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The Reformation

Early Career

John Calvin was born at Noyon, France, on 10 July 1509, the son of a notary. He went to the University of Paris in 1523 (it was not unusual to attend university at so young an age), where he learned Latin from the humanist Mathurin Cordier. He developed a strong love of languages and earned his Master of Arts in 1528 in theology.

He then went to the University of Orléans where he studied for the law. All this was quite normal—the son of a notary following in his father's footsteps. He took his law degree in 1531, concentrating on sacred languages, after which he returned to Paris. At Orléans he studied Greek with Melchior Wolmar, a Lutheran, so we know that he had at least some exposure to reformist ideas.

Then, in 1532, Calvin experienced a spiritual conversion. It was typical of Calvin that he gives us virtually no details of this crucial moment in his life. In contrast with Luther, who is extensively autobiographical, Calvin wrote merely that he had experienced a "sudden conversion," and we must be satisfied with that.

Whatever the experience was, it must have been powerful, for Calvin never wavered after it. He at once began to speak out against the papacy, against the notion of priesthood, against images, and so on. From the start he associated with the most radical elements of the French reformers and was involved in the Affair of the Placards in 1534. This was a kind of graffiti event that involved posting of placards during the night all over France, even in Paris. The caused a public outcry and King Francis I was forced to move against the reformers.