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As Reformed churches worldwide prepare to celebrate the 500th anniversary on 10 July of the birth of Protestant Reformation leader, John Calvin, leaders of a global movement of Reformed churches have issued a statement calling on Christians to commemorate Calvin not as a saint but as a source of inspiration for responding to contemporary social and environmental concerns. In a statement released today by leaders of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) which represents 75 million Reformed church members, WARCs president and general secretary link commentaries by the 16th century lawyer and theologian to the current global economic crisis....

GENEVA, Switzerland, July 8 /Christian Newswire/ -- Calvin 500, the international Quincentenary celebration of the 500th anniversary of John Calvin's birth (July 10, 1509), is bestowing three Lifetime Achievement Awards this week in Geneva to honor exceptional scholarship and achievement. The Lifetime Achievement Award for Reformation Scholarship was awarded on July 6th to Robert Kingdon, "Scholar par Excellence in the history of the Reformation, who led the way to a greater appreciation of Calvin's work by his own study of Calvin's life and times," said Dr. David W. Hall, Executive Director of Calvin500. The Calvin500 Executive Committee bestowed this award...

GENEVA, Switzerland, July 9 /Christian Newswire/ -- On the eve of the 500th anniversary of John Calvin's birth, Calvin 500, the international Quincentenary celebration concluded tonight at St. Pierre Cathedral in the old town of Geneva. Following a week of over 20 academic lectures, 15 expository sermons, with numerous other associated meetings, the commemoration concluded with a closing luncheon at Restaurant La Broche, with the Rev. Geoff Thomas of Wales, addressing the banquet. Later that afternoon, Dr. Henry Krabbendam and Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi of Uganda spoke on "Reformation and Revival." Nearly 1000 participants enjoyed the festivities and addresses during...

Dear Twins: I’m having a little get-together at my house to celebrate Calvin’s 500th birthday in July. Do you have any recommendations on appropriate party snacks I could serve? — Caroline Burr, Casper, WYMaurice: Good question, Caroline. With all the whoop-de-doo about Calvin’s 500th, you would think just one reformed theologian out there would have the decency to shut up about Calvin’s influence on soteriology long enough to tell us what kind of treats to bring to a party.Emmett: You came to the right place, Caroline. Maurice and I are known as the idiot-savants of Calvinistic party planning.Maurice: Well, you’re...

John Calvin's birthday deserves to be celebrated, not least because he was one of the truly great Christian exegetes and indeed systematic theologians of all time. Never mind that I disagree with a great deal of what he has to say about God, his sovereignty, the nature of his grace, election, predestination, human freedom, and perseverance of the saints. I will reserve comments on those sorts of things for my essay which will appear in the September issue of Christianity Today. Here I want to say some positive things. A personal word is necessary at this juncture. I attended a...

Since the sixteenth century, conversions and counter-conversions between Protestantism and Roman Catholicism have been the stuff of controversy, polemic, and recrimination. The Lutheran-Catholic concord on the formula cuius regio, eius religio virtually guaranteed the escalation of political strife as parties competed for sovereignty. With the emancipation of church from state in the post-Reformation era, churches in North America have inherited a rather different set of implications for the conversion of political figures. When Newt Gingrich announced earlier this year that he had converted to Roman Catholicism, and when news broke in 2002 that Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas had done...

Local Presbyterian churches won't be putting candles on a birthday cake for John Calvin--500 wouldn't fit anyway. But church members recognize the importance of July 10. Sunday school classes and study groups at the Presbyterian Church of Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania Presbyterian Church have been reading the works of the man whose principles eventually founded the Presbyterian faith. "Calvin would be unimpressed that people were celebrating his birthday," said the Rev. Allen Fisher Jr. of the Presbyterian Church downtown, "but deeply edified that people were still reading his works." John Calvin was born July 10, 1509, in France. During his 55-year...

Dear John Calvin, I pray this letter finds you well even at 500 years of age. Next week our church, named after you, will celebrate your birthday. Granted, your birthday was on July 10th, and even though many things have changed, most churches still worship on the Lord's Day. So we're going to honor your achievements during worship on July 12th. To be honest, if we held a celebration on the actual date of your birth, we probably wouldn't get anybody out to church on a Friday night. Sorry about that. You may be surprised to know (even horrified knowing...

KALAMAZOO -- For the Rev. Margaret "Meg" Jenista, of Third Christian Reformed Church, a self-confessed "theology nerd," this weekend promises to be a happy, fulfilling time. "I'm nerdy enough to be excited about John Calvin's 500th birthday," said Jenista about an event being celebrated worldwide -- the birth on July 10, 1509, of a pillar of Protestant faith and one of the founders of the Reformed church movement. Calvin's influence on Christianity and on society in general endures for a variety of reasons, said Kalamazoo-area pastors who serve denominations that trace their roots back to his teachings. For Jenista, the...

The 500th birthday of John Calvin has gotten me thinking about the influence the 16th-century Reformer has had on my own life and thought. I grew up in a subculture immersed in Calvinism. My family attended a Christian Reformed church in New Jersey, and I went from kindergarten through 12th grade in schools that were founded on Calvinist thought. I'm also a graduate of the college in Grand Rapids that bears Calvin's name, and I've known of that name since my earliest days: My oldest brother began attending Calvin College when I was only 3 years old. But as with...

