Institutes of the Christian Religion

John Calvin escaped from France to Switzerland at the height of conflicts between Protestants and Catholics and became incredibly radicalized. He believed in predestination, the idea that when a person is born, God has already decided if he or she will go to heaven or hell. By 1531, Calvin gained political control of Geneva, Switzerland, and set up a civic system in which religion was directly related to politics. Very strict religious rules governed the moral life of the city and were essentially related to Calvin’s belief in predestination: the pious were morally upstanding citizens, and the condemned needed to be controlled and prevented from doing bad deeds. Calvin exemplifies the rapid spread and re-interpretation of Luther’s ideas during the Protestant Reformation and the multiple factions that sprang up as a result of newfound religious awareness.

John Calvin

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1533