John Calvin

===Early life (1509–1535)===
[[File:John Calvin - Young.jpg|right|thumb|Calvin was originally interested in the priesthood, but he changed course to study law in [[Orléans]] and [[Bourges]]. Painting titled ''Portrait of Young John Calvin'' from the collection of the Library of Geneva.]]

John Calvin was born as Jehan Cauvin on 10 July 1509, at [[Noyon]], a town in [[Picardy (region)|Picardy]], a province of the [[Kingdom of France]].<ref>Robert Dean Linder, ''The Reformation Era'', (Greenwood Press, 2008), p. 139.</ref> He was the second of three sons who survived infancy. His mother, Jeanne le Franc, was the daughter of an innkeeper from [[Cambrai]]. She died of an unknown cause in Calvin's childhood, after having borne four more children. Calvin's father, [[Gérard Cauvin]], had a prosperous career as the cathedral [[Notary public|notary]] and registrar to the [[ecclesiastical court]]. Gérard intended his three sons—Charles, Jean, and Antoine—for the priesthood.

Young Calvin was particularly precocious. By age 12, he was employed by the bishop as a clerk and received the [[tonsure]], cutting his hair to symbolize his dedication to the Church. He also won the patronage of an influential family, the Montmors.<ref>{{Harvnb|Cottret|2000|pp=8–12}}; {{Harvnb|Parker|2006|pp=17–20}}</ref> Through their assistance, Calvin was able to attend the [[Collège de la Marche]], [[University of Paris|Paris]], where he learned [[Latin]] from one of its greatest teachers, [[Mathurin Cordier]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Ganoczy|2004|pp=3–4}}; {{Harvnb|Cottret|2000|pp=12–16}}; {{Harvnb|Parker|2006|p=21}}. {{Harvnb|McGrath|1990|pp=22–27}} states that Nicolas Colladon was the source that he attended Collège de la Marche which McGrath disputes.</ref> Once he completed the course, he entered the [[Collège de Montaigu]] as a philosophy student.<ref>{{Harvnb|Cottret|2000|pp=17–18}}; {{Harvnb|Parker|2006|pp=22–23}}</ref>

In 1525 or 1526, Gérard withdrew his son from the Collège de Montaigu and enrolled him in the [[University of Orléans]] to study law. According to contemporary biographers [[Theodore Beza]] and [[Nicolas Colladon]], Gérard believed that Calvin would earn more money as a lawyer than as a priest.<ref>{{Harvnb|Parker|1975|p=15}}. According to {{Harvnb|Cottret|2000|p=20}}, there may have been a family conflict with the clergy in Noyon.</ref> After a few years of quiet study, Calvin entered the [[University of Bourges]] in 1529. He was intrigued by [[Andrea Alciato|Andreas Alciati]], a humanist lawyer. [[Humanism]] was a European intellectual movement which stressed classical studies. During his 18-month stay in [[Bourges]], Calvin learned [[Koine Greek]], a necessity for studying the [[New Testament]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Cottret|2000|pp=20–24}}; {{Harvnb|Parker|1975|pp=22–25}}</ref>

Alternative theories have been suggested regarding the date of Calvin's [[religious conversion]]. Some have placed the date of his conversion around 1533, shortly before he resigned from his chaplaincy. In this view, his resignation is the direct evidence for his conversion to the evangelical faith. However, T. H. L. Parker argues that, although this date is a terminus for his conversion, the more likely date is in late 1529 or early 1530.<ref>Parker, T. H. L, ''John Calvin: a Biography'', Louisville, Kentucky (Westminster John Knox: 2006), pp. 199–203.</ref> The main evidence for his conversion is contained in two significantly different accounts of his conversion. In the first, found in his ''Commentary on the Book of Psalms'', Calvin portrayed his conversion as a sudden change of mind, brought about by God:

<blockquote>God by a sudden conversion subdued and brought my mind to a teachable frame, which was more hardened in such matters than might have been expected from one at my early period of life. Having thus received some taste and knowledge of true godliness, I was immediately inflamed with so intense a desire to make progress therein, that although I did not altogether leave off other studies, yet I pursued them with less ardor.<ref>J. Calvin, preface to ''Commentary on the Book of Psalms'', trans. James Anderson, vol. 1 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1948), pp. xl–xli as quoted in {{Harvnb|Cottret|2000|p=67}}. The translation by Anderson is available at {{Citation |chapter-url= http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom08.vi.html |title= Commentary on Psalms |volume=1 |chapter=The Author's Preface }} See also {{Harvnb|Parker|2006|p=200}}.</ref></blockquote>

