Calvin's Company of Pastors: Pastoral Care and the Emerging Reformed Church, 1536–1609. By Scott M. Manetsch. Oxford Studies in Historical Theology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. xi + 428 pp. $74.00 cloth.

Abstract

(ProQuest: ... denotes non-US-ASCII text omitted.)Calvin's Company of Pastors: Pastoral Care and Emerging Reformed Church, 1536-1609 . By Scott M. Manetsch . Oxford Studies in Historical Theology. Oxford : Oxford University Press , 2013. xi + 428 pp. $74.00 cloth.Book Reviews and NotesWhat was life of a reformed pastor like in sixteenth-century Geneva? This deceptively simple question is, as Scott Manetsch demonstrates, a crucial element in understanding trajectory of Genevan Reformation. While ideas of John Calvin and his colleagues have received immense scholarly scrutiny over centuries, contours of their lives as pastors have not. Manetsch address this lacuna with a thoroughly researched, lucid account of lives and work of reformed Genevan pastors from 1536 to 1609, with particular goal of comparing work of pastorate during Calvin's lifetime with its experiences after Calvin's death in 1564. His book is based on extensive work with records of Genevan Consistory and Company of Pastors, as well as personal correspondence, published writings, personal devotionals, catechisms, and sermons of reformed Genevan clergy. Using this wealth of sources, Manetsch reconstructs daily lives of Geneva's pastors during first seven decades of Reformation, thus forwarding ongoing efforts to examine how ideals of Reformation were put into practice.This book is, in a way, a group biography of Reformed pastorate in Geneva. One of Manetsch's main goals is to elucidate ideas and assumptions that shaped identity and self-awareness, (2) in order to better understand their interactions with Genevan laity and city authorities. He begins this exploration with an eloquent recounting of Genevan Reformation, followed by an analysis of Venerable Company of Pastors, including profiles of individual ministers, an overview of their recruitment and training, and discussion of structure and functioning of company. Particularly crucial to Manetsch's undertaking is chapter 3, Pastoral Vocation, which explicates reformers' understanding of office and examines how that concept undergirded their preaching, process of ordination, and struggles with city magistrates. He then constructs a detailed picture of pastors' domestic lives, providing a vital link between theology and practice. The following chapter explores duties, illustrating Manetsch's assertion that pastoral ministry in sixteenth-century was inseparable from rigorous study and regular proclamation of Christian Scripture (124).Having laid out broader patterns of pastors' activities, chapter 6 focuses on practice of preaching, including pastors' theological principles, preaching styles, and reception of their teachings. Here Manetsch examines ways that preaching did and did not change after Calvin's death, ultimately asserting that the pulpit stood at epicenter of controversy and change in reformed Geneva (146). Chapter 7, Ministry of Moral Oversight, provides an impressive compilation of statistics on consistory's activities both before and after Calvin's death--a goldmine of information for future studies of Genevan Reformation and consistories more generally. Manetsch's primary goal here is to demonstrate, rightly, that work of consistory was a core element in Genevan ministers' work of care. …