ROUGHLY EDITED COPY CHURCH HISTORY 02 May 27, 2005 33 CH2 CAPTIONING PROVIDED BY: CAPTION FIRST, INC. P.O. BOX 1924 Lombard, IL 60148 1 800 825 7234 * * * * * This is being provided in a rough draft format. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in Order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings * * * * >> I work among many people who, if they have religious affiliation at all, tend to come from Baptist homes. So I certainly know the name of John Calvin. I've done some research on his theology in order that I can better address the questions of the members of our congregation. But I still have lots of questions about Calvin's background and history. So let me start with a question about the city with which he is associated. How did Calvin come to live in Geneva? >> Calvin came to be associated with Geneva by, as he would say, divine providence. It certainly wasn't anything that he had planned. Calvin had been in Basel; and then in interest of the Reformation, he had gone to Ferrara in Italy where the Duchess of Ferrara had a reputation of being a patroness of Evangelical French Evangelical Protestants. The Duke of Ferrara wasn't that keen on it, so Calvin's stay there was particularly short. He did spend some additional time back in France, but it seemed clear that it was going to be difficult to actually be a French Protestant scholar and reformer in France as long as Francis I was taking the line that he was taking against French Protestantism. So Calvin decided that perhaps Strasburg would be the right place. Strasburg was open to Protestant refugees, including refugees from France under the leadership of Martin Butzer. And so Calvin determined that he would go to Strasburg. However, this was 1536, and war had broken out again between France and the empire, between Francis I and Charles V; and the most direct route from France to Strasburg was dangerous on account of the military movement. So Calvin decided to take an indirect route, and that is go through Geneva and then north from Geneva to Strasburg. Well, that's where divine providence intervened. When Calvin got to Geneva, his intention was just to stay overnight in Geneva. There was already somebody he knew in Geneva. Now, Geneva, I guess I should back up for a second and say a word or two about Geneva. Today Geneva's a part of Switzerland, but that wasn't true in the 16th Century. Geneva was a city of about 10,000 that was on its way to becoming an independent city state. Historically, its ruler had been a bishop. You know, in the Middle Ages, there were a lot of cities particularly whose ruler was a bishop. We sometimes call them a prince bishop. And in Geneva's case, the bishop historically was attached to the noble house of Savoy. Savoy being a feudal territory, kind of straddling the line between France and Italy. It was ruled by a duke, a Duke of Savoy. And Geneva nearby, the bishops also often were appointees or even relatives of the Duke of Savoy. But in the late Middle Ages, many of these cities and territories ruled by bishops were eager to have more control, direct control over their own affairs; and Geneva was no different. Moreover, for economic reasons, Geneva was interested in associating more closely with territories within the Swiss confederation, in particular Bern and Fribourg. So with the help of Bern and Fribourg, through the course of the 1520s, Geneva had loosened her ties from the bishop and was, in effect, breaking away to become an independent city state. Because it was the 1520s and the Reformation had already broken out, religion became an issue, as well. And in breaking away from a bishop, it seemed almost inevitable that you would embrace some form of Protestantism, also. This was made more the case by the fact that one of Geneva's allies, Bern, was itself a Protestant city within the Swiss confederation, and they wanted to promote Protestantism within Geneva, as well. And to that end, in 1533, Bern had sent a couple of Evangelical clergy there to preach and promote reform. And one of those who had come was a fellow by the name of Farel, William Farel. And he had been at least partly responsible for the fact that in 1535, Geneva had formally broken not only from her bishop, but also from Medieval Catholicism and had started the city along the path of establishing Protestant Evangelicalism as the official religion of Geneva. But Farel needed help, and he was looking for others who could teach and preach and promote authentic Reformation within Geneva. Well, Calvin arrives in 1536. And by this time, he's already published "The Institutes." He's a young Protestant intellectual. And his arrival in Geneva is made known to Farel. So Farel seeks Calvin out and asks him if he won't stay in Geneva it's a French speaking city if he won't stay in Geneva and promote the cause of reform. Well, initially, Calvin's not interested in this at all. After all, he wants to do his own work. He wants to go to Strasburg. He wants to work on "The Institutes." He has other projects that he think can repromote reform through his pen, through his writing. But Farel says no, you're needed here. Calvin continues to resist. And then so finally Farel really lets him have it and says look, when the church, when God needs you to do some work in a particular place and you're suited to do it, then that's what you do. Not what you want to do but what you need to do, what you're supposed to do. And Farel actually curses Calvin's plans for going to Strasburg and living this life of kind of a Protestant intellectual. Well, Calvin was kind of stunned by Farel's reaction. And so he felt as if the voice of God were speaking through William Farel. And a point of fact, he stays in Geneva to assist Farel in the cause of reform. Not because Farel had spoken but because Calvin believed that God had spoken through Farel to call him to this work of reformation in Geneva. Now, this was in 1536. And Calvin would be there for a couple of years, until 1538. Then he would be well, as we'll see just a minute, kicked out of Geneva. But he would return in 1541. And then that's when the great work of reform in Geneva takes place. But let me tell you about this first stay at least very briefly. As it turned out, the city of Geneva was glad to be done with their bishop, done with the power of Rome. But there were many people in the city of Geneva who were not all that eager to embrace real Evangelical Protestantism, especially when it came to living according to the standards of the Bible. The writings of Paul, the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount and so forth, that seemed like asking too much. If you want to kind of get an idea of what Geneva was like at the end of the Middle Ages, you can kind of compare it to the way Wild West towns are depicted on the movies on the TV. It's kind of a wide open place where people were not kind of staid watchmakers, but really were lived a lot more freely, so to speak. A lot of drinking, a lot of carousing, fornication, adultery. It's kind of a wild place. And this, of course, was part of what the Protestant reformers thought need to be changed or corrected. And so there was a great deal of consideration about how you implement this. And one of the things that Farel and Calvin believed was that the church, especially the clergy, ought to be in charge of church discipline, and that would mean ought to be in charge of who should go to communion. And this would become a big bone of contention between the reformers and the town authorities of Geneva. Furthermore in this early period, Geneva was very much dependent upon Bern for kind of political independence from the old Duke of Savoy. And Bern wanted the church in Geneva really to develop the way the church in Bern had developed. In fact, they wanted Geneva really to be under the authority of Bern. Well, a particular instance, they sent word to Geneva that they were concerned that the communion practices in Geneva were not like the communion practices in Bern. And they wanted conformity. So we have a couple of issues here. The issue of what it means to live like a Protestant and also what it means to worship and who should decide. Should it be church authority? Should it be government authority? Should it be Bern? Who should decide? Well, Calvin and Farel refused to yield to the city government when the city government wanted them to yield on the communion question. And, in fact, the city government wanted Calvin and Farel to commune all those who presented themselves, and to quit preaching in such a way as to alienate some of the good citizens of Geneva. But in point of fact, Farel and Calvin wanted to do the exact opposite; that is, to preach and to teach and then to determine for themselves who was going to communion and not. This came to a head on Easter Sunday in 1538 where, over the objections of the city government, Calvin and Farel both preached while at the same time refusing to commune. As a result of this defiance, the city government officials told Calvin and Farel to get out of town, which they promptly did. * * * * * This is being provided in a rough draft format. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in Order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings * * * *