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- John Calvin Had a Photographic Memory: It was said that he could recite long passages of Scripture and recall complex theological arguments with ease. His close friend and successor in the Geneva Academy, Theodore Beza, spoke often about Calvin’s mastery of theological concepts and his ability to recall to mind any scripture during debates and sermons. He was so impressed with Calvin that he permanently relocated to Geneva when he was 39 years old and aligned himself with Calvin’s theology.
- Calvin Had a Mastery of Latin: There is a story that Calvin once challenged a group of Italian theologians to a debate in Latin. Despite their initial reluctance, the Italians eventually accepted, but Calvin won the debate convincingly, leaving them impressed with his intellectual prowess.
- Calvin Liked Cats: You may be like me and not like this one, but Calvin had a particular fondness for cats. Legend has it that he would often stop and play with stray cats he encountered while walking in the streets of Geneva. This makes me question my Calvinism!
- Calvin Regulated Hairstyles: Calvin advocated for an uncommonly strict moral code in Geneva, where he sought to establish a theocratic society, much like in the Old Testament. This led to an environment of rigorous discipline, with rules governing behavior, clothing, leisure activities, and even hairstyles. Critics argue that this level of control infringed on personal freedoms. Calvin’s influence on hairstyles in Geneva was significant. The authorities enacted sumptuary laws that regulated not only hairstyles but also clothing, jewelry, and other outward displays of luxury or extravagance. Failure to comply with these regulations could result in fines, public admonishment, or even exclusion from the community.
- Calvin Had a Sense of Humor: This is a very important follow-up to number four: Often Calvin is known for his stanch, rigid personality. From the perspective of many today, he might be thought of as a practical legalist whom you had to tip-toe around. However, according to friends and stories, he was actually light-hearted. He would often share witty anecdotes and jokes with the people he knew. As well, when situations got tense, Beza talked about Calvin’s ability to bring levity to the situation. Whether by self-depreciation or a light-hearted wise-crack, Calvin was more calm, cool, and collected than one might think.
- Calvin Played the Flute: Not unlike John-Luc Picard, there is a rumor that Calvin possessed a hidden love for playing the flute. It is said that he would occasionally entertain himself by playing the instrument in the privacy of his study.
- Calvin Approved of the Execution of a Man Who Had Bad Doctrine: While not unknown to many who study ecclesiastical history, Calvin was a peripheral participant in the excitation of Michael Servetus, a Spanish physician and theologian. Servetus was deemed a heretic by both Catholic and Protestant authorities for his rejection of the Nicene view of the Trinity. Severtus argued for a Modalistic understanding of God. He believed the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three manifestations of the same being, not three distinct persons. While Calvin advocated for a more humane method of execution, he did support the decision to put Servetus to death for his theological beliefs. The civil authorities in the city of Geneva were ultimately responsible for his execution. He was burned at the stake.
- Calvin Wrote the Institutes While he was in His 20s: Calvin was only 27 years old when he wrote and published the first edition of the “Institutes of the Christian Religion” in 1536. It was initially a much shorter treatise that served as an introduction to the Christian faith and Reformation theology. It consisted of only six chapters and spanned approximately 172 pages. Throughout his life, he expanded and revised it many times as his understanding and experience grew. The final edition was four books, 80 chapters, and over 1500 pages. It was published in 1559, twenty-three years later. Calvin was 50.
- Calvin Wanted to Be Buried in an Unmarked Grave: Though the exact cause of Calvin’s death is unknown (not uncommon in his day), he died and was buried in an unmarked grave in the Cimetière des Rois (Cemetery of Kings) in Geneva May 27, 1564. Not unlike C. S. Lewis, he did not want to be venerated or idolized through his remains. Calvin held the belief that grave markers or elaborate tombs could lead to the veneration of the deceased and distract from the true focus of worship, which should be directed toward God alone. This evidences Calvin’s humility and desire to avoid any type of celebrity status. (If he only knew!)
- Calvin Rescued a Child From Drowning: There is a story that Calvin once rescued a drowning child from the river. According to the account, Calvin was walking near the Rhône River when he noticed a young boy struggling in the water, fighting to stay afloat. Without hesitation, Calvin jumped into the river to save the child from drowning. He managed to reach the boy, pull him to safety, and ensure his well-being. This evidences Calvin’s willingness to endure danger for those he did not know. He put his faith into action.
- John Calvin Could Sing!: It is rumored that Calvin had a remarkable singing voice. He would often lead the congregation in hymns during worship services, captivating listeners with his melodious vocals.
- Calvin Was Not an Advocate of Free Speech as We Know It: Due to the theocratic system Calvin instituted in Geneva and its belief that the Church had an expressed responsibility to regulate the government, he had an influential role in exercising control over the printing and distribution of books to ensure that only approved theological works were available. Through this, he desired to maintain theological orthodoxy and prevent the spread of dissenting ideas. Although, this was a norm in the culture in Calvin’s day. Martin Bucer was a significant outlier in this practice.
