Introduction: Calvin, History, And Memory

Abstract

In a critical piece on the French intellectual, Jacques Ellul, the American theology professor George S. Hendry once observed that Ellul was not the first French Protestant who had been trained as a lawyer, but increasingly received acclaim as an author on theological subjects. John Calvin, the University of Paris graduate known as the Reformer of Geneva, had made such a career shift already in the sixteenth century. This book examines how John Calvin was perceived, remembered, represented, constructed, and manipulated by advocates and adversaries alike. It is a study of Calvin representations and the use that was made of them by church leaders, politicians, and popular authors. Likewise, the chapters in this book deliberately focuses on representations of the person John Calvin, as distinguished from the theological tradition, church family, worldview or ethos called Calvinism. Keywords: calvinism; french protestant; John Calvin; sixteenth century; theological tradition