THE PROVENANCE OF JOHN CALVIN'S EMPHASIS ON THE ...

Among medievals: Calvin cites Thomas Aquinas twice in the 1539 Institutio, but given
the evidence, Lane writes, "it is possible that Calvin never read Thomas for himself and
(3x), 2.5.3, 3.4.38, 3.15.2, and 3.16.3 of the 1539 Institutio (Lane, Student of the Church Fathers, 73n39;
223). Lane writes, since we know "that Calvin acquired the 1536 edition of Chrysostom and that he
studied it for the 1539 and 1543 editions of his Institutio . . . ." Presumably then, Calvin acquired this
edition of Chrysostom soon after it was published and read it immediately, seemingly while he was still
in Geneva amassing his first library, and, as Gilmont would have it, reworking his Institutio. If this were
the case, then it would seem that he likely left his Chrysostom volume in Geneva and perhaps sold it,
along with the rest of his library. Or perhaps he carried this one volume with him, given its recent
acquisition and his inclination to consult it not only for the 1539 Institutio but also for his project of
translating some of Chrysostom's sermons, and perhaps for his commentary on Romans. This would,
however, complicate his claim to Pighius that he had only a borrowed copy of Augustine at hand when he
revised, if only portions of, the 1539 Institutio. Or, perhaps Calvin actually acquired the volume while he
was in Basel or Strasbourg, 1538-41, even though, given his meager means, he was selling off his library.
In this case he would have had the volume at hand while he was preparing his Romans commentary,
which was nearly completed in August 1539 (Gilmont, Calvin and the Printed Book, 46). Without
citation, Gilmont suggests that Calvin's substantive encounter with Chrysostom's works probably took
place during his stay in Strasbourg (Gilmont, Calvin and the Printed Book, 161), but this would seem to
conflict with his previous suggestion that Calvin revised his Institutio already in Geneva, that is, it would
conflict with Lane's observation about the importance of Chrysostom's Genesis commentaries in that
revision. In any case and in relation to the initial point of this footnote, in the mid-twentieth century,
Alexander Ganoczy discovered Calvin's very copy of Chrysostom and, with Klaus Müller, published a
study of Calvin's underlinings and meager marginalia. Fifty seven passages in the In Genesim homiliae
are marked in Calvin's hand. See Ganoczy and Müller, Calvins Handschriftliche Annotationen zu
Chyrsostomus (Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner, 1981), 51-92, 157-159.
468 Indeed, Calvin quotes a passage from Gregory Nazianzan in Greek, though Calvin is known
to have read even the Greek fathers almost exclusively in Latin translation. Upon his careful study of this
citation, Lane has concluded that it "may well be taken from the 1516 edition of Gregory's Orations or
from some other printing of them" (Lane, Student of the Church Fathers, 83). As it also appears in the
1543 edition, prepared while Calvin was still in Strasbourg, Lane concludes "The most likely scenario is
that Calvin read a Greek edition of the orations in time for the 1539 Institutio and remembered this
reading when preparing the 1543 revision" (Lane, Student of the Church Fathers, 84).
469 Lane, Student of the Church Fathers, 176 and 155: Confessiones, De civitate dei,
Ennarationes in Psalmos, and In evangelium Johannis tractatus, and the Enchiridion.
470 Lane, Student of the Church Fathers, 177: Adversus Jovinianum, Dialogi contra Pelagianos
epistolae, and Hebraica quaestiones in Genesim. Also Lane, Student of the Church Fathers, 165. Calvin
probably consulted either the 1529 Claude Chevallon or (identical) 1539 Gervase Chevallon edition
available, if not now, then when he was preparing his 1543 Defensio . . . adversus Albertus Pighius
(Lane, Student of the Church Fathers, 167 and 11).
471 In assessing the patristic citations in Calvin's 1543 Defensio . . . adversus calumnias Albertus
Pighii, Lane writes: "Pighius quotes from Ambrose's De Jacob et vita beata. Calvin discusses Pighius's
quotations and then adds two short (three-line) quotations of his own. As he had twice cited this general
passage in the 1539 Institutio [Inst. 2:7:7, 2:16:18], it is clear that he was already familiar with it.
Whether he was now quoting from memory or turned again to the text is not clear, though there is a clue
that implies that he did have the work at hand [in 1542]. He notes that he is quoting 'ex eadem pagina, ex
qua sumpsit Pighius quod adducit'" (Lane, Student of the Church Fathers, 164-65).
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