Handout

England and Calvin

England was one of the few large kingdoms to embrace the Reformation and that fact alone makes the story of its Reformation of particular interest. We will see that this Reformation had at least three stages: The early Reformation which separated the Church from Rome; the later story of the Reformation under Elizabeth the Great that shaped the church in a markedly Protestant direction, and the long period of struggle between the advocates of more radical reformation and the English conservatives that ended in the English Civil War, the Restoration, and the understanding of the English church as an Episcopal Church. The capitalization is important. The final form of the English church was as much an enlightenment creation as it was the creation of the Reformation.

English Radicalism Before Luther:

John Wycliffe (c1328-1384)

Heavy emphasis on the Supremacy of the Secular Power

The Church is composed only of the Elect

The sacraments have no power

No celibacy

The Bible is the only authority for faith

Sabbath to be honored

For a transliteration of Wycliffe’s bible, http://wesley.nnu.edu/biblical_studies/wycliffe/Luk.txt

2 Tim 3:16 For al scripture inspirid of God is profitable to teche, to repreue, to chastice, to lerne in riytwisnes, that the man of God be parfit, lerud to al good werk.
 

The Lollards

Wycliffe’s Followers

Copiers of the Bible

Their activity lead to “On the Burning of Heretics ("De Hæretico Comburendo) 1401”

Persecution was almost continuous until the rise of Protestantism

Biblical translations were spread under ground.

Dispute over the influence of the Lollards on the English Church. Clearly some influence on the Puritans

English Humanism:

Deeply influenced by Erasmus

Early fascination with Luther

Sir Thomas More 1478-1535

The Universities deeply influenced by the new learning

Luther’s Writings Make an Appearance

First circle was at Cambridge at the White Horse Tavern

Tavern nicknamed “Little Germany”

The White Horse Reformed

Robert Barnes (1495-1540), executed later by Henry VIII

William Tyndale (1494-1534) executed by Henry VIII

Hugh Latimer

Thomas Cramner

Nicholas Saxton

John Firth

Robert Barnes (1495-1540)

Augustinian Monk

Preached a reformist sermon in 1525 and escaped England in 1526

Studied with Luther in Wittenberg

Constant advocate of English Church Reform

Tried to negotiate a treaty with the German Protestants

Burned to death in 1540

William Tyndale (1494-1536)

Bible Translator

Noted quotation: If God shall spare my life, I will make it so that a plow boy in England will know more of Holy Scripture than thou”

Brilliant Translator.

1525 his New Testament published

Until recently, his translation was the basis of the subsequent English Bibles

While in exile, he was betrayed by Henry Phillips to the Emperor and with

Henry’s support executed in 1536 in Brussels.

Miles Coverdale (1488-1568)

Worked with Tyndale on the Old Testament

Produced a complete bible in 1535. Called the Great Bible

Henry would have this put in churches in 1540

Sir Thomas More (1478-1535)

Great opponent of the Protestants and Lollards

Probably ghost writer for Henry’s Assertion of Seven Sacraments

First English lay chancellor

A hammer of heretics

Executed by Henry VIII for Treason. Testimony is widely believed to

have been perjured

Henry VIII Politics and Rule (1491-1547)

Became king in 1509

Great warrior king who was continually involved in European politics, allied

First with one side and then with the other

Although the tournaments at the Field of Gold to celebrate the end of his

French War were extravagant, Henry VIII gained little from such

adventures

The one constant in his reign was the need for finances to continue to be

a player

The first phrase of his reign was under the tutorage of Thomas Wolsey, Archbishop and Cardinal

Wolsey had remade the royal administration

He was called the “other King”

Put in charge of the King’s divorce from Catherine fo Aragon

Henry had a technicality in his favor: Catherine had bene his brother’s wife

Not even Wolsey could reshape European politics.

The divorce failed and Wolsey was removed. He would have tried and beheaded

But he died on route back to London. Had I served my God with the passion with which I served my king, he would not have given me over in my gray hairs.

