John Calvin-Life,Legacy and Theology

JOHN CALVIN : LIFE, LEGACY AND THEOLOGY -
PROF. M. M. NINAN
In order to shame the king and the ecclesiastical authorities out of their persecuting principles, he
published his first work, the two books of Seneca "De Clementia," (On Mercy) with a Commentary, in
which he freely expressed his opinions.
In this work, the dedication of which to the abbot of St. Eloi is dated from Paris on the 4th of April,
1532, he first assumed the name of Calvinus.
1533 - 1534 ALL SAINTS DAY, AND THE AFFAIR OF THE PLACARDS
After uneventful trips to Orléans and his hometown of Noyon, Calvin returned to Paris in October
1533.
During this time, tensions rose at the Collège Royal (later to become the Collège de France) between
the humanists/reformers and the conservative senior faculty members. One of the reformers, Nicolas
Cop, was rector of the university. Nicolas Cop ( 1501- 1540), rector of the University of Paris in late
1533, from 10 October 1533, was a Swiss Protestant Reformer and friend of John Calvin. Nicolas Cop
and his brother Michel Cop, sons of the king's physician, had become Calvin's friends during their
shared time at the Collège de Montaigu.
In January 1535, Calvin joined Cop in Basel, a city under the enduring influence of the late reformer
Johannes Oecolampadius. John Calvin was a law student at the University of Orléans when he first
joined the cause of the Reformation. He became active in a circle of Frenchmen who shared this
interest,which included Nicolas Cop, the Rector of the University of Paris. It was the custom of the
university for the Rector to deliver an inaugural address in Latin on All Saints’ Day in one of the
churches of Paris. On All Saints Day, November 1, 1533, Nicholas Cop stood before the University
of Paris and delivered an address that had been written by John Calvin in the Mathurins’ church which
essentially explained the the need for reform and renewal in the Roman Catholic Church and the
principles of reformation.
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