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

oth his immediate audience in Bern as well as his "Lutheran," or "Melanchthonian,"
audience in Wittenberg? Is this why he speaks of "word and symbol," thereby
substituting "Word for Spirit" just as he is alleged to allow? 942
So what is the yield of this entry into Bucer's doctrine of the Lord's Supper? As
suggested at the outset of this survey, it would seem that while Calvin's early doctrine of
the Lord's Supper is not contrary to that of Bucer and Capito's contemporaneous
doctrine, his emphasis on the person and work of the Holy Spirit is distinct and
distinctly robust in comparison to that of Bucer and Capito.
6.7 Guillaume Farel (1489-1565) and Pierre Viret (1511-1571)
Calvin, of course, had much to do with Guillaume Farel 943 and Pierre Viret 944 at
the time that his expressions concerning the role of the Holy Spirit in conjunction with
the sacrament of the Lord's Supper first appear. It was they, after all, who invited Calvin
to accompany them to the disputation at Lausanne, a disputation called by authorities in
Bern for the purpose of publicly establishing the confessional disposition of not only
942 "At Augsburg, Bucer rightly informed Melanchthon that he had always taught that Christ's
body and its fruits are transmitted by the Spirit, but that he would be quite happy to substitute the word
'Word' for 'Spirit'" (Hazlett, "Development of Martin Bucer's Thinking," 345, without reference to a
primary source).
943 On Calvin and his friendship and professional association with Farel, who was twenty years
Calvin's senior, see David N. Wiley, "Calvin's Friendship with Guillaume Farel," in Calvin and His
Contemporaries: Colleagues, Friends, and Conflicts, Calvin Studies Society Papers 1997 (Grand Rapids,
Michigan: CRC Product Services, 1998), 187-204; Jaques Courvoisier, "Farel and Geneva," trans. Elvire
Hilgert, McCormick Quarterly 21 (1967-68), 123-135.
944 Viret was the only native of the Pays de Vaud among the three colleagues. Also, he was about
two years Calvin's junior and, like Calvin, had studied at the College de Montaigu in Paris, arriving just
after Calvin had left in 1528. On Calvin and his friendship and professional association with Viret, see
Linder, "Brothers in Christ," 187-204; Michael W. Bruening, "Pierre Viret and Geneva," Archiv für
Reformationsgeschichte 99 (2008), 175-197.
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