Henry turned to more radical advisors: Thomas Cromwell, Thomas Cranmer,

And Edward Fox

The affair moved quickly:

Henry ended Annates (probably because he needed the money)

Foreign Universities consulted to no avail. Luther’s response was typical:

On no account can he separate himself from the Queen whom he

has truly married; he may not, by means of such a divorce, taint the name of both the daughter and the mother with the shame of incest. I am not writing of the dispensation of the Roman Pope which permitted the marriage with the wife of his decreased brother. But this I will say: if we consider that the King may have sinned through his marriage with the wife of his late brother, then it would be a far greater and heavier sin to throw her off now that he has really taken her and to rend the bond of marriage in so cruel a manner.”

Cranmer became Archbishop of Canterbury

Parliament suspended the authority of Church courts over family matters

The divorce was voted by Parliament

1534: the Act of Supremacy was voted:

Albeit the King’s majesty justly and rightfully is and ought to be

the supreme head of the Church of England, and so is recognized by the clergy of the realm in their Convocations, yet nevertheless for corroboration and confirmation thereof, and for the increase of virtue in Christ’s religion within this realm of England, and to repress and extirp all errors, heresies and other enormities and abuses heretofore used in the same be it enacted by authority of this present Parliament, that the King, our sovereign Lord, his heirs and successors, kings of this realm, shall be taken, accepted, and reputed the only supreme head in earth of the Church of England, called Anglican Ecclesia, and shall have and enjoy, annexted and united to the imperial crown of this realm, as well the title and style thereof, as all honours, dignities, pre-eminencies, jurisdictions, privileges, authorities, immunities, profits and commodities to the said dignity of supreme head of the same church belonging and appertaining.. .

shortly, thereafter, Thomas More was executed. The first of many

Catholic martyrs

1535: Sir Thomas More was executed for standing silent before the new law.

Henry moved slowly toward religious change

Henry VIII had issued a series of injunctions to the University In 1536 suppressing the Faculty of Canon Law and forbidding the study of scholastic philosophy. The study of canon law declined, and the Greek and Latin classics, mathematics and Biblical studies now came to the fore.

He would later establish five regius professorships.

Cambridge and Oxford became centers for the training of national leadership and not only clergy. But the university changes, whatever his immediate acts, all but insured the victory of Protestantism eventually.

the small monasteries were dissolved and their lands seized for the

crown (under £200 a year) on the grounds that they

must be corrupt. The larger monasteries followed in

1536

The dissolutions were far from honest. In theory,

investigators detected abuses. In fact, the

monks were condemned out of hand.

the Ten Articles (1536) contained some of Melancthon’s

ideas (a Cromwell project)

The Injunctions required the Clergy to teach the Bible

Cromwell explored the possibility of England joining the

League of Schmalkalden

In 1538 wide-spread rioting in the North, the so-called

Pilgrimage of Grace, broke out

At the same time, Cromwell’s rivals at court began to

discredit his leadership

After the disastrous marriage to Ann of Clives

Cromwell was executed for treason

Henry’s conservative swing back

the Six Articles of 1539; affirmed transubstantiation, communion in one kind, clerical celibacy, monastic vows, oral confession, and

private masses. Denial of these brought the death penalty

1543: general heresy hunt

In 1547, Henry died

What had Henry done in religion? Nothing and Everything. He had ended the traditional power of the monasteries and had introduced the Bible into English life. His universities were Protestant seedbeds, and his archbishop was clearly in the Protestant camp. He left Protestants in charge of the young prince. He was a master of timing. England was not yet ready. His basic plan seems to have been to wait.

