8. La Réforme de Calvin et l’instruction - Calvin's Reform and Education

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Calvin - Histoire et réception d'une Réforme

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University of Geneva

Calvin - Histoire et réception d'une Réforme

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Course in French with English subtitles -- Ce cours introduit à la vie et à la pensée du réformateur Jean Calvin (1509-1564) ainsi qu’à son influence sur le monde moderne et contemporain. La démarche proposée se veut critique, il ne s’agit ni de canoniser ni de condamner Calvin, mais de comprendre sa pensée avec toute la distance requise et d’en analyser les enjeux. Au cours de la première semaine, nous explorerons les principales étapes de la vie de Calvin. Les semaines 2 et 3 seront consacrées à l’étude de sa pensée théologique et de son éthique. Enfin, lors des semaines 4 et 5, nous nous interrogerons sur la diffusion du calvinisme dans le monde et la pertinence actuelle de la pensée de Calvin. -- This course is an introduction to the life and thought of the reformer John Calvin (1509-1564) and to his influence on the modern and contemporary world. The approach we develop is critical: we intend neither to canonize nor to condemn Calvin or his thought. Our goal, rather, is to avoid any rash evaluation in order to understand his thought and analyze the issues at stake in it. During five weeks, we will explore together the life and work of the Reformer. During the first week, we will study the main aspects of Calvin’s life. Weeks 2 and 3 will focus on his theology and his ethics. During the last two weeks (weeks 4 and 5), we will ponder how Calvinism became a worldwide phenomenon and ask ourselves what kind of relevance Calvin’s thought may still have today.

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La vie de Calvin - Calvin's life

Bienvenue dans cette première semaine de cours ! Après avoir défini le concept de réforme comme idéal de retour à un passé meilleur, et avoir situé d’une part les mouvements réformateurs en Europe (Luther, Zwingli, le réformisme français), d’autre part la Réforme à Genève, nous allons faire connaissance de Calvin: sa formation, son premier séjour à Genève (1536-1538), son étape strasbourgeoise (1538-1541), enfin l’établissement à Genève (de 1541 à sa mort en 1564). Nous verrons comment Calvin entend y construire la Réforme, grâce à des instruments institutionnels propres: le Consistoire, la Compagnie des pasteurs, l’Académie notamment. L’affaire Servet (du nom du médecin espagnol condamné à mort à Genève en 1553) fera l’objet d’une séquence entière, tout comme la période 1555-1564, la seule dont on puisse légitimement parler comme de la «Genève de Calvin». Cette première semaine devra permettre de faire le point sur le contexte historique et d’initier les étudiant-e-s à la biographie de Calvin. A la fin de cette semaine, les étudiant-e-s devraient connaître les grandes étapes de sa vie et être capables de situer Calvin au sein des mouvements de réforme du 16e siècle. Welcome in this first module of the course! After defining the concept of reform, looking at it as the ideal of a return to a (purer) past, we will attempt to provide a map of various reformatory movements in continental Europe (Luther, Zwingli, French reformatory movements). Only then will we begin focusing on the reformation in Geneva and the personality of John Calvin. We will consider his education, his first stay in Geneva (1536-1538), his years in Strasbourg (1538-1541) and his long activity, during the rest of his life, in Geneva (1541 until his death in 1564). We will see how Calvin sought to establish a reformation, through new institutional bodies, especially the Consistory (Consistoire), the Compagnie des pasteurs and the Academy. The Servetus case (Servetus was a Spanish doctor and intellectual who was executed as a heretic in Geneva in 1553) will be studied, as will be the final decade of Calvin's life, during which Geneva became "Calvin's Geneva". The goal of this first module is to introduce you to the historical context and to provide basic information about Calvin's biography. At the end of this module, you will have a good sens of the main stages of his life and you will be able to locate Calvin among other reformatory movements of the 16th century.

