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Swiss Protestants mark 500th anniversary of Calvin's birth
Ekklesia ^ | 11 Oct 2007

Posted on 10/11/2007 5:56:32 AM PDT by Alex Murphy

The Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches has launched an interactive website as part of its celebrations to mark the 500th anniversary in 2009 of the birth of Protestant reformer Jean Calvin.

"We want Calvin to come alive for the people of our time through this Web site," the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, president of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and chairperson of the Web site's committee of patrons, said when the site was launched on 28 September 2007.

The website http://www.calvin09.org presents in four languages a calendar of jubilee events worldwide, and information on Calvin's life and teaching.

The Reformer was born on 10 July 1509 in Noyon in northern France but is known worldwide for his role in the Protestant Reformation in Geneva, a once independent city-state which became part of Switzerland in 1815.

As the official website for the Calvin celebrations, www.calvin09.org is now running two competitions. The first invites musicians to compose a hymn for the anniversary year. The second challenges people to submit "the most interesting, substantial and catching sermon" that offers "new, surprising perspectives" on Calvin's significance today.

Protestant churches around the world are planning a wide range of events to mark the 500th anniversary of Calvin's birth.

"We are eager to receive information that can be shared through this Web site concerning the various events being planned all around the world to mark Calvin's 500th birthday," said Kirkpatrick. "We hope and dream that calvin09.org will be as stimulating and relevant for the 21st century as the theology of John Calvin itself!"

The committee of patrons for the website is made up of 18 representatives from academic and church institutions. It includes, as co-chairpersons, Charlotte Kuffer, vice-president of the Protestant Church of Geneva, and the Rev Thomas Wipf, president of the Swiss Protestant federation.


TOPICS: History; Mainline Protestant
KEYWORDS: anniversary; churchhistory; europeanchristians
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1 posted on 10/11/2007 5:56:36 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
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To: Alex Murphy; kosta50

LMAO; remembering the birthday of a guy who didn’t feel Christ birthday was worth remembering.


2 posted on 10/11/2007 7:48:46 AM PDT by kawaii (Orthodox Christianity -- Proclaiming the Truth Since 33 A.D.)
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To: Alex Murphy
The Reformer was born on 10 July 1509

Julian or Gregorian calendar?

3 posted on 10/11/2007 8:27:25 AM PDT by Lee N. Field ("Dispensationalism -- threat or menace?")
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To: kawaii; Dr. Eckleburg

Seriously? Did he ban Christmas in Geneva?

I’m almost positive Presbyterians today have Christmas, no?


4 posted on 10/11/2007 12:36:35 PM PDT by Claud
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To: Claud

In the sixteenth century John Calvin objected to observing the Christian calendar — which includes Christmas and Easter — because he felt such celebrations promoted irreligious frivolity.

http://landscaping.about.com/cs/winterlandscaping1/a/christmas_trees.htm


5 posted on 10/11/2007 12:50:33 PM PDT by kawaii (Orthodox Christianity -- Proclaiming the Truth Since 33 A.D.)
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Comment #6 Removed by Moderator

To: kawaii; Quix; 1000 silverlings; HarleyD; Frumanchu; wmfights; irishtenor; Gamecock; blue-duncan; ...
The "perpetual virginity of Mary" is LIGHT YEARS away from the outright blasphemy that namess Mary as a coredemtrix and "dispenstrix of all graces" and an intercessor between God and men.

Even if Mary remained a virgin her entire life, she was STILL a sinner in need of a Savior, STILL born in sin as ALL men and women are, and her body is STILL in the ground awaiting the return of Jesus Christ.

7 posted on 10/11/2007 1:11:37 PM PDT by Dr. Eckleburg ("I don't think they want my respect; I think they want my submission." - Flemming Rose)
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To: Claud; kawaii; Alex Murphy
You err again, Kawaii.

Calvin looked askance at the celebration of Christmas in his day because of the corrupting of that celebration by Roman Catholicism (see I. VanDellen and M. Monsma, The Church Order Commentary, Zondervan, 1941, p. 273).

He did not, however, flatly forbid it as a transgression of the second commandment.

As I noted in my review of Wulfert de Greef's The Writings of John Calvin: An Introductory Guide (Baker, 1993), Calvin went along with the Geneva church's observance of the four great feast days that did not fall on a Sunday, including Christmas.

When the Council decided to abolish these observances, Calvin wrote a correspondent that, if he had been asked for advice, he would not have supported this decision (see de Greef, The Writings of John Calvin, p. 57). -- David S. Cason


8 posted on 10/11/2007 1:17:10 PM PDT by Dr. Eckleburg ("I don't think they want my respect; I think they want my submission." - Flemming Rose)
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To: Dr. Eckleburg

you’re splitting hairs about why he was against it; facts are he was against it, just as he was against folks saying the virgin mary had subsequent children...


9 posted on 10/11/2007 1:22:59 PM PDT by kawaii (Orthodox Christianity -- Proclaiming the Truth Since 33 A.D.)
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To: Dr. Eckleburg
Calvin went along with the Geneva church's observance of the four great feast days that did not fall on a Sunday, including Christmas.

The other three being? Easter, Pentecost....?

