John Calvin

1509–1564

Nationality: Swiss

Historical Period: The Renaissance and the Reformation

John Calvin (1509-1564) was one of the most important Protestant reformers of the sixteenth century. A theologian and ecclesiastical statesman, he wrote one of the most influential books of Protestantism, The Institutes of the Christian Religion. The ideas advanced in this work became the basis for the church and state Calvin would create in Geneva.

• Author: Commentaries on the Epistles of Paul to the Galatians and the Ephesians
• Author: Commentaries on the Epistles of Paul to the Romans
• Author: The Institutes of the Christian Religion
• Author: Puritanism and Liberty, being the Army Debates (1647-9)