In the second account, Calvin wrote of a long process of inner turmoil, followed by spiritual and psychological anguish:

<blockquote>Being exceedingly alarmed at the misery into which I had fallen, and much more at that which threatened me in view of eternal death, I, duty bound, made it my first business to betake myself to your way, condemning my past life, not without groans and tears. And now, O Lord, what remains to a wretch like me, but instead of defense, earnestly to supplicate you not to judge that fearful abandonment of your Word according to its deserts, from which in your wondrous goodness you have at last delivered me.<ref>from: [[Bruce Gordon (historian)|Bruce Gordon]], ''Calvin'', New Haven; London 2009, p. 34.</ref></blockquote>

Scholars have argued about the precise interpretation of these accounts, but most agree that his conversion corresponded with his break from the Roman Catholic Church.<ref>{{Harvnb|Ganoczy|2004|pp=9–10}}; {{Harvnb|Cottret|2000|pp=65–70}}; {{Harvnb|Parker|2006|pp=199–203}}; {{Harvnb|McGrath|1990|pp=69–72}}</ref><ref>According to {{Harvnb|Cottret|2000|pp=68–70}}, Ganoczy in his book ''Le Jeune Calvin. Genèse et evolution de sa vocation réformatrice'', Wiesbaden: F. Steiner, 1966, p. 302, argues that Calvin conversion took place over several years and that it was not a biographical or chronological event. Cottret quotes Olivier Millet, ''Calvin et la dynamique de la Parole. Essai de rhétorique réformée'', Paris: H. Champion 1992, p. 522, noting a typological rather than a biographical perspective of the account of his conversion. The biographical argument is promoted by D. Fischer, "Conversion de Calvin", ''Etudes Theéologiques et Religieuses'' 58 (1983), pp. 203–220. According to {{Harvnb|Parker|1975|pp=192–196}} Parker is in sympathy with Ganoczy's view, but in his investigations, he concluded that a certain period for his conversion could be determined.</ref> The Calvin biographer [[Bruce Gordon (historian)|Bruce Gordon]] has stressed that "the two accounts are not antithetical, revealing some inconsistency in Calvin's memory, but rather [are] two different ways of expressing the same reality."<ref>Bruce Gordon, ''Calvin'', New Haven; London 2009, p. 34.</ref>

By 1532, Calvin received his [[Licentiate (degree)|licentiate]] in law and published his first book, a commentary on [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]]'s ''[[De Clementia]]''. After uneventful trips to Orléans and his hometown of Noyon, Calvin returned to Paris in October 1533. During this time, tensions rose at the {{lang|fr|[[Collège de France|Collège Royal]]|italic=no}} (later to become the Collège de France) between the humanists/reformers and the conservative senior faculty members. One of the reformers, [[Nicolas Cop]], was rector of the university. On 1 November 1533 he devoted his inaugural address to the need for reform and renewal in the Roman Catholic Church. The address provoked a strong reaction from the faculty, who denounced it as heretical, forcing Cop to flee to [[Basel]]. Calvin, a close friend of Cop, was implicated in the offense, and for the next year he was forced into hiding. He remained on the move, sheltering with his friend Louis du Tillet in [[Angoulême]] and taking refuge in Noyon and Orléans. He was finally forced to flee France during the [[Affair of the Placards]] in mid-October 1534. In that incident, unknown reformers had posted placards in various cities criticizing the Roman Catholic [[Mass (liturgy)|mass]], to which adherents of the Roman Catholic church responded with violence against the would-be Reformers and their sympathizers. In January 1535, Calvin joined Cop in Basel, a city under the enduring influence of the late reformer [[Johannes Oecolampadius]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Ganoczy|2004|pp=7–8}}; {{Harvnb|Cottret|2000|pp=63–65, 73–74, 82–88, 101}}; {{Harvnb|Parker|2006|pp=47–51}}; {{Harvnb|McGrath|1990|pp=62–67}}</ref>