500th Anniversary of the Reformation Sample

The Reformers: John Calvin  

John Calvin is one of the most significant figures in the Protestant Reformation. Influenced by Martin Luther and others, Calvin adopted Protestant thinking. As persecution against Protestants arose in Paris, he fled to Basel. There he penned his first edition of Institutes of the Christian Religion, one of the most famous theological books ever published. It’s been debated in Christianity since the sixteenth century. He revised the Olivétan French New Testament in 1542, and the whole Bible in 1546; and the whole Bible again in the 1550s. Calvin said: “Ensure that it not be prohibited nor forbidden that every Christian might read, consider, and hear this holy Gospel freely in his own language.” The Olivétan New Testament contained a preface written by John Calvin, one of his first Protestant writings. He references both the Old and New Testament throughout, including from Acts 14.