- Calvin Loved Chocolate: Chocolate was introduced to Europe from the New World during the 1500s. According to the anecdote, he consumed chocolate in moderation as a means of combating his recurring health issues, such as migraines and kidney stones. It is said that Geneva had chocolate shops like we have coffee shops. Calvin, again, in moderation, was somewhat infamously known for his fascination and love of chocolate and would often share it with other people. Quite understandable.
- Tiger Sat Next to Calvin While He Preached: John Calvin had a dog named Tiger that would often sit by his side during his sermons and lectures. It is said that the dog was well-behaved and would listen attentively, becoming a familiar presence in Calvin’s ministry. For some reason, the lore of this well-behaved pet became a symbol of Calvin’s calm-collected demeanor.
- Luther Called Calvin a “Good and Pious Man”: Although the correspondence was limited and formal, Calvin expressed admiration for Luther and the impact of his movement. While they disagreed about the nature of the Lord’s Supper and a few other somewhat significant issues, they were united in the central cause of the Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther was 53 when Calvin published the first edition of his Institutes at 28, therefore, Luther was 25 years his elder. Luther made references to Calvin and his writings, expressing respect for his intellect and influence. In a letter to Philip Melanchthon in 1543, Luther described Calvin as “a good and pious man.” For those of you whole are familiar with Luther, you understand that is about as good a compliment as you can get.
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6 replies to "15 Things About John Calvin You May Not Know"
Sounds like Calvin was a power hungry murdering narcissistic control freak, who was WRONG on many levels of theology. He hungered on notoriety, unmarked grave or not. I’d be a dead man in his society, at his hands. Thank God I’m not a reformer! Catholics murdered people, and so did their off-shoots! All because of mind control of an OPINION that differs from theirs. Pious my A$$.
So, some men who wear dresses and dunce caps had a meeting in a NICE place, and declared that one equals three. And people actually bought off on that, and murdered people who had a DIFFERENT opinion than theirs.
Well, I never got the memo. I wasn’t invited. I didn’t even get a chance to make a BARN reservation. I wasn’t born in a barn, but I would have loved to have stayed in one. I wonder what the per diem rate was in those days?
Me, I reject both preveniant grace, as well as irresistible grace. Both requires a belief in Original Sin, and I don’t buy off on that either.
I don’t buy off on being BORN DEAD, but I do believe in spiritual death. I believe in natural death, but I don’t believe that EVERY HUMAN dies a spiritual death.
Yes, I would have been a dead man under Calvin’s RULE. I sure would not want to be Calvin when he died. I am quite certain that he is not in the GOOD PLACE, since you don’t like the word HEAVEN. He was an evil man.
From Thomas Jefferson, the man who believed in religious liberty. No wonder Calvinists hate Thomas Jefferson! LOL
From Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, 11 April 1823
Monticello April 11. 23.
Dear Sir
The wishes expressed, in your last favor, that I may continue in life and health until I become a Calvinist, at least in his exclamation of ‘mon Dieu! jusque à quand’! would make me immortal. I can never join Calvin in addressing his god. he was indeed an Atheist, which I can never be; or rather his religion was Dæmonism. if ever man worshipped a false god, he did. the being described in his 5. points is not the God whom you and I acknolege and adore, the Creator and benevolent governor of the world; but a dæmon of malignant spirit. it would be more pardonable to believe in no god at all, than to blaspheme him by the atrocious attributes of Calvin. indeed I think that every Christian sect gives a great handle to Atheism by their general dogma that, without a revelation, there would not be sufficient proof of the being of a god. now one sixth of mankind only are supposed to be Christians: the other five sixths then, who do not believe in the Jewish and Christian revelation, are without a knolege of the existence of a god! this gives compleatly a gain de cause to the disciples of Ocellus, Timaeus, Spinosa, Diderot and D’Holbach. the argument which they rest on as triumphant and unanswerable is that, in every hypothesis of Cosmogony you must admit an eternal pre-existence of something; and according to the rule of sound philosophy, you are never to employ two principles to solve a difficulty when one will suffice. they say then that it is more simple to believe at once in the eternal pre-existence of the world, as it is now going on, and may for ever go on by the principle of reproduction which we see and witness, than to believe in the eternal pre-existence of an ulterior cause, or Creator of the world, a being whom we see not, and know not, of whose form substance and mode or place of existence, or of action no sense informs us, no power of the mind enables us to delineate or comprehend. on the contrary I hold (without appeal to revelation) that when we take a view of the Universe, in it’s parts general or particular, it is impossible for the human mind not to percieve and feel a conviction of design, consummate skill, and indefinite power in every atom of it’s composition. the movements of the heavenly bodies, so exactly held in their course by the balance of centrifugal and centripetal forces, the structure of our earth itself, with it’s distribution of lands, waters and atmosphere, animal and vegetable bodies, examined in all their minutest particles, insects mere atoms of life, yet as perfectly organised as man or mammoth, the mineral substances, their generation and uses, it is impossible, I say, for the human mind not to believe that there is , in all this, design, cause and effect, up to an ultimate cause, a fabricator of all things from matter and motion, their preserver and regulator while permitted to exist in their present forms, and their regenerator into new and other forms. we see, too, evident proofs of the necessity of a superintending power to maintain the Universe in it’s course and order. stars, well known, have disappeared, new ones have come into view, comets, in their incalculable courses, may run foul of suns and planets and require renovation under other laws; certain races of animals are become extinct; and were there no restoring power, all existences might extinguish successively, one by one, until all should be reduced to a shapeless chaos. so irresistible are these evidences of an intelligent and powerful Agent that, of the infinite numbers of men who have existed thro’ all time, they have believed, in the proportion of a million at least to Unit, in the hypothesis of an eternal pre-existence of a creator, rather than in that of a self-existent Universe. surely this unanimous sentiment renders this more probable than that of the few in the other hypothesis some early Christians indeed have believed in the coeternal pre-existance of both the Creator and the world, without changing their relation of cause & effect. that this was the opinion of St Thomas, we are informed by Cardinal Toleto, in these words ‘Deus ab æterno fuit jam omnipotens, sicut cum produxit mundum. ab æterno potuit producere mundum.—si sol ab æterno esset, lumen an æterno esset; et si pes, similiter vestigium. at lumen et vestigium effectus sunt efficientis solis et pedis; potuit ergo cum causâ æterna effectus coæterna esse. cujus sententiæ est S. Thomas Theologorum primus.’ Cardinal Toleta.
