“God by a sudden conversion subdued and brought my mind to a teachable frame,” John Calvin wrote in a rare moment of self-disclosure, “which was […]

The Marxists were right about some things. Sixteenth century Geneva under Calvin was the storm centre of the Bourgoise revolution against the Feudal order, much as Moscow was the gathering point for Communist revolutionaries in the twentieth century. It was certainly not the only factor in the birth of the modern world but it was one of them. Robinson Crusoe is the patron saint of mercantile Puritanism and it is no accident that the cities in which the Reformation took firmest hold – Amsterdam, London, Edinburgh and Glasgow – became centres of early global capitalism.

Eventually this affinity would have consequences for Canada. The Presbyterian Scots who dominated the 19th century Montreal business community and built the C.P.R. conformed to type.

John Calvin’s influence on the Korean church is enormous. The largest Protestant denomination in Korea is Presbyterian, and there is not just one, but hundreds of Presbyterian denominations. Presbyterianism has become a big part of the Korean Christian spirituality. This tendency continues on with Korean immigrants in Canada. The majority of Korean Protestants in Canada have a Presbyterian background.

One of the most profound influences of Calvin on Korean Christians is his emphasis on the supreme authority of the word of God which is characteristic of the Korean Presbyterian spirituality. The preached word has been the most important aspect of the Korean Christian life. All church activity starts with worship and the preached word is a necessary part. Every worship must have some kind of scriptural reflection or meditation, for without it, it is not considered worship.

How did one Frenchman, John Calvin, who died basically a refugee in a foreign city and was buried in an unmarked grave, come to have his name and thought so closely associated with Scotland? For generations, Scottish Presbyterianism has been seen as Calvinist or Calvinian. The origins of this association have centered at the popular level around John Knox's great praise of John Calvin's work in Geneva in those now virtually immortal words: “The most perfect school of Christ that ever was in the earth since the days of the Apostles.” Knox's time in Geneva was certainly of paramount importance for shaping his vision for reformation in Scotland.

The tracing of the influence of Calvin upon Scotland's Reformation and subsequent generations is sometimes easy to identify and at other times more complex. The reality is that there were diversities within the Calvinian family due in part to national contexts and the personalities and limitations of the locations.

John Calvin arrived at his convictions concerning the need for a learned leadership honestly. In the first place, Calvin himself was a thoughtful and thoroughly educated minister. In addition to his training as a lawyer, he was steeped in the best of Christian humanist learning. And he was a reformer who understood the importance of education in consolidating the gains of the Protestant Reformation in Geneva. Above all else, he thought this meant that the people of God needed to know their Bibles. Catechizing, or teaching, became paramount because the Christian citizens of Geneva were expected to have more than a passing acquaintance with holy scripture and the doctrines of the Reformed faith.

But as our faith is slight and feeble unless propped up on all sides and sustained in every means, it trembles, wavers, totters, and at last gives way. Here [in the Sacraments] our Lord … condescends to lead us to Himself even by these earthly elements, and to set before us in the flesh a mirror of spiritual blessings.
– Institutes

It is tempting to give what little space we have in this overview of Calvin on the sacraments to abstract discussions about the mode of Christ's presence in the elements. Such discussions have their importance, and very often profound theological matters are at stake in them. However, we mustn't lose sight of Calvin's abiding interest in the sacraments as God's accommodation to human weakness for the sake of establishing and building up the church in faith. Water and wine and bread paint a graphic picture (clearer than the spoken word) of the mercy and grace of God. “The supper is given to us as a mirror in which we may contemplate Jesus Christ crucified to deliver us from damnation and risen again to procure righteousness and eternal life for us.” (Short Treatise on the Lord's Supper, 1541).

Upon … hearing this news, the church of Geneva at once gave thanks to God for the extension of the reign of Jesus Christ in a country so distant and likewise so foreign and among a nation entirely without the knowledge of the true God.

The year was 1556 and there had just come to Calvin a letter which was concerned with France, but originated in Brazil. The letter asked, “Would the Genevan church send some artisans and pastors to assist a struggling French colony on Brazil's coast?” The colony, European in composition, was France's attempt to establish a foothold in a continent which Spain and Portugal had claimed entirely for themselves. But John Calvin and Geneva, sensing an opportunity to take the Christian message to the colony and through it to the native peoples of the region, said “yes” in a heartbeat.

One of the keys to John Calvin's enduring influence is his practical advice on Christian living. He understood ordinary people in the midst of ordinary life. “If we live, we must use the necessary instruments for life. We cannot avoid those matters which serve our pleasures rather than our needs. But that we should use them with a pure conscience, we should observe moderation.” Calvin did not advocate withdrawal from the world. He built no monasteries – no wandering the highways with a begging bowl. He was a city man, and projected a way of life for urban men and women. As a devotional writer, he can speak to a modern world.

Presbytery.

In our common Presbyterian understanding Calvin is a dominant but not a really sympathetic figure. We think of a lawyer-like preacher, a clear but rigid theologian, and an imposing but isolated man. We'd rather have coffee with Martin Luther.

Canadian Presbyterians name churches after John Calvin and claim to be his theological descendants, so it is worth asking: Who was John Calvin?