Calvin (1509-1565), Geneva, and the Second Generation:

Perhaps it would be useful to stop the English story at this point and move back to the continent where a generational change is occurring. By 1531 a new generation of leaders is on the scene that will spark a series of events in various country that may be called the second reformation. It is this new generation that will inspire the reformations in such areas as Scotland and France and will led the next wave of the Reformation in England. In many ways, this generation will be the one’s who are the creators of Protestant orthodoxy and the more experiential Puritan and Pietist streams of Protestant theology. Although the second generation had many leaders, the most important was John Calvin, a French lawyer and humanist, who was the most elegant theological stylist of his generation. Calvin had remarkable systematic insights and abilities that made his works a natural inspiration, but Calvin was never alone. Similar ideas were expressed by

many of his friends and contemporaries. Most important, Calvin, following the examples of Zwingli and of Martin Bucer, set out to reform society as well as the church. John Knox noted:

Geneva is the most perfect school of Christ that ever was in the earth since the days of the apostles. In other places, I confess Christ to be truly preached; but manners and religion to be so sincerely reformed, I have seen in any other place.

Calvin’s Early Life

born in Noyon, France. His father was an attorney for the local cathedral

early given a benefice to pay for his studies (as customary, a poorly

paid vicar did the real pastoral work)

studied in Paris at

the Collège de Marche and then

the Collège de Montaigu

after receiving his MA, he went to Orleans and Bourges for law

his father was in trouble with the chapter

need for many different career options

important centers for the new humanistic study of law

back to the original form of the latin law

Calvin’s real interest was in scholarship. While at law school, he continuedto work on his Latin and to learn Greek

1532: he published a commentary on Seneca’s On Clemency which was

not a success

never gave an account of the circumstances of his conversion to reformed

theological views.

Suffered much from the anxiety of the times (Bouwsma) and

Oberman . Favorite words “abyss”and “labyrinth”

Hence, interested more in the question of where one could find

needed security and order for life.

interestingly enough, he never learned German

apparently became a Protestant in 1533. What happened first was that by an unexpected conversion {God} tamed to teachableness a mind too stubborn for its years—for I was so strongly devoted to the superstitions of the papacy that nothing less could draw me from the depths of mire

Calvin left Paris as a result of the Cop affair in November 1533

Nicholas Cop: the rector of the University, addressed his fellow

scholars on the Sermon on the Mount

the address sounded like Erasmus or Luther

the King ordered the arrest of the Lutherans

Calvin was believed to have “helped” write the address and

so left town

In May, 1534, Calvin surrendered his benefices and made a clean

break

While in semi-exile at Angoulême, be began to write his Institutes

the first edition would be published at Basle in 1536 where

he was seeking refuge. The work was published without the

author’s name

originally, the Institutes were in catechetical form and may

have been modeled on Luther’s Shorter Catechism

the title, Institutes, means Instruction, with the connotation

of Instruction in the Basics.

The original outline included six chapters on the law, the creed,

Baptism and the Supper, roman errors, and Christian

freedom

The 1559 edition was organized in this way:

Book I: The Knowledge of God

two-fold knowledge of God

Scripture

Trinity

Creation

Providence

Book II: The Knowledge of God the Redeemer

the fall, human sinfulness

the Law

Old and New Testaments

Christ the Mediator: His Person (Prophet, priest and

king)

Book III: The Way in which we receive the grace of Christ

faith and regeneration

repentance

Christian life

justification

sanctification

predestination

the final resurrection

Book IV: The External Means by Which God Invites Us

into Society of Christ

church

sacraments

civil government

Final edition contained 1500 pages

the letter dedicating the work to Francis of France had a sharp

edge that was more characteristic of Calvin’s generation:

whoever is King, Calvin says: “is accountable before God for the

well-being of the people, and whoever neglects or betrays

his trust will not long remain King.”

Calvin returned to France to settle his affairs during a safe conduct and

tried to return to Strasbourg

William (Guillaume) Farel interrupted him in Geneva and urged

Him to stay in the city

Calvin refused: “ Being of a rather unsociable and shy disposition, I

have always loved retirement and peace. So I began to

look for some hideout where I could escape from people.

