John Calvin (l. 1509-1564) was a French Reformer, pastor, and theologian considered among the greatest of the Protestant Reformation along with Martin Luther (l. 1483-1546) and Huldrych Zwingli (l. 1484-1531). Calvin synthesized the differing views of Protestant sects with his own in his Institutes of the Christian Religion, regarded as one of the most important works of Protestant theology.
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Timeline
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1509 - 1564Life of Protestant theologian and Reformer John Calvin.
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c. 1511John Calvin attends school in Paris, learns Latin.
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1525John Calvin's father encourages him to study law instead of pursuing the priesthood.
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c. 1529 - c. 1533John Calvin converts from Roman Catholicism to the Reformed Protestant vision of Christianity.
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1532John Calvin receives his law license.
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1536John Calvin publishes the first version of The Institutes of the Christian Religion.
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1536 - 1538John Calvin and William Farel work to establish the Reformation in Geneva.
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1538 - 1541John Calvin writes and preaches in Strasbourg.
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1540John Calvin marries the widow Idelette de Bure.
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1541John Calvin returns to Geneva where he remains the rest of his life.
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1549John Calvin's wife, Idelette, dies of illness.
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1553John Calvin condemns Michael Servetus as a heretic; Servetus is burned.
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13 Aug 1553Spanish physician and theologian Michael Servetus is arrested in Geneva following his attendance at a sermon given by John Calvin. Calvin, a Protestant reformer, had previously supported the Roman Catholic authorities' condemnation of Servetus as a heretic and, wanting to show his support for orthodoxy, pushed to have Servetus condemned, leading to his execution by being burned at the stake along with his books.
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1555John Calvin's political opponents, the libertines, are ousted; Calvin becomes the most powerful authority in Geneva.
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27 May 1564John Calvin dies of illness at Geneva.