Of the nature of this being we know nothing. Jesus tells us that ‘God is a Spirit.’ 4. John 24. but without defining what a spirit is ‘πνευμα ὁ θεος.’ down to the 3d century we know that it was still deemed material; but of a lighter subtler matter than then our gross bodies. so says Origen. ‘Deus igitur, cui anima similis est, juxta Originem, reapte corporalis est; sed graviorum tantum ratione corporum incorporeus.’ these are the words of Huet in his commentary on Origen. Origen himself says ‘appellatio ασοματον apud nostros scriptores est inusitata et incognita.’ so also Tertullian ‘quis autem negabit Deum esse corpus, etsi deus spiritus? spiritus etiam corporis sui generis, in suâ effigie.’ Tertullian. these two fathers were of the 3d century. Calvin’s character of this supreme being seems chiefly copied from that of the Jews. but the reformation of these blasphemous attributes, and substitution of those more worthy, pure and sublime, seems to have been the chief object of Jesus in his discources to the Jews: and his doctrine of the Cosmogony of the world is very clearly laid down in the 3 first verses of the 1st chapter of John, in these words, ‘εν αρχη ην ὁ λογος, και ὁ λογος ην προς τον θεον και θεος ην ὁ λογος. οὑτος ην εν αρχη προς τον θεον. παντα δε αυτου εγενετο, και χωρις αυτου εγενετο ουδε ἑν ὁ γεγονεν.’ which truly translated means ‘in the beginning God existed, and reason [or mind] was with God, and that mind was God. this was in the beginning with God. all things were created by it, and without it was made not one thing which was made.’ yet this text, so plainly declaring the doctrine of Jesus that the world was created by the supreme, intelligent being, has been perverted by modern Christians to build up a second person of their tritheism by a mistranslation of the word λογος. one of it’s legitimate meanings indeed is ‘a word.’ but, in that sense, it makes an unmeaning jargon: while the other meaning ‘reason,’ equally legitimate, explains rationally the eternal preexistence of God, and his creation of the world. knowing how incomprehensible it was that ‘a word,’ the mere action or articulation of the voice and organs of speech could create a world, they undertake to make of this articulation a second preexisting being, and ascribe to him, and not to God, the creation of the universe. the Atheist here plumes himself on the uselessness of such a God, and the simpler hypothesis of a self-existent universe. the truth is that the greatest enemies to the doctrines of Jesus are those calling themselves the expositors of them, who have perverted them for the structure of a system of fancy absolutely incomprehensible, and without any foundation in his genuine words. and the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter. but we may hope that the dawn of reason and freedom of thought in these United States will do away all this artificial scaffolding, and restore to us the primitive and genuine doctrines of this the most venerated reformer of human errors.
So much for your quotation of Calvin’s ‘mon dieu! jusqu’a quand’ in which, when addressed to the God of Jesus, and our God, I join you cordially, and await his time and will with more readiness than reluctance. may we meet there again, in Congress, with our antient Colleagues, and recieve with them the seal of approbation ‘Well done, good and faithful servants.’
Th: Jefferson
You are right a lot. I don’t know of Calvin approving of any other burning at the stake for bad theology. But this is a scare on his character. To be fair, just about everyone did this kind of stuff in his day. It is a confusing thing the Lord allowed to happen. So much intolerance. But i am certain if i live in that day, i would probably be the same way. That is why I am a big fan of Bucer. He was amazingly gracious and did a lot to bring balance to many issues (though he was also a Calvinist in a like manner as myself).
Also, I don’t believe you should be killed for denying original sin. 😉 We all are going to get before the Lord and be taken to the theological woodshed.
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Any links to sources on Calvin’s dog or those stray cats?
I was wondering the same thing
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