My aim was always to live in private without being known

Nonetheless Farel continued to push for Calvin to stay and finally—

after apparently threatening Calvin with a “dreadful

adjuration, as if God had stretched forth his hand upon

me from on high to arrest me.” Beza recorded the words:

Beza recorded these words in his life of Calvin: “you are following your own wishes, and I declare, in the name of God almighty, that if you do not assist us in the name of the Lord, the Lord will punish you for seeking your own interest rather than his.

The City:

struggling for independence

House of Savoy to the South

traditionally ruled by a prince-bishop

both Freibourg (Catholic) and Bern (Protestant) wanted

Geneva as an ally

1526: Geneva allies with both Freibourg and Berg against

Savoy. The party favoring this alliance were called the

Eidguenots or “oath-associates”

1527: the Council of 200 is formed and the Little Council is

established to take the place of the Duke of Savoy

1530: Savoy attacks Geneva but is defeated with the aid of

Bern and Freibourg

1533: Bern begans its campaign to convert Geneva

1535: the mass was ended in Geneva

1537: Calvin urges the people of Geneva to public renounce the

papacy which they do in a ceremony on 20 July 1937

Calvin arrived during this later campaign to introduce

Protestantism

The First Ministry

believed that church disciple should be in the hands of the

church and not of the civil authorities

the population, which still had a substantial number of

Catholics, was not pleased with attempts to

establish discipline

In Jan 1537 Calvin and Farel had stressed the need for

excommunication as a way to limit dissent. It was

to be an ecclesiastical, not a civil matter, although

the fact that other Christians were “forbidden to

converse with the excommunicated” was a civil

penalty

in 1537: the city government stripped Calvin and Farel

of the authority to excommunicate

1538: A majority hostile to Calvin and Farel are elected

in the Council

ordered Calvin and Farel not to meddle

demanded the use of unleavened bread in the Eucharist

following the example of Bern

Easter, 1538: Calvin and Farel refused to administer communion

over the bread issue and were dismissed. They were given

three days to leave town

Calvin in Strassbourg

his happiest years, 1538-1541

university teacher and lecturer (preacher) to the French church

Calvin learned the need for a number of church officers here:

pastors, teachers, elders, and deacons

Calvin met many reformation leaders here, including, Melanchthon, who became his life-long friend. One of the issues betweenthem was the continuation of ceremonies (the classical mass prayers) at Wittenberg.

Calvin participated in the Collequies at Regensbury and Worms

he was able to sign the Variata, a version of the Augsburg

confession that avoid the differences over communion

he worked with Jean Sturm, who ran the excellent gymnastium

in Strassbourg

married Idelette de Bure, the widow of an Anabaptist

they were married until her death in 1549

had two children; already

her three children with John all died in infancy

Calvin’s brother and eight children lived with

them

Calvin, unlike Luther, wrote little about his wife,

except that she was the best companion of his life

The Great Literary Debate with Sadoleto, a humanist and Cardinal

In 1541, Geneva asked Calvin to return there as pastor of St.

Peter’s

his salary was adequate, he was given a large house, 12 measures

of wheat, and 250 gallons of wine.

The Second Ministry:

19 pastors in Geneva

Calvin wrote the legal documents for the new church and may have written some of Geneva’s secular constitution as well

The Ecclesiastical Ordinances

Four Orders of Ministers

teachers

pastors

elders: discipline

deacons: social ministry

Doctors and pastors formed the Venerable Company

Elders were appointed by the magistrates

12 elders met with the pastors in the Consistory for

discipline

cases heard:

relapse to Catholicism

blasphemy

gambling

immorality

insulting immigrants

dancing and loud singing

absence from worship

attempted suicide

The Consistory: Center of controversy over Calvin’s work

1546: Pierre Ameaux criticised Calvin publicly

family made playing cards

worried about French influence in the city’s affairs

Ameaux had to do a public penance walking around

the town in hair shirt begging for mercy

the consistory also extended his divorce case

a gibbet was finally erected in his neighbor as