Calvin: A Biography

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"Modesty, softness, and mildness"—such was John Calvin, in his own words. This brief self-portrait will surprise posterity, quick as it is to detect in Calvin a deeply passionate man of zealous action. Calvin adds elsewhere: "I acknowledge myself to be timid, soft, and cowardly by nature." He repeated the same idea feelingly on the eve of his death, calling himself "timid" and "fearful" before an astounded group of pastors who knew by experience that the old fellow could raise up storms. These various descriptions of Calvin strongly underline the vigor of a character that owed all its energy to God alone.

At the same time, the apparent contradictions within Calvin's personality make it hard to capture his true nature. The large number of biographies attempted to date attest to this fact, many of which simply picture Calvin as a rigid fundamentalist or as a totalitarian who ruled Geneva with an iron hand. Such interpretations, however, are much too one-dimensional. This sterling new biography by Bernard Cottret opts for a Calvin "in movement," thus distinguishing itself from works that present Calvin as a man of relatively static character.

The aim of this book is simply to recover the truth, or rather to reclaim the intelligibility of a man in his time. This is a historian's Calvin, the work of a university professor who is neither a theologian nor an ordained minister. Cottret's welcome approach sheds new light on the great Reformer's personality by concentrating on the milieu in which Calvin did his life's work.

In the largest part of the book, Cottret explores Calvin's life chronologically. We are introduced to the world into which Calvin was born, a Europe in the throes of upheaval owing to the development of the printing press and divergent religious views. We follow Calvin from his birth and childhood in Noyon to his school years in Paris. We accompany Calvin on his humanistic and literary pursuits in Basel, his early ministry in Geneva, and his halcyon Strasbourg years. Finally, we move again to Geneva, where the brunt of Calvin's serious—and better known—life was lived.

Along the way we encounter the major issues of Calvin's day—the sacrifice of the Mass, iconoclasm, predestination, the Arianism of Michael Servetus—issues to which he reacted with all his religious emotion. We tarry with him in Geneva and get an up-close look at the governance of Calvinism's "holy city." And we share in Calvin's joys and sorrows through a reading of his prolific correspondence. In the final chapters, Cottret explores thematic aspects of Calvin's persona—Calvin the polemicist, the preacher, and the writer—and looks in greater depth at his foremost work, the Institutes of the Christian Religion.

Widely acclaimed in its French edition, this balanced and beautifully written biography will take its place among the best—and most enjoyable—portraits of Calvin's life, work, and lasting influence.

FROM THE CRITICS

Le Monde

A tour de force. . . . Cottret has avoided the trap of painting a character who would have had, from the beginning, all of the traits of his last years, and endeavors to show how Calvin became Calvin. . . . Brilliant.

Le Figaro

Cottret succeeds brilliantly in painting a balanced portrait of Calvin.

Les Livres du Mois

"This excellent book regards the French Reformer with new eyes. . . . Cottret mixes seriousness and welcome humor. For the public interested in a history of Protestantism, this book is full of reflections of the spirit of the Reformation."

Library Journal

Cottret (literature, Versailles-Saint-Quentin Univ.) has chronicled the life and thought of John Calvin with an acumen that should be emulated by future biographers. The reformer is shown to be a more complex figure than he is usually given credit for, as seen in his ambivalent feelings toward the Eucharist, his respect for the Jewish (Old Testament) Law, and his natural distrust of the free investigation that characterized so much of the Protestant Reformation. Calvin's doctrine of predestination, often viewed as uncompromisingly grim and merciless, actually evolved in response to an even more grim and merciless theology of fear. Much space is devoted to Calvin's activities and administration in Geneva, his reviling the Anabaptist movement more than the Catholic Church itself, and such controversies as the burning of Michael Servetus. What emerges is a historian's Calvin, stripped of devotional trappings, who can be respected if not revered, criticized if not condemned. This scholarly biography, first published in France in 1995, is very accessible and highly recommended for all libraries.--Loren Rosson III, Nashua P.L., NH Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

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