8. La Réforme de Calvin et l’instruction - Calvin's Reform and Education11:03

9. La Genève de Calvin 1555-1564 - Calvin's Geneva, 1555-156410:15

Rencontrer les enseignants

Christophe Chalamet
Professeur de théologie systématique
Faculté de théologie
François Dermange
Professeur d'éthique
Faculté de théologie
Michel Grandjean
Professeur d'histoire du christianisme
Faculté de théologie
Sarah Nicolet
Collaboratrice scientifique
Faculté de théologie

Calvin. History and Reception of a Reformation

Week 1. Calvin's Life Sequence 8. Training and Education in Calvin's Reformation

Welcome to this sequence, which will focus on "educating the people of God," and in particular on Calvin's College and Academy.

In the Ecclesiastical Ordinances of 1541, alongside the order of pastors, the order of deacons and the order of elders, Calvin created the order of doctors, or teachers.

He sometimes referred to it using another, more general name: the order of schools.

The 1541 Ordinances read as follows:

"The faithful must be educated in sound doctrine to ensure that the purity of the Gospel be not corrupted, either by ignorance or wrong opinion."

A little further in the Ordinances, Calvin specified his vision:

"But since such lessons [this refers to theology] can be of no benefit unless one has first been educated in languages and human sciences, and also because seeds will have to be planted for the future, so as not to hand down to our children a barren Church, a College shall be established to educate them and prepare them for both the ministry and civil government."

By "establish a College," Calvin is referring to the actual construction of a college.

The College's construction would not begin until 1559; it was completed three years later, in 1562. Calvin was therefore able to see the completed College before his death (1564).

This sequence is being filmed inside the College itself.

As you can see, it is currently undergoing renovation.

The frame and the roof are both being redone, so I'm speaking to you today from a bustling construction site.

College, Academy... the terminology is somewhat fluid. In Latin, it is called "Leges Academiae Genevensis" -- the laws of the academy.

But when the 1559 text was translated into French, the school was referred to as "L'ordre du Collège" -- the order of the College.

In fact, the institution consisted of two "departments," so to speak.

The first was the "Scola Privata," an elementary school for boys and adolescents who, over the course of seven years, were educated in French, Latin, Greek, dialectic, rhetoric, etc.

The second department was the "Scola Publica" -- the Academy proper -- it is the ancestor of what is today the University of Geneva.

At its beginnings, the "Scola Publica" had a total of five professors: two theology professors, a professor of Greek, a professor of Hebrew, and a professor of arts.

Here, "arts" has nothing to do with anything artistic, but refers to what the Middle Ages called the "liberal arts" -- in particular, philosophy, although perhaps a better modern translation might be "the humanities".

The College was made up of classrooms, of course, but of a library as well.

Alexandre Ganoczy has studied between 600 and 700 of the books that belonged to the Academy's library in Calvin's time, using a surviving cataloguefrom 1572 (just a few years after Calvin's death).

Among these books were Bibles; texts from Greek and Latin Antiquity (which Calvin considered valuable sources of ethical teachings); numerous patristic texts; texts written by theologians of Calvin's time -- Calvin himself of course, but also Bullinger, of Zurich, and German theologians such as Luther, Melanchthon and others (whose names, today, are known mainly to specialists);

and a few texts written by Roman Catholic theologians, such as cardinal Thomas Cajetan, one of Calvin's major opponents.

So that's an overview of the institution Calvin created.

Throughout his life in Geneva, Calvin fought for the construction of the College, which, in his mind, was to serve two purposes: to define the requirements for the ministry and to establish an academic curriculum.

Here Calvin was going directly against the educational mainstream of his time, which typically separated into distinct institutions university students, on the one hand, and the more pragmatic training of ministers-to-be, on the other.

Calvin inaugurated the College and Academy in 1559.

A short four years later, in 1563, the Council of Trent paid tribute -- quite involuntarily, to be sure -- to Calvin and the Reformation in general,

by decreeing that Catholic priests would be required, from then on, to be trained in similar colleges, or seminaries.

