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

Lausanne, but also the Pays de Vaud. 945 It was, as Michael Bruening puts it, "catechism
as live theater": it had a pedagogical purpose for the people of Vaud, "and for those who
could not be there in person, the planned publication . . . would provide a theological
justification for Bern's religious decrees." 946 Given the papal promise of a general
council to be held in 1537 in Mantua, the Lausanne cathedral chapter revoked its
participation. Clergy were disallowed from participating, on pain of excommunication,
so self-appointed theologian-disputants stepped in, including one Claude Blancherose,
"whom even his co-religionist Pierrefleur characterized as 'a man howling at the moon
and quite fantastic, who mixed up medicine with theology in his disputes and made
everyone laugh.'" 947 Members of the Protestant delegation were led by Pierre Viret and
Guillaume Farel, supported by a cast that included Christophe Fabri, Antoine de
Marcourt, Pierre Caroli, and John Calvin. Given their prominence and immediate
association with Calvin at this time, it is necessary to consider the thought of Farel and
Viret, and fitting to begin with their expression at this disputation itself.
945 For the political background and ramifications, see Bruening, Calvinism's First Battleground,
esp. Chapter 2: "Politics and Diplomacy in Vaud," 36-46, and 138ff.
946 Bruening, Calvinism's First Battleground, 138. With reference to Piaget, Les actes de la
Dispute de Lausanne, 1536, vi-viii, Bruening notes that "Bern's intention that the disputation serve a
pedagogical purpose is made even clearer in its appointment of four secretaries to record the entire
proceeding with a view to publication." This publication was not realized until the twentieth century.
947 Bruening, Calvinism's First Battleground, 140, with reference and quotation of [Guillaume
de] Pierrefleur Mémoires de Pierrefleur. Édition critique avec une introduction et des notes, ed. Louis
Junod (Lausanne: Concorde, 1933), 124. See also Irena Backus, "Médecine et théologie: L'arugmentation
de Claude Blancherose à la Dispute de Lausanne," in La Dispute de Lausanne (1536): La théologie
réformée après Zwingli et avant Calvin, Textes du Colloque international sur la Dispute de Lausanne (29
septembre-1er octobre 1986), ed. Eric Junod (Lausanne: Presses Centrales Lausanne, 1988), 178-88.
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