10 posted on 10/11/2007 1:25:14 PM PDT by Claud
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To: Claud; Dr. Eckleburg

“The other three being? Easter, Pentecost....?”

Ramadam.


11 posted on 10/11/2007 1:27:38 PM PDT by blue-duncan
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To: Dr. Eckleburg

Are you making up words again?

No Orthodox Church beleives Mary is a “a mediatrix or co-redemptress”. Further the Orthodox assuredly beleive Mary needed to be saved, which is why she says in Holy Scripture that Christ has saved all of us (inclusive) instead of all of you.

As for the intercession of the saints it’s mentioned in the Bible.

As for Mary’s Body where precisly do you folks beleive it is?


12 posted on 10/11/2007 1:28:41 PM PDT by kawaii (Orthodox Christianity -- Proclaiming the Truth Since 33 A.D.)
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To: kawaii; Claud; Alex Murphy
"Splitting hairs" is preferable to scalping the truth.

JOHN CALVIN'S CHRISTMAS OBSERVANCE

"Many people who profess to be Calvinists are surprised to learn that while John Calvin was opposed to the bad things that have sometimes come to be associated with Christmas, he wasn’t against keeping the holiday as a celebration of the birth of Christ and saw it as a matter of liberty for the churches and the individual.

We can gain insight into Calvin’s views by reading two letters, one written on January 2, 1551; the other in March of 1555. The relevant portions are below, followed by the full contents of both letters. One may observe that Calvin’s understanding of the Regulative Principle of Worship is not so much focused on the kind of uniform, narrowly limited kind of worship that came to be the legacy of Puritanism, but on protecting the liberty of local congregations and individuals. One must never forget that liberty of conscience, under the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ speaking in the Scripture, is a fundamental of fundamentals for John Calvin..."


13 posted on 10/11/2007 1:36:43 PM PDT by Dr. Eckleburg ("I don't think they want my respect; I think they want my submission." - Flemming Rose)
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To: Dr. Eckleburg

One of our Sundays School men was talking about listening to John MacArthur preaching recently in Calvin’s pulpit in Geneva. What caught me was that someone commented that MacArthur was the first Calvinist to preach there in years.

It had been a procession of buddhists, universalists, hippies, and dippies.

Perhaps this 500th anniversary might rekindle interest in what Calvin actually taught.

Any idea about Knox’s pulpit in Scotland....is it still Reformed?


14 posted on 10/11/2007 1:48:58 PM PDT by xzins (If you will just agree to the murdering of your children, then we can win the presidency)
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To: drstevej; OrthodoxPresbyterian; CCWoody; Wrigley; Gamecock; Jean Chauvin; jboot; AZhardliner; ...

Non-feast day celebration ping. 8~)


15 posted on 10/11/2007 1:55:45 PM PDT by Dr. Eckleburg ("I don't think they want my respect; I think they want my submission." - Flemming Rose)
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To: Dr. Eckleburg
Even if Mary remained a virgin her entire life, she was STILL a sinner in need of a Savior, STILL born in sin as ALL men and women are, and her body is STILL in the ground awaiting the return of Jesus Christ.

God who is without sin, was formed and grew amidst sin?

No, where God is, sin isn't. Conversely, where God isn't, sin is.

It always amazes me that those who preach the absolute dominion of God can't appreciate that God freely chose Mary for a reason. God was not obligated in any way to come to us through a woman, nor to involve humans in his work. God, being God had no need of a humble Jewish girl. Yet he chose to be formed in her womb, dependent on her "yes" to the Angel Gabriel and to be "subject to her".

Interesting, no?

Sometimes I think Calvinists have missed the whole beauty and wonder of the redemption, especially its humble, human means.

16 posted on 10/11/2007 2:11:47 PM PDT by marshmallow
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To: Alex Murphy
Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick

As theologically liberal as they get. Don't trust anything that comes from that crowd.

17 posted on 10/11/2007 3:27:07 PM PDT by PAR35
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To: Claud
I’m almost positive Presbyterians today have Christmas, no?

Cromwell's crowd discouraged such activities. Most modern Presbyterians have conformed to the world.

18 posted on 10/11/2007 3:30:37 PM PDT by PAR35
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To: kawaii
Further the Orthodox assuredly beleive Mary needed to be saved, which is why she says in Holy Scripture that Christ has saved all of us (inclusive) instead of all of you.

Yes, the Catholic Church also believes that, and is encapsulated in the doctrine in the Immaculate Conception, which states that the merits of Christ's Redemptive Acts were applied to Mary preemptively.

Also, it should be clarified, if memory serves, that the Orthodox believe that Mary never committed one personal sin.

19 posted on 10/11/2007 3:33:22 PM PDT by Pyro7480 ("Jesu, Jesu, Jesu, esto mihi Jesus" -St. Ralph Sherwin's last words at Tyburn)
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To: Pyro7480; kawaii
the doctrine in the Immaculate Conception, which states that the merits of Christ's Redemptive Acts were applied to Mary preemptively.

Do the Orthodox agree with Rome here, Kawaii?

Do the Orthodox believe in the Assumption?

20 posted on 10/11/2007 4:30:09 PM PDT by Dr. Eckleburg ("I don't think they want my respect; I think they want my submission." - Flemming Rose)
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