John Calvin: A Sixteenth-Century PortraitHistorians have credited--or blamed--Calvinism for many developments in the modern world, including capitalism, modern science, secularization, democracy, individualism, and unitarianism. These same historians, however, have largely ignored John Calvin the man. When people consider him at all, they tend to view him as little more than the joyless tyrant of Geneva who created an abstract theology as forbidding as himself. This volume, written by the eminent historian William J. Bouwsma, who has devoted his career to exploring the larger patterns of early modern European history, seeks to redress these common misconceptions of Calvin by placing him back in the proper historical context of his time. Eloquently depicting Calvin's life as a French exile, a humanist in the tradition of Erasmus, and a man unusually sensitive to the complexities and contradictions of later Renaissance culture, Bouwsma reveals a surprisingly human, plausible, ecumenical, and often sympathetic Calvin. John Calvin offers a brilliant reassessment not only of Calvin but also of the Reformation and its relationship to the movements of the Renaissance. |
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Contents
| 1 | |
A SixteenthCentury Life | 9 |
Calvins Anxiety | 32 |
A World Out of Joint | 49 |
Cosmic Inheritances | 69 |
Restoring Order | 86 |
Rational Religion | 98 |
Humanism | 113 |
Knowing | 150 |
Power | 162 |
Drama | 177 |
Society | 191 |
Polity | 204 |
Church | 214 |
Conclusion | 230 |
| 295 | |
Common terms and phrases
abyss Acts Anabaptists ancient anxiety argued asserted attacked Augustine believed biblical body Bucer called Calvin thought Calvinists Christ Christian church Comm commentary common conception corrupted culture death declared Deut discourse divine doctrine earth Erasmian Erasmus especially evil example exile Ezek faith father fear feelings Ganoczy Geneva God's Gospel Hans Baron heart heaven Holy human humanists hypocrisy II Sam insisted Inst John Calvin judgment kind knowledge language learned lest Letter to Farel Lord Lorenzo Valla Luke Luther Machiavelli marriage Matt medieval mind ministers nature observed papacy pastors person Petrarch philosophical political princes Quintilian Rabelais recognized reform reject religion religious Renaissance Renaissance Human rhetoric Roman rulers Scholasticism Scripture seems sense Serm social sometimes soul spiritual Strasbourg suggests teaching theology things tion traditional Traite des scandales troubled truth virtue wicked Wolfgang Capito word worship
References to this book
Bibliographic information
| Title | John Calvin: A Sixteenth-Century Portrait |
| Author | William J. Bouwsma |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press, 1989 |
| ISBN | 019976297X, 9780199762972 |
| Length | 320 pages |
| Subjects | › › Biography & Autobiography / Religious History / Europe / Renaissance Religion / Christianity / Calvinist |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |