John Calvin

===Minister in Strasbourg (1538–1541)===
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| image1 = Strasbourg - Église Saint-Nicolas.jpg
| caption1 = Saint-Nicolas Church, Strasbourg, where Calvin preached in 1538. The building was architecturally modified in the 19th century.
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| caption2 = Martin Bucer invited Calvin to Strasbourg after he was expelled from Geneva. Illustration by [[Jean-Jacques Boissard]].
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During his time in Strasbourg, Calvin was not attached to one particular church, but held his office successively in the Saint-Nicolas Church, the [[Sainte-Madeleine Church, Strasbourg|Sainte-Madeleine Church]] and the former [[Dominican Order|Dominican]] Church, renamed the [[Temple Neuf, Strasbourg|Temple Neuf]].<ref>[http://archives.strasbourg.fr/calvin.htm Calvin et Strasbourg] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130908170246/http://archives.strasbourg.fr/calvin.htm|date=8 September 2013}} {{in lang|fr}}</ref> (All of these churches still exist, but none are in the architectural state of Calvin's days.) Calvin ministered to 400–500 members in his church. He preached or lectured every day, with two sermons on Sunday. Communion was celebrated monthly and congregational singing of the psalms was encouraged.<ref>{{Harvnb|Parker|2006|pp=92–93}}</ref> He also worked on the second edition of the ''Institutes''. Calvin was dissatisfied with its original structure as a catechism, a primer for young Christians.<ref name="Parker 1995 4–5">{{Harvnb|Parker|1995|pp=4–5}}</ref>

For the second edition, published in 1539, Calvin changed its format in favor of systematically presenting the main doctrines from the Bible. In the process, the book was enlarged from six chapters to seventeen.<ref name="Parker 1995 4–5" /> He concurrently worked on another book, the ''Commentary on Romans'', which was published in March 1540. The book was a model for his later commentaries: it included his own Latin translation from the Greek rather than the Latin [[Vulgate]], an [[exegesis]], and an [[Expository preaching|exposition]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Parker|2006|pp=97–101}}</ref> In the dedicatory letter, Calvin praised the work of his predecessors [[Philipp Melanchthon]], [[Heinrich Bullinger]], and Martin Bucer, but he also took care to distinguish his own work from theirs and to criticize some of their shortcomings.<ref>{{Harvnb|Cottret|2000|pp=143–146}}</ref>

Calvin's friends urged him to marry. Calvin took a prosaic view, writing to one correspondent:

<blockquote>I, who have the air of being so hostile to celibacy, I am still not married and do not know whether I will ever be. If I take a wife it will be because, being better freed from numerous worries, I can devote myself to the Lord.<ref>{{Harvnb|Cottret|2000|p=140}}</ref></blockquote>

Several candidates were presented to him including one young woman from a noble family. Reluctantly, Calvin agreed to the marriage, on the condition that she would learn French. Although a wedding date was planned for March 1540, he remained reluctant and the wedding never took place. He later wrote that he would never think of marrying her, "unless the Lord had entirely bereft me of my wits".<ref>{{Harvnb|Parker|1975|p=87}}</ref> Instead, in August of that year, he married [[Idelette de Bure]], a widow who had two children from her first marriage.<ref>{{Harvnb|Cottret|2000|pp=139–142}}; {{Harvnb|Parker|2006|pp=96–97}}</ref>

Geneva reconsidered its expulsion of Calvin. Church attendance had dwindled and the political climate had changed; as Bern and Geneva quarreled over land, their alliance frayed. When Cardinal [[Jacopo Sadoleto]] wrote a letter to the city council inviting Geneva to return to the Catholic faith, the council searched for an ecclesiastical authority to respond to him. At first [[Pierre Viret]] was consulted, but when he refused, the council asked Calvin. He agreed and his ''Responsio ad Sadoletum'' (Letter to Sadoleto) strongly defended Geneva's position concerning reforms in the church.<ref>{{Harvnb|Ganoczy|2004|pp=12–14}}; {{Harvnb|De Greef|2004|p=46}}; {{Harvnb|Cottret|2000|pp=152–156}}</ref> On 21 September 1540 the council commissioned one of its members, [[Ami Perrin]], to find a way to recall Calvin. An embassy reached Calvin while he was at a [[Colloquy (religious)|colloquy]], a conference to settle religious disputes, in [[Worms, Germany|Worms]]. His reaction to the suggestion was one of horror in which he wrote, "Rather would I submit to death a hundred times than to that cross on which I had to perish daily a thousand times over."<ref>{{Harvnb|Parker|2006|p=105}}</ref>

Calvin also wrote that he was prepared to follow the Lord's calling. A plan was drawn up in which Viret would be appointed to take temporary charge in Geneva for six months while Bucer and Calvin would visit the city to determine the next steps. The city council pressed for the immediate appointment of Calvin in Geneva. By mid-1541, Strasbourg decided to lend Calvin to Geneva for six months. Calvin returned on 13 September 1541 with an official escort and a wagon for his family.<ref>{{Harvnb|Parker|2006|pp=103–107}}</ref>