Church! Tradition!"; Calvin answered "Church! Church!", yes of course, but also "the Word"! So that is the gist of the Reformation's critique. In his reply to Sadoleto, Calvin wrote: "Granted, Sadoleto, we do not deny that the Churches over which you preside are Churches
of Christ, but we say that the pope, along with his entire herd of false bishops, who have been allowed
to usurp the pastor's office, are in fact cruel and dangerous wolves whose only endeavor to this day
has been to consume and destroy the kingdom of Christ." In other words: sure, you are a Church -- we don't deny that -- but a Church that has been kidnapped, so to speak, by a pack of wolves who have led it farther and farther away
from the Word of Christ. Calvin's reply to Sadoleto made a strong impression in Geneva. And this is how, in September 1541, at the humble request of the Council, Calvin returned to Geneva, a place that had left him with nothing but bad memories. This time, however, there was a big difference: Calvin now had the upper hand, having been called back by the Council of Geneva. Interestingly, towards the end of the 16th century -- well after Calvin's death -- this decision to bring him back to Geneva was several times referred to by the Council
when pastors began to request the right to select and name their fellow pastors themselves. The Council was all too happy to remind the clamorous pastors that in 1541, it was a decision of the Council, i.e., the political authority -- without consulting the pastors -- that brought
Calvin back to Geneva. And were you not happy with our decision back then?, asked the Council. How did Calvin go about establishing the Reformation in Geneva? That will be the subject of our next sequence. We've reached the end of today's sequence. Thank you for your attention.
