Synopsis:
"Modesty, softness, and mildness"-such was John Calvin, in his own words. This brief self-portrait will surprise posterity, quick as it is to detect in Calvin a deeply passionate man of zealous action. Calvin adds elsewhere: "I acknowledge myself to be timid, soft, and cowardly by nature." He repeated the same idea feelingly on the eve of his death, calling himself "timid" and "fearful" before an astounded group of pastors who knew by experience that the old fellow could raise up storms. These various descriptions of Calvin strongly underline the vigor of a character that owed all its energy to God alone. At the same time, the apparent contradictions within Calvin's personality make it hard to capture his true nature. The large number of biographies attempted to date attest to this fact, many of which simply picture Calvin as a rigid fundamentalist or as a totalitarian who ruled Geneva with an iron hand. Such interpretations, however, are much too one-dimensional. This sterling new biography by Bernard Cottret opts for a Calvin "in movement," thus distinguishing itself from works that present Calvin as a man of relatively static character. The aim of this book is simply to recover the truth, or rather to reclaim the intelligibility of a man in his time. This is a historian's Calvin, the work of a university professor who is neither a theologian nor an ordained minister. Cottret's welcome approach sheds new light on the great Reformer's personality by concentrating on the milieu in which Calvin did his life's work. In the largest part of the book, Cottret explores Calvin's life chronologically. We are introduced to the world into which Calvin was born, a Europe in the throes of upheaval owing to the development of the printing press and divergent religious views. We follow Calvin from his birth and childhood in Noyon to his school years in Paris. We accompany Calvin on his humanistic and literary pursuits in Basel
Review:
What is it that makes a good biography so satisfying? An interesting subject, of course, but also one that is treated with both fairness and depth, placing that figure in the richness of his or her historical context. In this way we get all the pleasures of a good story along with the delight of learning. This is what Bernard Cottret accomplishes in his biography of John Calvin, now translated into English from the French. More historian than theologian, Cottret brings a useful objectivity to this study. In doing so the book reminds us of the fascination of subjects we might too easily consider merely academic. Immensely influential in his own time (and in our own, almost 500 years later), this biography gives us the story of Calvin's life in its historical context and a succinct analysis of his theology. It appropriately detours in order to remind the reader of the context in which Calvin was growing up: brief explorations of the Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation, for example, remind us that these were not simply subjects in school in the early 1500's. As Cottret notes, Calvin turned 21 in 1530: what would it mean to be an immensely gifted and driven young man at such a time in Europe? It's a great question to ask, and in this book Cottret answers it with style and depth. --Doug Thorpe
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