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You write that Calvin "lived to make Christians, not Calvinists." Why do we so often miss this point?

Calvin did not live and work to make followers of himself, but to make followers of Christ as he is presented in the Scriptures. He worked hard to reform the whole church according to the Word of God and especially labored to unite Protestants. Today I fear that Christianity is so divided that it is very hard to maintain a vision of the church as a whole. Also Calvin was good at seeing priorities in the life of the church. He knew where compromise was appropriate and where it was not. Too often today we fall to squabbling about things in the church because we do not have a sense of priorities.

Did Calvin indicate that he had any regrets?

Calvin had some regrets in his personal life. He certainly regretted that his wife had died after only a few years of marriage and that they had no children survive infancy. He regretted that he had trouble controlling his temper, although the evidence suggests that he saw this as more of a problem than those around him did. He regretted that the church in Geneva did not have communion more frequently than four times per year. In general, however, Calvin did not regret the basic direction and decisions of his life.

How are we to understand Calvin's confrontation with Michael Servetus?

For many, Servetus is the ultimate example of the intolerance and cruelty of Calvin. I have no desire to try to justify the persecution or execution of heretics, but in fairness to Calvin the Servetus episode must be seen in historical context. Servetus denied the doctrine of the Trinity, and that was a capital crime almost everywhere in Europe. When Servetus came to Geneva, he had already been sentenced to death in France. Calvin had warned Servetus by letter not to come to Geneva because of his views. After Servetus was arrested, Calvin and other ministers tried to convince him that his views of the Trinity were unbiblical. Servetus was put on trial before a civil court in Geneva. Calvin was the prosecutor in the trial, but was not one of the judges. Calvin agreed that Servetus should be executed, but unsuccessfully asked that he be beheaded instead of burned alive.

Almost all Europeans in Calvin's day believed that heresy was as dangerous as the plague and that civil governments had the obligation to eradicate it. Calvin was a man of his time on this matter. He is not to be excused for this reason, but he must be seen as holding views that most others of his time held. The case of Servetus provides no evidence that Calvin was unusually cruel or intolerant. Rather he like most others believed the civil government had a responsibility to protect the public from false religion, even by using its coercive powers.

How might history have turned out differently if Calvin had never been born?

Calvin has been seen as an influence in the rise of modern education, modern science, capitalism, and democracy. All of these developments in the history of the West would probably have occurred if Calvin had never lived, but he probably helped the development occur somewhat more quickly. Others were leading a reform of the church and without Calvin there still would probably have been a vital movement of Reformed Christianity. What Calvin did uniquely contribute was a remarkably articulate and passionate presentation of Reformed Christianity that centered and energized the movement in a way no one else in the sixteenth century could have done.

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May (Web-only) 2009, Vol. 53