"I have lived amidst extraordinary struggles. I have been saluted in mockery at night, before my door, by fifty or sixty shots from guns. Think how that would terrify a poor timid scholar such as I am." John Calvin never set out to live a hectic life in the spotlight. "I always longed for repose and quiet," he said. Much less did he imagine he would change the world. Yet historian E. G. Leonard was hardly exaggerating when he concluded his book History of Protestantism with a chapter entitled, "Calvin: The Founder of a Civilization." Born in Noyon, France on...

GENEVA, Switzerland, July 5 /Christian Newswire/ -- Calvin 500, the international Quincentenary celebration of the 500th anniversary of John Calvin’s birth (July 10, 1509), opened today at St. Pierre Cathedral in the old town of Geneva. Beginning with a welcome by Mr. Guillaume Taylor from the St. Pierre Parish Council, approximately 500 worshipers attended the opening convocations, featuring morning worship from Calvin’s time and a sermon on Philippians 3:8-12 by Dr. Sinclair Ferguson of the First Presbyterian Church in Columbia, South Carolina. The evening services featured Ugandan Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi, much psalm singing, and a sermon by Dr. Bryan...

Thinkers in the ancient world sought to plumb the depths of ultimate reality. With that quest for ultimate reality came the birth of the discipline of philosophy. Some philosophers focused on one particular aspect of philosophy called metaphysics (ultimate being). Others focused their attention on epistemology (the science of knowing). Still others stressed in their investigation the basic principles and elements of ethics (the study of the good and the right). And others focused on the ultimate foundations for aesthetics (the study of the beautiful). One philosopher stood out as being deeply involved in the study of all of these...

BOSTON, June 30 /Christian Newswire/ -- As America prepares to celebrate Independence Day this July 4, Vision Forum Ministries will be hosting a national celebration to honor the 500th birthday of John Calvin, a man who many scholars recognize as America's "Founding Father." The event -- The Reformation 500 Celebration -- will take place July 1-4 at the Park Plaza Hotel in downtown Boston. More than a thousand attendees are expected to gather for the four-day conference. "Long before America declared its independence, John Calvin declared and defended principles that birthed liberty in the modern world," noted Doug Phillips, president...

No, not THAT Calvin — although maybe he has a birthday coming up, too. The rock star of the moment is John Calvin, the stereotypically dour theological chaperone of Geneva (his 500th birthday is July 10). A balanced, nicely-done story by Religion News Service writer Daniel Burke maps the lawyer’s influence on American evangelicals, particularly Southern Baptists. But why is Calvin becoming so, er, trendy? Well, it isn’t because of his clothes, his beard, or even the way he wanted to govern Geneva. It is, as Burke astutely notes in his lede, Calvin’s doctrine that is undergoing, excuse the expression,...

This year marks the 500th birthday of one of the most influential figures in history, Reformation leader John Calvin. His influence, not only in ecclesiastical matters but in almost every aspect of culture, extends from 16th century Geneva to 21st century Indonesia. Calvin is among the most brilliant theologians the church has ever known and he remains an influence in this country. Christian schools and universities started by Dutch Calvinist missionaries here were founded on his vision of spirituality and vocation, and from these institutions have emerged intellectuals and leaders, many of whom played critical roles in both decolonization and...

John Calvin was a theologian, pastor, biblical exegete, and tireless apologist for Reformed Christianity, and ranks among the most important thinkers in church history. His theological works, biblical commentaries, tracts, treatises, sermons, and letters helped establish the Reformation as a legitimate and thriving religious movement throughout Europe. No theologian has been as acclaimed or assailed as much as Calvin...

When I was a youngster and newly saved, it seemed as if the chief goal of all zealous Christians, whether Calvinistic or Arminian, was consecration. Sermons, books and conferences stressed this in the spirit of Romans 12.1-2, where the beseeching apostle calls believers to present their bodies a living sacrifice, and not to be conformed to this world. The heart was challenged and stirred. Christ was to be Lord of one’s life, and self must be surrendered on the altar of service for him. But now, it appears, there is a new Calvinism, with new Calvinists, which has swept the...

In this year of John Calvin's 500th birthday, I don't know of a better place to read about his impact on America than Abraham Kuyper's Lectures on Calvinism given at Princeton Seminary in October 1898. Kuyper was a pastor, a journalist, the founder of the Free University of Amsterdam, and prime minister of the Netherlands. John Calvin and Martin Luther were the twin pillars of the Protestant Reformation. Why do fewer people speak of Luther's culture-shaping impact on America, but for centuries Calvin has been seen in this light? Kuyper argues, Luther's starting-point was the . . . principle of...

For the non-Calvinists or anti-Calvinists among us who may worry that this issue of WORLD has several articles about John Calvin, be not afraid: It happens only once every 500 years. July 10 brings the 500th anniversary of John Calvin's birth—and the great theologian, even with his warts, deserves a better press than he has typically received in recent decades. Calvin was a fallen sinner, as all of us are, but was he especially mean-spirited? He taught that God created the world out of love and loved the world so much that Christ came down from the glorious kingdom of...