The education received in Calvin's College, it must be said, was very elitist.

For two main reasons: First, the school was exclusively male -- no girls were allowed. Second, the curriculum was extremely heavy.

Young boys arrived in the College and started to learn reading and writing. Seven years later, they were writing papers discussing the works of Aristotle in the original Greek.

The school day started, in summertime, at 6am.

In winter, students could sleep in a little, since the start of classes was pushed back to 7am.

There was a half-hour break for lunch shortly before noon.

The rest of the day consisted of classes and study sessions, which continued uninterrupted until 9pm, when the school day finally ended.

Uninterrupted, meaning that the boys were to eat their dinner -- as stipulated by the College's regulations -- during class, as unobtrusively as possible.

Geneva has been called the incubator of Dutch Calvinism.

In fact, Geneva served as such an incubator for several large areas of Europe, including France, Germany, and Hungary. Future ministers from virtually all of Reformed Europe came to Geneva to be trained and educated.

We are lucky enough to have in our possession a register called the "Rector's Book" ("Livre du Recteur"), in which each student wrote his name and place of origin.

In it are the signatures of each and every student of Calvin's Academy from the 16th century through the 18th century.

For example, here you can see the signature of Giordano Bruno, the famous Italian philosopher who died at the stake in the year 1600.

The Rector's Book has been edited by Sven and Suzanne Stelling-Michaud, who painstakingly gathered every available piece of information on each of the students who appear in it:

date of birth and death, when known; geographic origin of each student, etc.

Their work enables us to understand the development and influence of Calvin's Academy and College, from a social point of view, throughout Europe.

At first, all of the Academy's professors were French.

It took a generation before any Genevans were teaching in the Academy, although in the meantime many studied there.

As an institution, however, the College was without a doubt internationally oriented.

Why did Calvin work so hard to create this College and Academy?

It was a reflection of his deeply humanist temperament.

His aim was to train and educate students on the Bible, but also to open their minds to the elegance and beauty of human thought.

In his "Institutes of the Christian Religion," Calvin writes (this passage is included in your study materials) that the works of secular thinkers are never to be disdained, because in practicing science, they are witnesses to truth.

And all truth comes from God.

Here is a quote from Book II of the "Institutes":

"How, then, can we deny that truth must have beamed on those ancient lawgivers who arranged civil order and discipline with so much equity? Shall we say that the philosophers, in their exquisite researches and skillful description of nature, were blind? Shall we deny the possession of intellect to those who drew up rules for discourse, and taught us to speak in accordance with reason? Shall we say that those who, by the cultivation of the medical art, expended their industry in our behalf, were only raving?"

"What shall we say of the mathematical sciences? Shall we deem them to be the dreams of madmen? Nay, we cannot read the writings of the ancients on these subjects without the highest admiration; an admiration which their excellence will not allow us to withhold."

"But shall we deem anything to be noble and praiseworthy, without tracing it to the hand of God? Far from us be such ingratitude; an ingratitude not chargeable even on heathen poets, who acknowledged that philosophy and laws, and all useful arts were the inventions of the gods."

This passage shows the high esteem in which Calvin held the sciences of Antiquity, starting with the "ancient lawgivers," the jurists -- and thus Law was taught in the Academy.

He expresses his enthusiasm for the philosophers -- thus philosophy, dialectic, and the art of discoursing rationally, were all part of the curriculum.

He expresses his admiration for Medicine, and although this discipline was not taught in Geneva until much later, it would have been perfectly consistent with Calvin's vision.

For Calvin, then, secular though they may be, the sciences are of value.

And it is probably no coincidence that it was on the fertile grounds of Calvin's College and Academy that, in the 18th century, the natural sciences -- botany and physics in particular -- began to flourish as never before.

But that's another story altogether.

We've reached the end of today's sequence; thank you for your attention.

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